This was written on the 7th of December 2006 and shown on another of my sites. I have done one change to the text compared to the one from the 7th, about the noise level of the Wii. I wrote before that it was very noisy, but I have not had that issue since. Expect an update on my experience with the Wii later this week.
Finally, the European launch of Wii happened. Hold on, some might say, first on the 8th of December, yes, that’s correct unless you live in Switzerland where the launch was on the 7th.

This was an opportunity that the guys at World of Games could not let go un-noticed, so they had a special midnight event (Their first ever midnight event). All starting at 21.00 (6th of Dec), people showed up and got coupon’s for the Wii itself. It was possible to buy games and accessories before midnight also of course. All this took place at the WOG shop in Oberenfelden, Switzerland.

I was there and took a few pictures, you might see some of the pictures are a bit blurred, but that’s the way it is when I take pictures…

Oh, one think, thanks to the crew of WOG for arranging this, I have a feeling that everybody thought it was a success but I do know that WOG also felt it was stress, first receiving some of the units on THE day.

So some pictures:

The big tent and the bar.. I’m not sure what the bar really offered as I just had coffee and coffee.

Inside the tent..

Wii sports…

Red Steel

And of course Zelda..

Oh, speaking of Zelda…

Anyway, you had to pass through the tent to get to the WOG store itself.. Here they gladly took you cash and returned a coupon, worth a Wii.

My coupon ;)

Stress in the store.

… So it was now time to go to the bar.. Here they had a nice display with a countdown..

37 min left only…

During that time they gave some Wii bags away to some lucky persons.. I was not one of them :(

Then it was time to queue up for the Wii.. This queue was moved around a few times before it was at the right place.

First place for the queue

Final place.. and what do we see here, a Wii Christmas truck pulling up… and who is inside…

Yeah, no kidding. Santa himself ;) The crowd got pretty excited at this point.

They gave some caps and so away, and then it was time for the Wii’s themselves…

I got mine 00.13 and started on my drive back home, just 60 km…

So what did I get out of all this… Well here goes:

Wii, Classic Controller (Was told it was the last one they had), Wii Play, Zelda, Monster 4×4.

Some Wii points, 2GB SD card.. Two t-shirts (Burnout Revenge).. and since I didn’t get any caps or Wii bags I was the lucky owner of a Wii lighter..

So does Nintendo recommend smoking while playing Wii.. I guess NOT…

Wii unpacked…

Wii vs Xbox 360 ;)

Wii where it should be… Oh, see the black stuff below the TV, that’s the sensor bar.. smaller than expected.

So time to get it started, all went smooth. Was able to connect to internet (wireless) within minutes and then….

No kidding, updating…

That was the end of the pictures… The Wii just worked as it should, no problems with the controller or any thing. One thing to note, the News and Forecast channels are not yet active, maybe first tomorrow with the full European Launch !! The shop channel works, offering several older titles. No internet browser yet.

I played one game before heading to bed, Wii Sports, just tried Tennis and WOW, works really really well.
Anyway, over and out, time for work and then Wii.