Quick Wii Observations

• As the sensor bar is just two LEDs, any game that relies on measuring the distance from the Wii Remote to the screen can be foiled by moving the Remote to the sides (so to the Remote's camera, the sensor's LEDs are closer, making it appear further away). It's a shame that Nintendo didn't add a third off-plane LED allowing the Remote to do proper 3D positioning through its camera.
• Games that rely on multiple players with pointers (e.g. Super Monkeyball) often require the players to calibrate their controls at the start of each round, since each player may be at different angles from the television.
• The Remote seems to be aware of absolute up/down - flipping the sensor bar and/or covering the camera then rotating the wiimote in a haphazard fashion (so as to induce gyro/accelerometer error) and uncovering the camera while the remote is upside down still results in the remote being perfectly aware of which way is up.
• Further, if you hold the remote steady and move the sensor bar around in front of it, it will track properly - if you then rotate the sensor bar, it will work up to about 45 degrees, at which point the Remote cuts out (as what it's seeing and what its internals tell it are out of whack).
• Wii Sports Tennis and Baseball don't really care about how you hold the Remote, as long as you produce movement - you can play both games by just rolling the remote along any axis, and don't have to mimic the on-screen actions (e.g. you can serve, forehand and backhand in Tennis by eating ice-cream with your Remote).
• In games like Boxing and Golf, there are frequently better ways to control things than what the manual says - in Boxing, glove position is determined solely by rotation, not position, and you can also punch by flicking at the wrist, rather than punching outwards, likewise, in Golf you get more power/control by flicking at the wrist, rather than putting from the elbow).
• General impressions are that the pointer is very accurate, the motion controls less so - I am wondering if a proper one-to-one sword combat game is even possible. I extra-want someone to figure out how to pair the remote with a PC (and write whatever drivers are needed), just so I can see how good/bad the raw sensor data is.
• Super Monkeyball demonstrated that first person shooters could be very good on the Wii. Though after playing Gears of War on the 360 then Zelda on the Wii, I cry for the Wii's lack of processing power.
• I can see this console getting a lot more use than my 360. I haven't seen anyone who didn't like it.

Successful camping out for the Wii

And by 'camping out' I mean 'sleeping next to my computer with the sound turned way up':

// ==UserScript==
// @name           WiiNotifier
// @namespace      http://www.amazon.com/
// @description    Make some noise if the Wii 
//                 appears to be available
// @include        http://www.amazon.com/Nintendo-Wii/dp/B0009VXBAQ
// ==/UserScript==

(function() {
  if (document.body.innerHTML
      .indexOf("This item is currently not available.") 
      == -1) {
    unsafeWindow.location.href =
      "file:///G:/Music/Ministry%20Of%20Sound%20-"
      + "%20The%20Annual%202007/CD1/09%20-%20Benassi"
      + "%20Bros%20-%20Feel%20Alive.mp3";
  } else {
    unsafeWindow.setTimeout("window.location.reload()",
                            6000 + Math.random()*8000);
  }
})();

The only issue was that after it woke me up, I couldn't immediately get to the Amazon page because the script kept detecting that the Wii was available and so kept redirecting to the MP3. My brain was still booting at the time, so it took a few precious seconds to figure out how to disable the script ('precious seconds' is right - the page now says that they sold out in less than a minute).

After both BestBuy and RadioShack cancelled my preorders for the Wii and PS3, I was a bit skeptical of any store selling them, so I ordered from a few, and now it looks like I have two Wiis on the way. Oh DARN!