I'm going to Portugal for 2 weeks so obviously, I will not be able to get onto Gamespot. So leaders of unions that I am an officer in, please don't demote me because of my inactivity in the next 2 weeks. I seriously don't have anything to say, so this will be a very short blog.

The last and second thing to add to this blog is, that my friend gave me the lend of a game for the holiday. It is

Spartan: Total Warrior:

My friend said it was good. I don't really mind if it isn't good because I still have Portable Ops and Brain Training to keep me preoccupied as well as all the stuff that I will be doing on the holiday. I probably won't get a good chance to play the Playstation at this holiday (first time we brought it abroad by the way) so it doen't make too much of a difference to be if it is good or bad, especially because it's only temporary. I still hope it is fun though.

See you in two weeks!

I got the game that my man bought for working hard in school all year.I was all set on getting God of War 2 but I really wanted a portable game all of a sudden since I just started playing more portable games than console games. In the end I got Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops for the PSP.

I only got it yesterday so I haven't played it much. But so far it is quite good and I'm enjoying it. I love seeing characters from other games and seeing what they were like before another game in the series, and I'm talking about Roy Campbell of course. I find the recruiting new people into your team interesting and the cutscenes aren't as irritating as I thought they would, so overall, it is a good game, so far. Not much else to say about since I have barely played it.

The next game I got was the most spontaneous buy I have gone through with. I was in GAME with my friends and I had 30 Euro in my pocket and I can't remember why i brought it since I wasn't planning on going into GAME. I saw many games that i wanted but they either were 60 Euro or 45 Euro (that being God of War 2 and Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Justice For All plus more) and nothing I really wanted was there. For some reason I felt like I had to spend this 30 Euro when the smart thing clearly would have been to save up with it so I can buy the games I want. Then I saw Brain Training: How Old Is Your Brain (or Brain Age as it is called in America). I remembered hearing about projects done on it that it helps you improve your memory and things like that. I felt that during the summer, it would be good to keep my brain functioning properly for the next year of school. I was thinking of getting it because it was 29.99 Euro. I decided to get it then when I called it Train Braining and I figured I needed it after calling it that. So I bought it.

In the two days that I have had it, I have got to say, it is actually pretty good. I find the puzzles fun and sudoku is good as long as you don't play it for too long. I hope it actually does improve my memory. I think I might as well play a bit everyday, even for a few minutes to get the prefrontal cortex working.

Overall, I'm happy with the 2 games that i got. Unfortunately, I don't have any more money at the moment so God of War 2, Phoneix Wright: Ace Attorney Justice For All, Splinter Cell: Double Agent (360) and more will have to wait. See you online!

Well after a year of work and a whole week of tests, I have finally reached the summer holidays. I went a bit crazy yesterday with excitement and for some reason ended up in a spontaneous water fight, but that's what summer is all about - not thinking about anything properly (unless you have a summer job ofcourse) in the heat of the summer but it's actually raining outside at the moment here. Atleast I'm off school for twelve weeks anyway.

Since I worked hard in school this year, my mam has said that she is going to but me a game, no matter what result I get in my tests (although I didn't do anything different last year), and I have to pick between 5 games to get now. Just wondering what game, you people think I should get. Go to the blog below this and you'll see the 4 games that I want that are released plus Phoenix Wright 2 (I haven't even finished the first one and I want the sequel), unless you think I should get another game that isn't in that blog.

I'm keeping this blog short because I have nothing else to talk about. See you, online! 

Well, the lovely Easter brack has ended and for me, I had school today. I've always hated day I go back to school because I'm so tired, and I forget all the stuff I have been doing in school before the break. This is probabaly the worst term of school now - the final term. It is always sunny in Ireland at this time but I have to study for the summer tests. Atleast I'm not doing the Junior Cert but I will next year. I know going to school is important, to get a good education and then a job but homework is awful. On top of the homework that the teachers pile up on you, study also has to be done. The tests are in 6 weeks so I better get cracking. Because of this, I most likely will not be active for the next couple of weeks. I should be on at the weekends, and if I'm lucky, teachers may give less homework so I can get my study done and then get on Gamespot for a while...hopefully. I don't do study the first day back (unless I have a small test the next day) because I'm always tired and the information won't go in. I hope I do well. It probably sounds worse than it really is.

To get away from the topic of school, to games. I won't be getting any games for the next few weeks for obvious reasons (although I can't say the same for my brother incase you see my collection rising). I don't have the money at the moment anyway. I have many games I plan on getting so when the summer break comes rolling in, and I have money, I will be buying some of them. The games I plan on getting are (including September because of my birthday):

• God of War
• Spiderman 3 (360 or Wii?)
  
• Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Double Agent (360)
• Metal Gear Solid Portable Ops
• Assassin's Creed (if it is out before before September ends)
• The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (again if it's out before September)

I know I can't buy all of them in the summer, and I'll have to wait for some of them, it's good to have many games to look forward to because for me, there usually isn't many good games that come out in summer. I hope Assassin's Creed and Phantom Hourglass come out around September as I can wait for one of them (maybe two if I'm lubky) for a late birthday present. I'm not sure if the chances of them coming out this soon are high. I don' know the latest release date information so I don't know what will happen.

Anyway, see you online and good luck in school if you are going back tomorrow or have already gone today. 

The last couple of days (since Sunday) I have been inactive on Gamespot. The reason for this is simply, because I was away on holiday. I went to Central London, England for 5 days. I liked the holiday because it wasn't too hot and all the food and drinks tastes the same as it does in Ireland when I go to other countries such as France, the food is a lot different and I don't like it because it isn't what I'm used to. The first two days, my family and I went to visit some reletives living in England and the next three days were for sight-seeing and whatnot. A lot of the sights I went to see were familiar from watching my brother play The Getaway. The building we were staying in, I don't think is in The Getaway as it is a bit down from Kensington Park which is on the very edge of the map. I want to play it anyway to see. That's pretty much it to say about the holiday.

Anyway, I just want to point out, before I went to London, I made a new Zelda signature. You can see it in my blog description area above the blog post. Lately, I have been trying out new things with GIMP because for the last couple of months, I have just been using the basics and haven't used the programme to it's full use. I tried out a few new things for that Zelda signature. I made the background, using brushes and blending the actual picture into the background (usually, I use a picture from a game for the background) and I also did a bit with the text which I have been doing for the last week or so.

Just before I end the blog, I want to again point out something. This is my 50th blog post. Celebrations! It has been about a year and a half since I joined Gamespot so this is probably a bit slow but it was a while before I started doing blog posts after I joined. The next blog milestone will be my 100th blog. I don't know when I will reach that. I may never do it if I become inactive permanently. We will see when the time comes.

Has anything major happened in the gaming world or with you, Gamespot users since I have been gone? I also want to wish you a late happy Easter. See you online!

[video=IyY1kjOr5b4Mujbe]

Well, as you may have noticed, I haven't done a vdeio blog in quite a long time. Some people have asked me to do another one so here it. I talk about the Wii and all the games I have played recently. I did the video blog in a 24 theme. There isn;t an actual reason for me doing this; i was thinking about what I was going to put in my video blog and 24 came to my head. I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to do it but it was easy enough and here it is. If you don't know what 24 is, it a show where each epsiode is an hour long and and an hour passes in the series in each episode. There is 24 episodes which is 24 hours making a whole day. I just take a few things from the program and put it in the video blog. It doesn't change the video blog at all though. I have a cold so I talk really weird and I sniffle every 5 seconds.

I don't know when I will be making nother video blog but I would like any suggestions, you people say. There isn't really anything else to say so see you online.

I'm not sure if "artistry" is a word but I'll use it anyway because taht's what Gamespot use in the emblem bio. I have started by long and difficult boat journey to the infamous "Seas of Artistry". I'm just adding to drama by the way. That last sentence didn't even make sense. Anyway, I just got a new emblem that was for submitting avatars to Gamespot and getting them accepted. The emblem is:


Sailing the seas of artistry.
This person helped others spice up their forum posts by designing avatars for GameSpot's community. No matter which bottle ye open, there's a treasure in every one!

Well, like the gamespace banner emblem, this is another emblem to really be proud of because you had to make something yourself and then Gamespot would decide if it good enough. Although it wasn't as hard to to get the gamespace banner emblem, I still feel the same. I'm not sure what avatars that I made got accepted because some look similiar to others and I'm not able to access all the avatars pages. These are the avatars I think were accepted:

There could be more that look like mine but aren't but I don't want to show them because I'm not sure. I also submitted a few Prince of Persia avatars but I'm not able to see that section in the avatar section so if you wouldn't mind, anyone who can see the Prince of Persia avatars, could you show them to me to see if they are the ones I submitted. I submitted loads of other avatars but I don't think they were accepted. Atleast 2 of them were though.:D

It was pretty cool when I saw someone with my Dark Link avatar today. It made me feel proud to see someone using it. I made them using GIMP which is what I always use. Just in other news, I have been experimenting with GIMP more and using a lot more features of it. I used to just paste in a background, cut out an image and then write text around it. Sometimes I would make the picture less blurry or put a transparent colour layer over it but I wasn't really using many features. I used to not know how to actually make a background but I learnt how to and made one for my latest signature which you can see in the blog header section with the Link picture on it. I just noticed that that signature is out of date because I finished another Zelda game recently on top of another Zelda game in the signature that I never talked about finishing.

A while ago, I finished Twilight Princess on the Wii (which is in the signature by the way).

It was a very good game and I don't know why some people were disappointed in it. I enjoyed it to the end. Not only was it one of the longest games I ever played and finished, it had great gameplay and a good storyline. I was trying to make it last longer and I tried to do everything I could do. The only thing that I can think of not doing is collecting 60 poes and collecting the bugs. I was around the halfway mark for both of the quests. Trying as hard as I could to make the game longer I got it done in 48 hours. You probably think this is very slow but after waiting for this game for around 2 years, I didn't want to ruch through it and make the next Zelda a very long wait till. I stretched out my playing time of Zelda for over 2 months which I am also very happy with. I don't think I have ever kept a game I am interested in going for that long. The dungeons were a lot easier this time around which I don't mind because they still required thinking about and I didn't rip my hair out attempting them. I didn't use a walkthrough to complete but I looked at the Gamespot walkthrough a few times to see how much more I had to do and also see how many sidequests there was.

I said there was another Zelda game I completed recently. It was Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link on the Gameboy Advance.

It was surprisingly fun. It is defintely an underrated Zelda game and I would recommend anyone who hasn't played it to buy it. You will get it very cheap. I got it for around 7 Euro. Although it is fun, I found it very hard. I had to use a walkthrough for it but even with a walkthrough it is still hard to get through a dungeon. The boss in the second dungeon, was the hardest boss ever. It took me ages to get past him. I finally understand the "I am Error" jokes I here. That was pretty random and funny. I didn't mind the graphics because I was too busy trying not to die and having fun. It was interesting that there was a level up system which I believe isn't in any other Zelda. This must have been revolutionary back when it came out. It had one of the coolest Zelda enemies in it too which I won't ruin for people but he was easy to beat.

That makes 7 Zeldas completed for me. That's OK considering that I played my first Zelda at the end of 2003. That was Wind Waker by the way. I'm still not sure which Zelda games I prefer over at the moment because I'd have to play them all after to eachother to remmeber how much I loved each one but thinking now, it stands like this (I don't know if I prefer Twilight Princess or Ocarina of Time so I put them both in 3rd and 4th place):

1.The Wind Waker
2.Majora's Mask
3.Ocarina of Time/Twilight Princess
4.Ocarina of Time/Twilight Princess
5.Minish Cap
6.The Adventure of Link
7.The Legend of Zelda

Even though I have them in a list like this, the games are very close together in how much I like them. I don't really like putting Minish Cap so far down the list because that is a truly amazing game but I just prefer the other a slightly but more. I'll have to replay Twilight Princess and Ocarina of Time again to figure out which one I think is better. I know my list is different than a lot of people's so please don't flame the blog post for having a different opinion. I just have to say, Zelda games rule so much. A Link to the Past is next on my list. Should I get it on the Gameboy or Virtual Console?

To finish of the blog post, I just want to keep you up on what I'm playing now. I got Hitman: Codename 47 recently. Great and hard game but my least favourite Hitman. I played Hitman 2: Silent Assassin recently, finished it and now I'mreplaying Hitman: Contracts. In my last blog, I said I got my 200th game which was Smackdown vs. Raw 2007 but my brother and I got 5 new games since then. Codename 47 was a shared game, my brother got Tomb Raider: Legend (Xbox 360) and Rainbow Six: Vegas (Xbox 360). I got Chili Con Carnage (PSP) which I have completed and it is a great PSP game; my 2nd or 3rd favourite PSP game and I got SSX Blur (Wii) which is a decent game but I haven't really got into it yet. I have no money now so I can't get God of War 2 or any other games that will come out soon. I probabaly won't be allowed to get God of War 2 anyway.

That's it for now. I'll see you on the forums and your profiles.

P.S. I went to my first soccer match yesterday. Ireland vs. Wales. Ireland won. Yes! It was also the first match played in Croke Park which if you were Irish, you would know that it is a big deal.

Maybe you have noticed or maybe you haven't but my activity on Gamespot hasn't been very frequent lately. This all started with my November (changed from Christmas) tests which started mid-november. I had to study obviously so before the 20th (the begginning of the tests) I also wasn't active. Just incase you were wondering, that is why I was happy that the Wii came out in Europe later or it would be out the day before my tests which would be quite annoying. I did okay in the tests but I was absent one day and missed a few. The geography test was the hardest test I have ever done which was the same opinion among my whole year. It was my worst result at 70% which is a B3 in Ireland.

The biggest news that I have for you which I'm sure you know about already if you have been looking at my profile. I finally got the *drum roll please*:

Nintendo Wii

I got the Wii on December 8th which was the European launch date. It was a great experince, getting a console the day it comes out which I have never done. I didn't go in at midnight though. It took a large chunk of my money but it was defintely worth it.I'm not sure what the system was in America but in Ireland, there is no numbers when you preorder. If you preorder within the limit (which is different for each shop) you are guaranteed one on the day. I preordered it two months before it came out which was before people actually knew what it was. It was quite strange-asking people about it around teh time of my preorder and recieving a blank face but arounf two weeks befoer the release date, everyone was talking about it. I was nearly the only one (maybe I was the only one) in my school to get it and play it at launch since thery were getting it for Christmas. Everyone was like: "what's it like" and such.

May answer to what I think of it, will be longer here. Basically, the Wii is brilliant. The motion sensing is better than I would have thought and it doesn't get tiring unless you are jumping around the whole room going crazy like I did the first day. The games for it are also brilliant in my own opinion.

Wii Sports
This game would only be popular on the Wii clearly and it comes with it anyway. The motion sensing really livens it up and what Nintendo is trying to get the Wii to do is working with this game-it is fun for all members of the family. I like tennis, baseball, bowling and golf (not a fan of boxing).

The Legend Of Zelda: Twilight Princess
I have been waiting for this for about two years at this stage and it certainly hasn't let me down. I am enjoying it more than any other Zelda athough I'll make the decision of my favourite Zelda after I finish it. It has great gameplay and an excellent story. I haven't got to far because I am trying to make it last as long as possible and I hadn't played it for two weeks because I got 4 games for Christmas. Just beause I haven't played it too much doesn't mean I don't like it.

Red Steel
I got Red Steel for Christmas as a last minute thing. Before the Wii came out, I thought I would get it but after the bad review Gamespot gave it, I wasn't too sure. My mam was having trouble getting me stuff for Christmas since I didn't ask for much (according to her). I wanted a Wii game and after a few minutes, just decided to get Red Steel and I'm glad I did. It really didn't deserve 5.5 because it is a really good game. I find shooting fun and teh Wii defintely livened it up since I don't like first-person shooters and the sword fighting is just amazing. Trust me, if you like shooting games and you have the Wii get this game and don't worry about the Gamespot review.

Now onto Christmas. My list to my parents was (simplified version):

Wii-mote
Wii nunchuk
Shadow of the Colossus (PS2)
Red Steel (Wii) (added on after surprises were bought)
Wii memory card (SD)
Surprise

My parents wanted to get me a few surprises because they thought that wasn't enough. They got my brother to get me the presents because they thought they would know what I want better. He forgot the memory card but I don't mind because I wasn't going to use it for a while.

My recieved games were:

Shadow of the Colossus (PS2)

Red Steel (Wii)

Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Double Agent (PS2)

WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2007 (PS2)

I got the Wii controllers and also a few DVDs and books.

I liked all the games but Shadow of the Colossus is my favourite. I've finished Shadow of the Colossus and Double Agent. I'm actually planning to get Double Agent on the 360 shared with my brother though since he has the power over the 360. HMV gave us the Smackdown vs. Raw 2007 case with 2006 inside which was funny but annoying. I got it replaced with no trouble though.

I went back to school today. The annoying thing was-my year went to France on a trip with the school but me and about 25 other students didn't go for whatever reason. I just didn't want to go. They are back from France later today so obviously no school for them but we were told, we had school. We went in today and were told we didn't have to come in but if we came in we weren't allowed to leave before the end unless of course you were sick or something. It was a waste of a day and I'm annoyed they changed their minds without telling us.

Well anyway, this blog has gotten pretty long so I'll finish up. I mightn't be active now but I'll try to get on. Leaders of unions I am an officer of-you can demote if you want because it's more the Wii that is keeping me off. Yazon is now the leader of my former union-The Stealthy Gamers Union- just so you know. I hope to see you people soon and Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. I hope 2007 is a great year for you, me and for gaming.

P.S. I also got my 200th game at Christmas. My brother got Gears of War, Knights of the Old Republic and F.E.A.R (360). If you're wondering why I add my brothers games, go to my game collection description.

Last Friday, I had my last day of school for the mid-term. It was great to get out as the 8 weeks is hard after having a long summer break but all this school will be worth it in the end (I hope). It's the Halloween mid-term break so I have a whole week off so more activity on Gamespot for me. School was interesting on Friday as instead of the children dressing up (we had a non-uniform day) like we used to, the teachers dressed up in scary costumes as long as the class of that teacher raised at least 50 Euro for charity. My class raised 215 Euro. It was a very intersting day.

In other news, two weeks ago I got braces. It's a big deal for me as they are defintely leaving a mark in my mouth. Thay are huge blocks pulling my bottom teeth forward and my top teeth back. Irritating but I'm sure that will be worth it also (I hope again as it is painful). I'm used to them but it is still annoying. It won't stop me from making video blogs as I can take them out. I haven't been making video blogs in the last whatever since the last one because I haven't got the time. I must make one this week.

In gaming news, I finished God Of War. I did this a while ago but I realised that I haven't made a written blog in ages. God Of War is a great game and I defintely enjoyed it. I can't wait for the sequel coming next year. My brother got Saint's Row but as I have said, his games are partially mine so I can play them and say I own them but he has the power over it. Likewise goes to the games I get. I haven't got to play it yet but I have seen it and I think it looks like an excellent game. Splinter Cell: Double Agent came out but I haven't got it yet. I'm saving my money for the Wii so I haven't any thing spare to afford it. I can't wait for it though. Games I am planning to get at the moment between now and Christmas are Double Agent, Vice City Stories, Shadow Of The Collosus, Twilight Princess (Wii), Wii Sports (as I am getting the Wii) and that's all I can think anout so far.

I am getting very excited about the Wii. 39 more days to go and I plan to get it at launch. I have 310 Euro but I have pre-ordered it with a deposit of 25 Euro. I'm pretty sure I have enough for what I want which is the Wii console and Twilight Princess. I'll get any other games I want later. I pre-ordered the Wii (well, my mam pre-ordered it when I was in school) from the Software Zone at Smyths. They have generally had the best offers of games from the shops I go. Ireland doesn't really know about the Wii yet and if my mam counted the pre-order book properly then I am around 6th or 7th since I wasn't given a number. I think they were taking pre-orders a good bit before I went which was the Thursday before the Friday when GameStop/EB Games started taking the pre-orders. I big difference in popularity of the Wii between Ireladn and America. Very few people have heard of it in my school and most of them heard it from me. They of course have heard of the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360.

In Gamespot news, I have gotten two new emblems since my last blog. The mortal combat one and the After Hours one. A bit easy to get but emblems nonetheless. Speaking of emblems, The Emblems Union, which I am an officer of, is growing very quickly so give it a visit. My Twilight Princess Delays video blog which I made over the summer has nearly reached its 2,000 view which is good and has recieved good feedback with 35 out 52 thumbs up. My union, The Stealthy Gamers Union, has grown quite a bit lately. I have the recruits and officers who have been inviting people to thank for that. The board is lacking activity though so please if you have the time, could you stop by and post a message or two. One of my officers, Yazon, has been making newsletters for the union that will completely blow you away. To check them out scroll down to the second newsletter (the first one is different) in this thread. Also if you have noticed, I did a small redesign of my profile page. I made a new banner and blog header. I didn't do a banner-blog header combine this time. They aren't great but they will do. All my favourite (and one hopefully future favourite game) games are shown in them. Prince of Persia, The Legend Of Zelda and Assassin's Creed are in the banner; Hitman and Metal Gear Solid are in the blog header and Splinter Cell is in my signature which is above.

That's about it. I had a lot to say since I waited ages to make a new blog. I'll try not to do that again. See you people later.

As I am sure everyone who is registered on Gamespot will know, that there is a new Nintendo console coming out soon. It is called the Nintendo Wii and is quite different to the average console of today. Here is some of the information about the Wii and my personal opinions on the console. I won't be talking about every single feature of it though.

The name may sound a bit strange to you as it did for many people when they first heard of it.The first colour available will be white but other colours including black will eventually be available. It can resting either vertically or horizontally which can be useful for when you are trying to fit it into different area. It will have a stand for vertical standing. It is very small in size and seems like a child compared the big Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. It is around 8.5 long, 6 inches wide and only 2 inches thick so it should be easy to find a place for it. It has a section to put Gamecube discs, Gamecube controllers and memory cards as it is backwards compatible with the Gamecube.

The most interesting feature is the controller. It is shaped like your standard television remote and when gaming, it can be used for a variety of things. It uses motion sensing and for example; if you were using a sword in the game, you would swing the wii-mote as it is called like you were using a sword and the game character should copy you. It would be the same principle when using a gun; you would point the controller at the screen and the cross-air should follow the wii-mote. Nintendo's aim was to make a controller that anyone of any gaming skill could use. It uses Bluetooth technology and the signal is sent to a reciever that you can place anywhere (better if you put it on top of the television). 

Other then the obvious button that you can see (and a "B" button in the back) the wii also has other features to the wii-mote).  It will have a built in speaker which will make noices that will be heard in the game. Taking Twilight Princess as an example: if you are going to use the bow, you will hear Link (the character you play as) pull back on the bow and release the arrow from the wii-mote. It will then travel to the TV and you will hear it hit the targe on the TV. This is a very good feature in my opinion. It will really help you get into the game. There is also a home button on the wii-mote that will bring you back to the home menu of the wii. I just hope I don't press it when I am going crazy slashing with the wii-mote.

There is also another controller as you can see in the picture. It is called the nunchuk. It has an analog stick which is used in many games today as you probably know which in always useful to have. It uses the motion sensing which is on the wii-mote. The nunchuk will be useful when using a second sword or a second gun. It has two buttons on the back as well. It connects to the wii-mote with an expansion port. The nunchuk won't be used for all game though. It won't be used for Wii Music Orchestra or at least parts of it.

This motion sensing thing won't be for everyone. A lot of people will just be stay with the regular controllers we know today. I think it will get tiring after long outbursts of using it but I certainly think it will be fun. Just be careful where you play when you get crazy with it. Make sure not to knock over anything.

There will also be a classic controller that will have a direction pad, x, y, a and b buttons, two analog sticks and four other buttons along the top. This will be used for playing virtual console games. You may have noticed that it looks similiar to  the Snes controller and won't feature motion sensing.

A new great feature that people are getting excited about are the Wii Channels. This is the place on the Wii that will give you a variety of different things to do on the Wii. In this will include the:

Mii Channel

This will let you make you own characters. It doesn't have too many options to use to make the character so far but it just a bit of fun. You will be able to play as these characters in Wii themed games like Wii Sports.

Virtual Console Channel

This will let you download Nintendo 64, SNES, NES, Sega Genesis and Soft TurboGrafix 16 games. This will be great if you ever wanted to play old games that you missed. For what they are though, they are a bit expensive. You will be able to buy these games with points (like the Xbox 360). The Nes games will be 500 points ($5), the SNES games will be 800 points ($8 ) and the N64 games will be 1000 points ($10) according to Gamespot. Al though, I probably won't use this feature unless there is few free samples it's always nice to have the option.

Internet Channel

This one is obvious from the title but it is a very useful feature. You get to go on the internet when you are using the wii. You download Opera with wii points. It is supposed to be free until June of 2007 though. Once again, I probably won't use this feature but it is still cool.

Other Wii channels include a message board, editing digital pictures and getting the latest news and weather reports making the wii a very resourceful product.

This is all well and good but when will it be out, how much will it cost and how many will there be for sale at launch. These questions were in every Nintendo fans minds for a long time and it was also the most well kept and rumoured about secret in the gaming world for a good time. At Nintendo recent press conference this information was released.

The Wii is going to retail $250 and will be released on November 19 in America. It will be white and will have the wii-mote, nunchuk and Wii Sports bundled with it. A lot of people were disappointed with the price even though it is very cheap to the Xbox 360 and the upcoming Playstation 3. Pople shouldn't have listened to the countless rumours that came out about it s there hopes wouldn't have come up. First party games (games made by Nintendo) will be around $50. It will be 25,000 Yen (hope I didn't scare you with the big number) and will be released in Japan on December 2. Australia will get the Wii on December 7 for AU$399.95. You won't have to buy the SD memory cards that the Wii supports at launch (I am not 100% on the price of one of these) since the Wii nas 512 MB built in flash memory that will keep you supported for a while.

Since I am an European gamer (Irish to be specific) I was waiting for the European news that would be released the next day after the American and Japanese news. It will retail for £180 and 250 Euro and will be released December 8. I was very happy with the price and the release date is fine for me. November 19 is the day before my early Christmas tests and it would be quite annoying for it to be out and I wouldn't have been able to get it. The games will be £40 and 60 Euro which is great for me as well.

Nintendo had originally said that they would have 4 million Wiis at launch but they are supposedly ahead of production. They think now that they can get to 9 million. This will give them the lead of the amount available at launch after both the Xbox 360 and PS3 shortages.

Overall, I think the Wii will do better than the Gamecube by a lot. I don't think it will sell the most. I think it will come last again with the PS3 winning again. I hope I am wrong though. I feel it will generally be used as a secondary console but it will be my primary console. The motion sensing will be extremly fun and will take a while to get old since game developers (paticularly Ubisoft) are supporting it due to the fact that it is cheap to develop games for it and it is sparking the imaginations of them thinking up new ideas to utilise the controller. The Wii channels will be rarely used with me as you may have noticed from my previous comments but it will defintely be cool for other gamers.

Thats about it for my editorial. I hope you enjoyed reading it and I wish the Wii the best of luck. I thank Gamespot and Nintendo.com for the information and the pictures that were in the blog post.