dadams.co.uk

While I was away, ‘Mario Kart’ for the Wii arrived. I’ve always been grateful that no-one except our neighbours could possibly see into our games room - the sight of a man holding a white plastic thing as someone would hold a baseball bat, or waving it around like a tennis racquet, must look a bit strange. We don’t get passers-by in our remote corner of Camberley, but if we did they now might see a man holding a white plastic steering wheel… and a small blonde girl telling him it’s only a game. That’s easy for her to say, she won’t be suffering peer-pressure from her brother-in-law.

Unlike ‘Wii Sports’ and ‘Mario & Sonic at the Olympics’, ‘Mario Kart’ doesn’t demand that you get off the sofa… so I’ve felt a bit of a couch potato today. But that aside, this is a great game. The steering wheel approach (the Wii controller just snaps in) works really well and is very responsive. The sore thumb comes from having to hold down the ‘2′ button in order to accelerate and keep the speed going. The button on the back of the controller is used for braking, but let’s face it, slowing down is for pansies.

The really nice feature about this new version (compared to the GameCube version) is the on-line competitive driving - I had a few goes today (the wife would say that’s an understatement), racing against opponents from France, Belgium, The Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Italy, Switzerland and Germany (obviously the people of Denmark and Norway have better things to do). It’s very easy to set up, assuming your Wii is connected to the Interweb. You can also do a world-wide game, but I bet there’s thousands of American kids who are already experts and will wipe the floor with me - I have been holding my own against my European rivals I’ll have you know.

You can also set up races against your registered friends (assuming you have any) - Choddo also has the game, and has set me up as a friend to race against. If anyone else I know wants to do the same, let me know.

There was a time when my beloved GameCube suited my needs. The graphics weren’t as good as some as it’s competitors, but it did offer Sega Soccer Slam. Enough said. Later in it’s lifespan I became addicted to FIFA 05, and I’m still progressing through the fifteen year career mode. Career mode is where you become a virtual manager, put a squad together and try to win as much as possible (and also control the players in every game, unless you elect to simulate the match and let the console take over).

Currently I’m managing Arsenal in the year 2015… I started at Leyton Orient (got them promoted and won the F A Cup), then managed Reading before moving onto Monaco (where I put Wayne Rooney, Fernando Torres and Ashley Cole in my line-up), then onto Real Madrid (welcome aboard Mr Steven Gerrard), and then AC Milan. Having brought more success to these already successful teams, I thought I’d bring some of my managerial magic to a team that needed it - Spurs. After two seasons of winning everything (the Premier League, domestic and European trophies) I moved onto Arsenal but failed to get many of my elite Spurs squad to join me. Not that it matters, I’m romping to success anyway.

Other fun aspects included buying greasy diving one-trick-pony Christiano Ronaldo from Man Utd, letting him rot in the Spurs reserves and watching his morale sink like a mafia informer wearing concrete wellies. I did also consider opting to manage Man Utd, selling all their best players, buying crap players, scoring own goals and guiding them to relegation, but I had my impeccable rating to preserve.

Compared to what can now be achieved on the modern consoles, the graphics on GameCube games leave a lot to be desired. But now I have a Wii, there seemed to be an obvious thing to go on my Christmas list… FIFA 08 Wii edition. But then I heard the news that was so catastrophic to my plan - the Wii edition doesn’t feature career mode. And let’s be honest, that’s a bit sh*t.

So now I have three options. The first is to wait until 2008 when Pro Evolution Soccer for the Wii is released. The second and third options are Xbox 360 or PS3 with FIFA 08 in whatever format. This is where I’m stuck (it’s a bit like the Archos versus iPod Touch argument which is still rattling around inside my head).

Choddo, a man who missed out on a mis-spent youth and now endulges in a mis-spent adulthood when he gets time, was absolute in his support for the Xbox. For a moment I thought he was going drive over and frog-march me into the Game store in Camberley to buy one… and they do have the Halo 3 editions of the Xbox in stock (nice shade of green, eh?). But while in the Camberley branch of Game the rather over-enthusiastic assistant manager all but declared his undying love and devotion to the PS3. According to him the graphics are better, the motion sensor controls are great, and the Blu-ray DVD player is an added bonus (assuming Sony win that format war).

Thoughts and opinions welcome.

I was going to entitle this entry “crikey, my arm hurts” but I decided not to. Apparently video games cause children (and adults) to become couch potatoes and obesity is the knock-on effect. Well, whoever said that obviously hasn’t worked their way up to Wii tennis pro status and then maintained that status in the face of fierce opponents of skill level 2,000. I reckon I’ve lost a few pounds, but I also have one arm like Charles Atlas.

Ports also has a Wii and has already destroyed a light shade - no such damage in the games room round at Adams Towers, although I did clout Lauren’s foot while swinging back a virtual bowling ball (hey, my top score is 246 - I’m a bowling pro too).

Baseball remains a bit of a challenge, and I’m glad no-one can see me through the window adopting the batting position.