Selling The Wii

In recent months I’ve been thinking more and more about selling my Wii. I had hoped that the release of Animal Crossing City Folk and the WiiSpeak microphone would be enough to keep me waggling. While they did buy the Wii a short reprieve, I have realized that I have more important things going on and I could use the extra money that selling the Wii would bring. So, as of this weekend, I have listed my Wii on Craigslist.

Are You Crazy?

I may be, but I also know that the demand is still very high for Nintendo’s little white box. That’s one of the great things about Nintendo. Their consoles and games always retain their value very well. Very rarely do you see a first party Nintendo game drop in price. And we know that the console itself won’t be going for less than $250 any time soon. That being said, I have confidence that I can make most of my money back.

But Why?

Even before the “holy crap we’re having a baby!” moment, I had considered selling, but something always kept me from it. I love being able to say I own all three current-gen systems, something I’ve never been able to say before. But, there comes a point when you have to take a good, hard look at your own gaming habits and realize just what kind of gamer you really are.

Friend Codes

The single biggest complaint I have about the Wii (and DS for that matter) is the friend code system. Nintendo have basically taken something that should be so easy and intuitive and turned it into a 12-digit mess. And not only do you have a friend code for your console, you have different codes for each game! Personally, I’m tired of constantly updating a Word document with names and friend codes. It’s labor intensive and not very fun. The opposite of what I want in my gaming.

I’m An Adult

Don’t get me wrong on this one. I loved Super Mario Galaxy. What I don’t love is browsing the Wii section in the store and seeing five different cooking games, four generic party games, and several based on tv gameshows. And don’t even get me started on games like My Horse And Me or the Petz series. I know these games aren’t aimed at my demographic, but that just goes to prove my point. I would like to see some blood and violence, not care for my horse in some low budget shovelware.

Peripherals

The initial cost of a Wii is $250. What they don’t tell you is what it will cost if you want to play Gamecube games or downloaded titles. Then the cost of a SD card. Then the nunchucks. I realized when adding up the cost of all of these things, I spent more on peripherals than the console itself. Last time I checked, I want to spend money on games, not accessories. Pretty soon we will be asked to buy the Wii MotionPlus add on for our controllers in order to make them more accurate. Enough is enough.

To Sum Up

I’ve given the Wii a chance to win my heart. I could easily sell my PS3 instead of the Wii, but at the end of the day, my PS3 is a much more usefull console simply because I use it to watch blu-ray movies. Also, thinking about the upcoming releases for this year, I can only think of two titles that interest me at all. That, coupled with the fact that I’m only going to have to buy more peripherals, means I just can’t justify keeping the Wii in my entertainment center. It’s a great console, but sometimes you have to make the hard choices.

The question I have for you Wii owners is this; do you have a Wii because it’s the thing to do, or do you have it for the games? I think some of you might be surprised by the answer.