Geek on Two Wheels

Diablo III!

Take that, all you non-believers.

I haven’t touched my Wii since a few weeks after Mario Kart Wii was released; I’ve yet to complete half of 150cc, much less unlock and beat the mirror stages. This does not mean the Wii has been neglected all this time, however, as my younger brother has been honing his Kart-racing skills, and I have no doubt he can now kick my ass at the game.

Recently, I’ve noticed that he’s discovered online play via the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connect service. Now, it’s no secret that WFC is considered the most restrictive and broken match-up system of the three, and it’s unimaginable why Nintendo would abuse it’s loyal customers in such an inhumane way.

… until now.

No ass hats, no wankers, no potty mouths, no bratty 12-year olds, and no annoying teenagers. Well, at last on the surface, but even the biggest fuckwad is of no threat if you eliminate all communication between it and its audience.

My brother logs on, hops into a random game, has his fun, and repeats until he’s had his fill. (Or used up his video-game time for the day)

It’s frankly—dare I say it?—ingenious from a parenting point of view.

Touché, Nintendo. Touché.

1504-6106-4741

You know what to do.

(Also, my Wii’s address code is 5238-6968-4962-0503.)

It would appear that the Wii shortage is not limited to the console itself, the controller, then the Nuchuck accessory, but also the a certain newly released game that is bundled with a controller accessory.

While there were literally mountains of Guitar Hero III bundles for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation available at various retail outlets, I’ve so far had no luck locating a Wii version to purchase. Either RedOctane is screwing with us “casual” Wii gamers, or executing mad-riffs via a Bluethooth remote is on its way to becoming the hottest thing since watching your family members and friends wave Bluetooth remotes around like hyperactive wizards-in-training.

Here’s hoping that my luck improves, because having to put in effort to spend money is just not worth it.

Rubik’s Cubes, to be exact.

My package of 2x2x2, 4x4x4, and 5x5x5 Rubik’s Cubes (and some extra Cube-accessories) finally arrived in the mail today. These East Sheen cubes don’t feel as hefty as the Rubik’s brand cubes, but they are super smooth to spin, and seems to have already been lightly lubricated. No wonder people recommend these for speed cubing.

The 2x2x2 was pretty trivial to solve, considering it’s just the corners of a standard cube. The 4x4x4 took me a while, but I did manage to do it eventually.

I’ve yet to attempt the 5x5x5 cube, but I’m sure it won’t be easy.

On a less gross note, I managed to acquire a Wii from The Real Canadian Superstore before heading to work on a Saturday for some pre-release crunch work.

Hoorays!

• Nintendo DS ruins relationships
• Dance Matt, dance!
• Open Source games, and lots of ‘em!
• Burnaby Mountain group rides
• Cats that look like Hitler…?!

I just can’t seem to get enough of this Nintendo DS thing.

Not moments ago, I noticed that the charging light on my borrwoed DS is turned off, no doubt indicating that the device is now fully charged, just waiting for me to pick it up and play another few rounds of Meteos.

Now, this meaningful indicator thing may not appear to be a big deal, but I’m sure we’ve all had our share of recharging devices where we, the user, had to spend effort to find out whether or not that device still needed charging. For example, the charger that came with my used cellphone has an red LED which turns on when it is plugged in, regardless of the amperage that is actually going through the thing: a completely useless indicator, other than perhaps seeing if your wall plugs are indeed giving you power.

The DS, on the other hand, only needs to be glanced at. If the orange light is on, it’s charging; if it’s off, it’s good to go.

Kudos Nintendo—kudos.

Great: it’s now almost 2 and I’ve just managed to put down Minish Cap. And here I was planning to get to bed at midnight…

Nintedo DS lite, the third look, by Cabel.

Can’t wait.