On several occasions of late I’ve been exceedingly tempted to splash out on a brand new Wii console. I haven't yet, largely through fear of what my wife would do to me if I added to the nest of cables that sits behind the television and the already huge drain on our power supply because of all my gadgetry.

Just in case my wife is reading this, let me be perfectly clear that I have no intention of actually following through with my aforementioned Nintendo lust. But here was the thinking behind it...

Besides the fact that I REALLY want what I can't have, I’ve recently become jealous of the ridiculously popular machine!

First of all, there's the fact that - thanks partly to writing so much about nostalgia and games from my youth on this very blog - I really want to revisit some of my old favourites. While Microsoft's Game Room is well intentioned, first impressions are disappointing to say the least.


Although I was already an avid gamer when many of these classic games appeared the first time round, many of them are pretty poor quality and of little appeal nowadays. I'd much rather be playing the likes of Donkey Kong Country or Toejam and Earl through the Wii's Virtual Console service.

I must admit that I only recently discovered that lucky Wii owners had access to such a great catalogue of downloadable games from consoles past. There’s plenty available to buy from the NES, SNES, N64, arcade, Commodore 64, NEO GEO, TurboGrafx and Sega’s Megadrive and Master System. Far more impressive than being able to play Centipede and Crystal Castles, eh?!?

But it’s not just the past that appeals to me… it’s the future too.

I’ve read plenty of articles on Microsoft’s Natal and Sony’s Move motion controllers in recent months and I’m positively salivating at the prospect. Natal, in particular, intrigues the hell out of me and frankly, despite plenty of moans and groans coming from many gamers out there, I really can’t wait to get hold of the discreet little camera and place it proudly atop my television. Until its launch, now thought to be in October, the Wii is the closest I can come to experiencing this new phenomena.

Buying a Wii would be no more than a temporary stopgap for my Natal craving and a quick fix for my nostalgic pangs. Because of this I can’t justify the outlay – much to the relief of my wife. Roll on October…