Top Ten Wii Complaints

1up has an article listing the top 10 complaints from Wii owners. The items can be broken down thusly:

• 1. VC Games Tied to Individual Wiis: Lug your Wii over to your friend’s house or have your friend buy the games. The Wii offers you no ability to log into your account externally and play a downloaded VC (virtual console) game elsewhere.
• 2. Getting Online: Wii forces owners to go wireless – whether they want to or not.
• 3. Being Online: No games beyond VC games. So… what’s the point?
• 4. 20 Hour Battery Life: On the controller. Stock up on AAs if you want to be able to use it frequently.
• 5. Classic Controller: Needed for a lot of VC games makes it an almost must buy “optional” accessory. Also, you must plug it into the Wiimote draining its battery life. (Me thinks Nintendo has a secret deal with the battery companies).
• 6. No Pack-in Component Cables: More “must buy” optionals that drain the pocketbook. Got a Gamecube? Those won’t work on the Wii – sorry.
• 7. Not Region Free: Just plain unfortunate.
• 8. Weak Wrist Strap: Apparently.
• 9. Short Sensor Bar Code: P.i.t.A for those with front projection TVs.
• 10. Mii Shortcomings: Here they just ran out of things to name and didn’t want to have a top 9 list.

So there you have it. You can visit the 1up site for their more in-depth explanations of the complaints.

None of these complaints seem entirely crucial to me. A couple of extra purchases is hardly surprising when you buy an electronic item. Re-chargeable batteries solves the battery problem (and is better for the environment!) The not-region free thing sucks a bit, but it’s hardly a shocking revelation. It is, however, one of the main reasons I’m going to splurge on a PS3 after all. For someone like me who jumps across the Pacific a lot, a region free console is a must.

And the wrist strap thing? Just be more careful. Maybe I’ll sing a different tune when I’m the one breaking my monitor or TV by accident …