The Wii really took off when people started playing Wii Sports/Play round at friends houses. I can think of at least 4 that were bought after people had a go with ours.

I have read many comments from around the web saying that playing Nintendoland with friends is a real blast, with people spending whole evenings playing the Mario Chase, and Luigi games. If this has been your experience too, have your friends then gone off to buy their own? If so, we could see a similar growth pattern to the Wii, despite the low key marketing efforts.

Now that Smart TV's are becoming popular, with services like Netflix and Skype, will the next generation of consoles be better off focusing on games (and online services for those games) rather than the rush to be the living room media hub, which it looks like they will lose to the TV? This trend could benefit Nintendo again, since it has the largest stable of first party titles, even if they are not to the tastes of many on this board.

OK, so after freeing everyone I'm in the heart of the bad guys homeland. I meet one of the key enemies at the castle and get creamed. Do I just have to grind away on Grottoes, or is there a more interesting way? I'm not sure I'm ready to respec everyone at this point.

You need to calibrate the IR camera's sensitivity. It is picking up additional light sources. There is a setup screen that shows you what the camera sees, and there should only be 2 dots on the screen.

Do this when it is misbehaving and see what you see.

I've never been particularly good at these games, but years back I got hooked on Xenon 2 on the Atari ST. It was fun, without being bullet hell. Do any of the VC games have a similar vertical scrolling vibe?

Takashi Aoyama in Wired Magazine (http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2008/02/nintendos-takas/)

"Aoyama then pointed out how the blue flashing light on the Wii that lets you know when you have a new message is actually timed to the bird call of the Japanese bush warbler, a tiny bird whose distinctive chirp is heard throughout Japan in the spring and summer. The flashing of the blue light syncs up perfectly to the timing of the bird's chirp."

Worrying about quality too much can get you into terrible trouble!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zen_and_the_Art_of_Motorcycle_Maintenance

Thanks everyone. I shall take your advice and wait for Black/White.

Maybe I will get him one of the Mystery Dungeon games instead, as a way to introduce him to something new. Explorers of the Sky gets good reviews.

My young son will get a DSi for Christmas, but at the moment he is hooked on Pokemon Silver on an old Gameboy Color (13/16 badges). Is there enough of a difference to make it worth getting him Heart Gold? Otherwise we will wait for Black/White next year.

We already have a copy of Diamond and Pearl.