We bought an XBox360. Unfortunately, it seems that we bought it mostly for the playability of one or two games, as it spent more man-hours playing netflix instaqueue to us than it did as a video game machine.

We’re also aware of the Kinect for Xbox and its imminent arrival to the gaming landscape (seriously, have you SEEN Kinectimals? I’ve died twice from the cute already and I haven’t even played the game.).

Why buy a Wii when the Kinect is like a controllerless Wii?

Clearly, the answer is because we’re gluttons for punishment.

However, in the interests of avoiding buying yet ANOTHER gaming system for just one or two games, we decided to demo as many games as we could before deciding.

Behold!

Tami’s Tiny, Biased List Of Wii Game Reviews

based on limited play time and three adult gamers

Wii Sports Resort

4 out of 5 stars

With that many mini-games, there’s something in there for anyone. Even if you only like two or three of them, you’re still left with two or three incredibly fun games to play. My favorites were bowling, archery, and canoing. Great party game, and low-key enough for the whole family.

MarioKart

5 out of 5 stars

I’m a fan of the original MarioKart (yes, the REALLY old one) and this game reminds me of how much fun I had way back then. Unlocking new levels, modes, carts, and characters ensures that the completionists in the crowd won’t get bored with it after only an hour or so of gameplay.

RockBand

7 out of 5 stars

I haven’t actually played RockBand for Wii, but the Xbox360 version rocks my socks off. I have no reason to believe the Wii version would be any different.

Okami

? out of 5 stars

This one took so long for the backstory to let you play that we didn’t actually PLAY it much. What little we saw and played was incredible, though. Gorgeous graphics and fun controls. This one’s almost certainly going to be a win for us, but I’d feel bad starring it when we didn’t even finish the first level.

Deadly Creatures

5 out of 5 stars

I got this one on a lark, I’ll be honest. To my surprise, it was hellaciously fun. You trade off levels playing as a tarantula and a scorpion, and the control system was incredibly fun. You use both the wiimote and the nunchuck – and you REALLY use them. Every button and motion does something for this game, and it’s really beautifully done. I didn’t even care that Billy Bob Thornton did some of the voice acting for the human’s storyline – I was too busy eating grubs and killing crickets!

Tetris Party

5 out of 5 stars

This one, I’m rating on behalf of Mr. Moore and my mom, who spent a LONG time playing it. They loved it. I was busy playing Deadly Creatures at the time. *winks*

Cooking Mama

1 out of 5 stars (yes, these are actual ratings – the other games just happened to be awesome)

Slice, dice, peel, and cook your way to fantastic food. Unfortunately, the controls with the wiimote were incredibly difficult to actually maneuver and the instructions were so vague that we were often left flailing about, trying to figure out what the game wanted us to do. The idea is good, but I didn’t enjoy the game much at all.

Samba de Amigo

2 out of 5 stars

I’m giving this one the benefit of the doubt. We may have been standing too close to the sensor when we tried it, which would result in it not picking up the outer “maracas” motion. Even so, I managed to throw so much “arreeeba!” into my maraca swings that I hurt my elbows after only a few songs. It was fun and crazy, but I think it would get old fast.

Super Smash Brothers Brawl

2 out of 5 stars

That’s a pretty low rating for a game this fun and popular, but bear with me. When we started, none of us had a clue what we were doing. CHAOS. None of us really enjoyed it, though it was certainly flashy. As soon as one of us would learn a move or three, we’d totally annihilate the others. If everyone playing this game was adept at it, I think it would be fun. If anyone in the group is new at it, I think the fun flies right out the window.

Super Mario Brothers Wii

3 out of 5 stars

I may be rating this one too low. This is another where a less proficient player is going to be left behind in a hurry. I like that there are elements of working together, but there are also a LOT of ways to make sure the people you’re playing with aren’t having a good time – even if you don’t intend to. I don’t know how long it would take for this game to get boring.

Monster Hunter Tri

?? out of 5 stars

This is the game that Mr. Moore and I keep coming back to, thinking that maaaaaybe a wii would be worth a single game, if it was worth this one. Unfortunately, we were unable to try Monster Hunter Tri during our marathan playtime. We still hold out hope.

Summary

We still haven’t made a decision, although right now it looks promising.  There definitely appears to be more than one game we’d enjoy, though we’d still like to play Monster Hunter Tri before deciding.

Tech Lounge

If you’re anywhere near Steven’s Point, Wisconsin, I cannot recommend the Tech Lounge enough. They allow gaming on any system (and they have everything all the way back to atari!) based on an hourly, per-person cost. They’ve also got delicious, low-priced coffee drinks for those crazy folks taking advantage of their Friday Night 9-midnight special (like us!).

We were able to hang out, drink coffee, and play a ridiculous number of video games. I look forward to our future visits!

Heal

Blizzard Says

Heal (available at level : While priests already have a spell called Heal, the existing version becomes obsolete at higher levels, which is something we intend to change in Cataclysm. Introduced at a low level, the “new” Heal spell will functionally work much like a down-ranked Greater Heal did in the past, adding more granularity to your direct-healing arsenal. If you need to heal someone a moderate amount and efficiency is an issue (making Flash Heal the incorrect spell for the job), then Heal is what you want to use. Heal is intended to be the priest’s go-to direct-healing spell unless they need something bigger (Greater Heal) or faster (Flash Heal). We will be following a similar philosophy with all the healing classes.

Tami Says

Okay, so it seems like Blizz wants FUTURE priest direct healing to fall into three buckets.

• Flash Heal “I want it fast”
• Heal “I want it efficient”
• Greater Heal “I want it BIG”

In the PAST, the direct heals had only two buckets.

• Flash Heal “ohcrapohcrapohcrap. pleasedontdiepleasedontdie…” (repeated)
• Greater Heal “I want the biggest bang for my buck.” (with “buck” being both mana cost and time spent healing in this instance.)

My understanding of the CURRENT priest healing situation is that there’s only one bucket.

• “lawl, what’s ‘Mana Efficiency’? Is that like a saltwater fish?”

From this, I can assume that cataclysm healing will rely heavily on use of the Heal spell, with Greater Heal probably being used more in Tank-healing situations and Flash Heal being used more in raid-healing situations. Personally, I’m okay with anything that makes healing more fun than reading your average “Dick and Jane” picturebook.

Mind Spike

Blizzard Says

Mind Spike (level 81): Deals Shadowfrost damage and puts a debuff on the target that improves subsequent Mind Spike damage. The intent of Mind Spike is to fill a niche missing in Shadow DPS, though it may be occasionally useful for healers as well. Mind Spike provides a quick nuke to use in situations where the priest doesn’t have time to set up the normal rotation, such as when adds are dying too fast or you have to swap targets a lot. Spamming Mind Spike will do about as much damage as casting Mind Flay on a target afflicted with Shadow Word: Pain. The idea behind the debuff is that when you cast Mind Spike, we expect you to cast a lot of them; we don’t intend you to fit it into an already full Shadow rotation. It also provides Shadow with a spell to cast when locked out of the Shadow school. (School lockouts will no longer affect both schools for multi-school spells.) 1.5-second cast. 30-yard range. No cooldown.

Tami Says

Shadow priesting? PFT, like I know anything about shadow priesting. I’m sure SOME of you care, though, so I’ll make an attempt.

Oh, who am I kidding? In Cataclysm, shadow priests will have one button in the center of the screen. This one. Keep pushing it.

On a serious note, I’m not entirely sure why this spell is even needed. Granted, I’m still working my way through the new content and I’ve never played a shadow priest, but trash pulls seem to favor AOE use rather than single target spells, and there aren’t many single-target pulls that are going to die so fast that you wouldn’t want to use your full shadow rotation on. Am I missing something here? My hunter can’t even get a single steady shot or more than one arcane shot off if I try and single-target trash mobs.

If it dies fast, aoe it down. If it dies slow, use your full rotation.

Where would Mind Spike come in handy? (Also, Blizz, if stacking Mind Spike on a boss out dps’s even a halfhearted attempt at a shadow rotation, I shall be very VERY sad. Mordor tried that whole “one ring to rule them all” thing and we see how well THAT worked out.)

Inner Will

Blizzard Says

Inner Will (level 83): Increases movement speed by 12% and reduces the mana cost of instant-cast spells by 10%. This buff will be exclusive with Inner Fire, meaning you can’t have both up at once. Inner Fire provides a spell power and Armor buff; Inner Will should be useful on a more situational basis.

Tami Says

My prediction? The number-crunching, spreadsheet-loving folks at Elitist Jerks will tell us which of these (Inner Will and Inner Fire) is better, and that’s the one we’ll use.

My thoughts? Inner Will will be for raid healing and Inner Fire will be for tank healing. I imagine raid healing to include a lot of HoTs and bubbles, while tank healing would want more throughput on a heal and have more cast-time heals than raid healing. Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc (nobody here knows latin, right?) the personal buff to insta-cast spells (Inner Will) would be more useful for raid healing and the personal buff for spellpower (Inner Fire) would be good for tank healing.

Leap of Faith

Blizzard Says

Leap of Faith (level 85): Pull a party or raid member to your location. Leap of Faith (or “Life Grip”) is intended to give priests a tool to help rescue fellow players who have pulled aggro, are being focused on in PvP, or just can’t seem to get out of the fire in time. Instant. 30-yard range. 45-second cooldown.

Tami Says

Twitter is…um…all “a-twitter” about this particular spell, and with good reason. This spell makes me turn my head to an impossible angle, sqwunch my eyes shut and use a high-pitched voice to say “REALLY?”

I see this being used to grief folks as often as possible, especially in LFD groups.

I see this being used to force priests to baby-sit dpsers who repeatedly refuse to learn how to NOT stand in fire.

If I am a healer, I am NOT going to be happy to be asked to use a spell to watch and make sure that not only am -I- not standing in fire, neither are you. While you’re at it, howsabout I make you a peanut butter and jelly sammich and wipe your bottom?

NO.

Maybe I just need more information. I don’t PVP, so any PVP use for this spell doesn’t apply to me. The spell says I can use it on someone who has pulled aggro. Is it an aggro dump for that person? No? So I just yanked a dude with aggro TO STAND RIGHT NEXT TO ME? Where, one presumes, a thundering horde of cleaving, aoe-ing mobs will descend upon me.

REALLY, Blizzard?

Changes to Abilities and Mechanics

Blizzard Says

In addition to introducing new spells, we’re planning to make changes to some of the other abilities and mechanics you’re familiar with. This list and the summary of talent changes below it are by no means comprehensive, but they should give you a good sense of what we intend for each spec.

1. All HoTs and DoTs will benefit from Haste and Crit innately. Hasted HoTs and DoTs will not have a shorter duration, just a shorter period in between ticks (meaning they will gain extra ticks to fill in the duration as appropriate).
2. We want to bring back Shadow Word: Death as an “execute” — something you do when the target is at 25% health.
3. While we want to keep the priest’s role as a well-rounded healer, we also want to make sure the class is a viable tank healer, which is something priests moved away from a little in Wrath of the Lich King. Greater Heal will probably be the tank-healing spell of choice, though we’ve also discussed giving Discipline a second shield so that they have a small shield to cast on lots of different targets, and a big, more expensive shield to cast on a tank or anyone else taking a ton of damage.
4. Divine Spirit and Prayer of Spirit will be removed from the game. As Spirit will be the primary mana-regeneration stat, we don’t want it to vary as much between solo, small group, and raid play. Blessing of Kings and Mark of the Wild will not boost Spirit either.
5. Mana will be a bigger consideration for all healers. We aren’t trying to make healing more painful; we’re trying to make it more fun. When the cost of a spell isn’t an issue, then casting the right spell for the job is less of an issue because you might as well just use your most powerful spell all of the time. We are, however, getting rid of the five-second rule, because we don’t want to encourage standing around doing nothing. We’re also going to cut back on the benefits of buffs such as Replenishment so priests (and all healers) don’t feel as penalized when those buffs aren’t available.

Tami Says

1. Oh man, oh man. Haste is going to be the bomb-diggedy (I can say that, right? Bomb-diggedy? I think I can) for HoT heavy healers. Are there even any healy druids conscious at this point? Should we find them some smelling salts?
2. Who keeps putting in this shadow priesting information? THHHBBBBTT.
3. Vindication of my predictions from the Heal news. *air guitar* The possibility of not one but TWO shields in the Discipline tree is interesting. As I recall a day and age when PW:S was a silly “lol” spell and Blizz totally stepped up and made it a powerful tool in our healing arsenal, I remain confident that if they did the doublebubble (OMAN, now they have to. How can you give up a tagname like that?) they’d make it viable.
4. Okay.  (Whaaaat? I can’t have strong reactions to EVERY change. You tell me I’ve got one less buff to keep up, I’m gonna nod and say “yes, ma’am”)
5. LOVE. Lovelovelovelove. I adored the mana regeneration game from old-school priest healing. Managing mana while still keeping the group hale and healthy was a badge of HONOR. Granted, I actually LIKED the FSR dance, but I’m not going to weep for its loss as long as Blizzard gives us back some measure of skill to the healing game. How can you know if you’re doing a good job as a healer if the only wrong things you can do are falling asleep or standing in fire? To quote the infamous Jayne “Where’s that get fun?”

New Talents and Talent Changes

Blizzard Says

1. We want to improve Discipline’s single-target healing capacity. One key is to make sure shielding isn’t always a more attractive option than healing.
2. We want to improve Holy for PvP healing. One way to do this is to make sure that Heal’s throughput is similar between both specs.
3. We want to improve Shadow for short fights and reduce its susceptibility to school lockouts.
4. Discipline will finally be getting Power Word: Barrier as a talented ability. Think of it like a group Power Word: Shield.
5. We want to make Holy a little bit more interesting to play. One new talent will push the Holy priest into an improved healing state when he or she casts Prayer of Healing, Heal, or Renew three times in a row. The empowered state varies depending on the heals cast.
6. Since the Shadow tree has a lot of passive damage-boosting abilities — something we’re trying to avoid in Cataclysm — we will need to replace several of the tree’s talents.
7. One idea is to play off of the new Shadow Orbs mechanic (see Mastery section below), possibly allowing you to consume an orb to increase damage from Mind Blast or reduce Mind Spike’s cast time.
8. Misery will no longer affect spell Hit chance. We want players to be able to gear themselves around a Hit cap that isn’t variable depending on group composition.

Tami Says

1. Sure thing. Whatever you say, Boss. (not going to argue with them wanting to make us better healers)
2. PVP healing? Does anyone actually spec for that from a healing tree rather than a dps tree? I have no idea, thus I do not care. (I’m sorry Warcraft, but your PVP side is like that branch of the family that nobody wants to talk about, as far as I’m concerned.)
3. First PVP, now Shadow? THBBBBT. Onward.
4. You tease and tease about this Power Word: Barrier spell, Blizzard. I’ll believe it when I see it. Also, if it’s just for MY group, it’s either going to be useless or I need to be on the lookout for a lot more random splash DPS encounters in Cataclysm. I am not a fan of random splash DPS. *dire frown*
5. Right. Um. So. If your raiding team is in nonstop motion, constantly pulling with very little down time between pulls, this will be handy, I’m sure. Otherwise, I only see it being used if you are tank-healing while on a boss fight. Will Holy be tank-healer spec in Cataclysm? If that’s true, why promise to give Discipline a tank-healing bubble? Are tank healers going to have to choose between SUPERDOUBLEBUBBLE or this seemingly very situational three-heal-bonus? Because if so, I’m still leaning toward SUPERDOUBLEBUBBLE.
6. I thought I mentioned my lack of care for Shadow news.
7. Who keeps putting this dps stuff in my priest information?! In truth, it’s somewhat saddening that there’s so little of it. Unless shadow priests are already the bomb-diggedy (no really, I can say it. I’m pretty sure. You’re going to make me get an ethnic friend sign a waiver, aren’t you?) in which case…oh, who am I kidding. Don’t care.

Mastery Passive Talent Tree Bonuses

Blizzard Says

Discipline

Healing
Meditation
Absorption

Absorption: Improves the strength of shields such as Power Word: Shield, Divine Aegis, and Power Word: Barrier.

Holy

Healing
Meditation
Radiance

Radiance: Your direct heals add a small heal-over-time component to the target.

Shadow

Spell damage
Spell Crit
Shadow Orbs

Shadow Orbs: Casting spells grants a chance for Shadow Orbs to be created that fly around you and increase your shadow damage. This will help lower-level characters feel more like “Shadow priests” before they obtain Shadowform.

We hope you enjoyed this preview, and we’re looking forward to hearing your initial thoughts and feedback on these additions and changes. Please keep in mind that this information represents a work in progress and is subject to change as development on Cataclysm continues.

Tami Says

So…this?

• Discipline :  shiny bubbles
• Holy : you’d better be healing someone who is going to need more heals pretty much right away (LIKE A TANK, AMIRITE?)
• Shadow : You can’t possibly expect serious shadow commentary from me, can you?  OKAY, FINE. Shadow priests get an OOH, PRETTY so they feel more special when they’re lower levels. That’s kinda pathetic and sad if you think about it, though from a theorycrafting standpoint it’s pretty neat I guess. If you’re into that whole “dpsing as a priest” thing. Pfft. (I tried, okay? I really tried. I can’t help it.)

A Second Commentary

Blizzard Says

A few quick clarifications:

1. Neither Inner Fire nor Inner Will has charges. The decision is on which armor you want up at the time.
2. Preventing dot clipping is something we want to do in general. It obviously benefits Shadow priests just as much as warlocks.
3. The idea behind Mind Spike is that you can’t always settle into your normal, and high-ramp up rotation. It’s also useful when you have to move or get school locked.
4. The closest analogue to PW:B is the DK Anti-Magic Zone, but it has some important differences, such as a way to counter it in PvP (since it absorbs all damage, not just magical damage).
5. The idea behind the Holy “cast three in a row” talent (it’s called “Chakra”) is that we’ve always positioned Holy as a versatile healer. This talent lets you shift into different modes. If you need to be a tank healer, cast three single target heals and your single-target healing is now better. Cast three area heals, and you can be a temporarily specialized group healer. We’re going to try to play this mechanic up with a cool UI to try to get that “I’m almost in the zone” feel. We’ll let it apply to as many types of spells as we can, perhaps even Smite for those times when nobody’s taking damage.
6. We pulled Misery because we are pulling every group benefit that improves hit. It’s annoying to have to swap your gear in and out depending on who shows up for your group. In general we’re going to push even harder in Cataclysm for bringing people you like to play with, not bringing people who have awesome buffs. The answer to almost every question of “But why would they bring me?” should be “Because you know what the hell you’re doing.”

Tami Says

1. I always thought the charges thing was kinda stupid. I mean, I’m a priest. I’m trying desperately NOT to get hit.
2. More shadow news?
3. Moving along, nothing to see here.
4. *makes shooing motions*
5. *giggles* Chakra? Seriously? This isn’t the Hidden Village of the Warcraft, folks. The vote is still out on this “triple cast” heal, as far as I’m concerned. How long does the buff last? How often is it going to make a difference? Is it going to be worth casting useless heals just to keep the buff up? Am I going to give a rat’s patootie about this if I get my SUPERDOUBLEBUBBLE? Only time will tell.
6. QFT  { “But why would they bring me?” should be “Because you know what the hell you’re doing.” }

Wait, let me back up a bit, so the significance of that statement can be fully realized.

We’ve been leveling through dungeons. Our tank: paladin. The other primary DPSer: paladin. Me: hunter.

I turned off my DPS meters a few levels ago. I could outdps everyone on single boss fights, but the majority of the run had me lagging farther and farther behind both paladins. I simply couldn’t keep up with the AOE damage they could spit out, multi-shot or no. They’d be peaking at about 300 dps and I’d be frantically trying to reach 200.

So, where were we? Oh, yes.

My hunter dinged 40 last night.

I got volley.

One spell. One ability. One button.

I went from desperately grasping at 200 dps to peaking OVER 700 DPS.

Over 700 on really big pulls. Closer to 500 on regular pulls.

One spell.

A peak of 500 dps boost from one ability.

One.

Hunters are OP.

That is all.