Wii fever hits <i>South Park</i>

Last month, the Comedy Central show South Park turned to the ongoing success of World of Warcraft for inspiration. When foul-mouthed grade-schoolers Kyle, Stan, Kenny, and Cartman are wronged by an obscenely powerful player killer, the quartet forsake the real world and lose themselves (and their knowledge of basic hygiene) in Blizzard's massively multiplayer online role-playing game to get revenge.

This week, the show returned to the apparently fertile comic grounds of gaming, as Wednesday night's episode featured a subplot where Cartman can't contain his anticipation for the Nintendo Wii. Unable to wait out the weeks until the system's release, Cartman concocts a plan to bury himself in snow and enter a state of suspended animation until the Wii launches.

As one would expect, Cartman's plan goes awry, and his frozen form is covered by an avalanche, then discovered and unfrozen hundreds of years in the future. Unconcerned that all of his friends and family died centuries ago, Cartman's first thoughts upon being woken from his cryogenic slumber are of the Wii. Unfortunately, the civilization he finds himself in has no games and is instead embroiled in a multifront conflict involving sentient sea otters.

The show ended with a note that it was "to be continued," presumably next Wednesday. The episode, which made sure to mention the Wii's November 19 release date and motion-sensing controllers, was sponsored by the PlayStation 2 exclusive Final Fantasy XII.