photojunkie

This was taken outside of the Seagram’s Distillers Lofts in Waterloo, Ontario. We were out there visiting Firda and Troy during my GTA Wii Tour. They have since found and purchased their own Wii.

Back at the beginning of February, my friend Maria hosted a Wii Wednesday in her downtown condo. Present were Joey and Wendy

Games Played – Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz, Wii Sports, Wario Ware Smooth Moves, Rayman Raving Rabbids.

Flickr URL * http://flickr.com/photos/photojunkie/400360866/

For some reason, half my photos from Wii Sushi night at Derek’s were corrupt. So I don’t have a shot of the table full of hommade sushi (like well over 100 pieces). Nor do I have any good shots of Derek actually playing the Wii.

We had an amazing time though.

Games Played : Wii Sports, Rayman Raving Rabbids, Wario Ware Smooth Moves, Excite Truck.

Flickr URL * http://www.flickr.com/photos/photojunkie/382403764

In this week’s edition of Button Mash This!, we examine the phenomenon that is the Wii Party, we take a peek at some hot new titles on the horizon, and we get our free on with some freeware. Don’t forget to bundle up, it’s getting cold out. Hold on to your drawstrings, here we go!

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Andy playing Rayman Raving Rabbids

This week’s Wii Wednesday brought us out to Andy Walker’s swanky pad in the west end of town. It was an intimate event of three as we we’re join by his roommate and web designer, Steve Huntriss. The smaller crowd and access to Andy’s wifi actually allowed us to completely tour through all of the Wii online capabilities. It also proved that Steve’s coding on both the Cyberwalker site and Little Geeks site was dead on, rendering perfectly in Wii’s Opera browser. We also discovered the importance of giving users the ability to increase font size (as most sites are harder to read on the browser. NOTE: the Wii was setup for widescreen in this instance, so that may have had some influence on the fonts size). I also learned that the browser doesn’t quite know what to do with Flash content as we tried to watch a video on Andy’s Lab Rats site.

See this is what happens when you visit an internet geek’s place like Andy. You end up checking out the online features for the first hour before getting into the games. As well as discuss the pros and cons of Vista.

I assure you, we did finally get some play in and proved to Steve and myself that Andy’s not the most co-ordinated person, especially during some of the Rayman Raving Rabbids mini games. Although he did redeem himself at the end of the evening by beating us out during a game of Darts on Wario Ware: Smooth Moves.

Games Played – The News Channel, The Weather Channel, The Internet Channel, The Mii Channel, Wii Sports, Excite Truck, Rayman Raving Rabbids, Wario Ware : Smooth Moves.

Flickr URL * http://flickr.com/photos/photojunkie/376236303

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The third stop of the Photojunkie GTA Wii Tour brought us out to Ryan’s place in the east end. We actually got through a sampling of quite a number of games throughout the evening and I witnessed my first flying remote, when BlogTO contributor Penar let go of it during Wii Sports. I was shocked, but no damage was done.

It was quite an amusing evening considering all the attendees were filled with testosterone and all contributors to BlogTO. The evening ended with us huddled around Ryan’s computer checking out some really funny video’s on YouTube. Hmm, you know, we could have actually done it on the Wii’s Opera browser, perhaps next time.

Games Played – Excite Truck, Tony Hawk’s Down Hill Jam, Wii Sports, Wario Ware : Smooth Moves, Rayman Raving Rabbids.

Last night we did the second stop on the Photojunkie GTA Wii Tour. This landed us at Sean and Michelle’s new loft, right in the heart of the city. Another amazing view, that I didn’t get a chance to photograph. We chowed down on some chips and dip and made off like raving rabbids, sheering sheep, pulling worms from teeth, bowling, darts etc.

Games Played – Wii Sports, Rayman Raving Rabbids and Wario Ware: Smooth Moves.

You can see more pictures from Tanja and Stephen as well as a couple more from me after the jump.

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Wii are officially booked with the photojunkie GTA Wii Tour all the way through to the end of February. We even have a date booked in Waterloo (on a Saturday). I feel like the two Japanese guys in the Wii commercials. Going from home to home, spreading the good word. But in all serious, it’s a lot of fun, especially watching people play for the very first time.

I’m also excited because I’ll soon have more titles to tote around, since Wario Ware : Smooth Moves is being released this week and Wii Play is being released in Mid-February. They’ll both be nice additions to the tour. I also had a chance to play the Wii version of Super Monkey Ball over the weekend. With a slew of party mini games it will be an excellent addition to the Wiibrary.

PS: Did anyone else notice? According to Wii.com, The News Channel will be available on January 27. Strangely enough, I haven’t seen this news on any of the usual gaming blogs that I follow (perhaps I’m simply really behind in the news).

PPS: If you are hosting one of the tour dates, Don’t be surprised if I end up showing this video “Some Tips About How to Play Wii” to your guests. I didn’t mention this last week, but I did execute my first Wii releated injury at the first tour stop. I ended up cutting myself on my own fingernail while playing Rayman. The quick up and down motion of the Wiimote and nunchuk during the Cow Milking mini game totally got me.

The photo of Ange from the Wii Tour is being featured on BlogTO as a part of their Friday Flickr Forum.

Also the SX-70 giveaway is burning up with ballots, however the PSP games giveaway there is no peep. There is still lot of stuff to giveaway and even more to be announced.

Last night, we had celebrated the first stop of the photojunkie GTA Wii Tour at Ange and Tom’s place, just south of the Danforth. Perched high on the 17th floor, they have an amazing view of the city, which strangely I never got around to photographing. Being the host of the evening Ange served up some healthy food options in her 80-esque tennis outfit. I think all who attended (their friends Steve and Nora) enjoyed themselves. There’s nothing like mixing snacks and wine and wii.

Games Played – Wii Sports, Rayman Raving Rabbids and Donkey Kong (Virtual Console).

Flickr URL * http://www.flickr.com/photos/photojunkie/353533756/

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So I was chatting with Ang about the Wii tour and she told me she was gonna dress up like an 80’s tennis player; short shorts, big sunglasses, and sweatbands. This then reminded me of Andre Agassi and the Canon commercials he did in the early 90’s. After a quick search, voila they were on You Tube.

The mullet and the fashion are just too much. Also check out the evolution of the commercials 1993, 1995 and 1997.

So I’m ready to hit the road and spread the word about the Wii. You gotta play it and you’ll instantly love it. Back in 2006, I had Frank and Maria over at our place to play it. We also had it running during our Hawaiian Holiday Luau. Now we are ready to take it on the road.

So here’s the deal. I’m gonna start doing Wii Wednesdays. All you gotta do is sign up (leave a comment) and provide a TV to play on and some food to munch on. I’ll bring the Wii and you can invite a handful of friends over to your place.

Sign up is on a first come first serve basis. I’ll email you back to confirm your spot.

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So my sister’s still a little busy doing catch up before the holidays and there were a few links I really wanted to write about, so i’m filling in again.

Official Rabbid Merch Available
Still don’t know what to get me for Christmas? Well I personally think this official Rabbid pack by Ubi Art is awesome. You can pick them up via Ubisoft for £14 for the set of four or £4 each. They also have a plushie for £7 which is alright, but not as animated looking as I would have hoped for (I was planning on sewing up my own before this was announced, maybe I still might, I could use a Holiday project to work on). They are also carrying some cool shirts if that is more your style. via That Game Blog.

OMG, Animal Crossing DS Stylus Pens!!!
The NCS which are a company that distributes Japanese imports and merch in the US currently has a shipment of Cool Animal Crossing Merchandise. The first that caught my eye were the Animal Crossing DS Stylus Pens. These are way too cute. And you can get a whole set of 6 for 20 USD. Sounds like a great deal to me, considering I had picked up a two DS stylus pen pack in the US earlier this year for 20, and they were a simple black and white design. I wonder if my sister bought my Christmas gift yet? This would be an awesome stocking stuffer. Other notable items are the Animal Crossing DS Lite pouches and Animal Crossing finger puppets. via Wonderland blog

There’s more Wii related game news after the jump, including Wiimote strap replacement info and Elite Beats giveaway.

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