Link a Nazi??

One of the best things about working retail are the nutty stories I get to tell.

Last night, I was helping a lady purchase a Nintendo DS for her child as a Christmas gift. She knew very little about the system and the games, and needed quite a bit of help. She was shopping with a friend of hers, who also was wanting to purchase a Nintendo DS.

I explained the different styles that the system came in, of course mentioning the brand new Gold DS that comes in the Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass bundle pack, since we still had a few in stock. I was quite shocked at what the lady said next.

She turns to her friend and says "Don't buy that. The Legend of Zelda is way too violent." Her friend asks me if I thought the game was violent, to which I explained that while Zelda games may not be good for younger kids due to game play being a little too complicated for the younger group, I didn't think it was an overly violent game. The first lady then pipes up with this comment: "Let's put it this way: I'm a teacher. One of my students idolizes Adolf Hitler, and his favorite game is the Legend of Zelda. Zelda is not a good game."

I really didn't know what to say. I obviously wasn't going to argue with the lady. I needed to stay polite and courteous, as my job is to help customers, not argue with them. However, I did say "Well that's not a fair analysis, because my favorite game is Zelda, and I don't idolize Hitler." It didn't phase her, as she just continued to tell her friend not to buy anything with Zelda on it because it was bad. So, I just let it go, and finished the sale.

But stuff like that really does bother me. I hate the bad image gaming gets, especially when the reasoning is completely illogical. A kid worships Hitler. He just so happens to like Zelda. How exactly does that connect? How does that make Zelda an evil game?

All I can do is roll my eyes. I will never understand why people will always find a way to take something that is fun and find a way to turn it into a terrible thing.

I blame Jack Thompson.

Any of you have any similar stories? Or do you feel the same way I do?

Black Friday...who went?

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! I know I did, and boy did I eat a ton! And we are now officially in the Christmas season! I love the holidays!

Friday morning, I braved the crazy shoppers in a frenzy, and went shopping. It's become a bit of a tradition to join my mom and sister in shopping on Black Friday. It's funny, because my dad and brother never want anything to do with it. But I enjoy the opportunity to buy things for 75% off, and the crowds really don't bother me. Plus, I like getting the opportunity to spend the time with my mom and sis.

My girlfriend joined us as we lined up at Circuit City at 4am. I really wish I had some kind of crazy story to share with you all, but I really didn't see anything nutty. The doors opened at 5am, we got it and got what we all wanted. I snagged up some cheap flash drives and recordable DVD's and CD-R's, several cheap DVD's and a few cheap video games, and I was out of there in under an hour. I didn't really go anywhere else after, though. Normally, I make a day out of it. But this year, I had to be at work for the local retail store I part-time at by 2pm, so I wanted to get some sleep beforehand.

Working in the evening wasn't so bad, either. The store was trashed, but that was expected. I did hear some insane stories about the mob of people fighting their way into the store in the morning, all vying for the 30 gb Zune that we had on sale. One of our employees actually got elbowed in the face by a crazy customer who pried her way through the exit door instead of waiting to go in the normal entrance. I can't believe how psycho some people get over a good deal!

I wish I would have witnessed some of this myself, but alas, I saw nothing special. So, what about the rest of you? Surely, someone out there has a crazy Black Friday story! Let's hear it!

A Retail Wii Experience

I just thought I'd share a little story with you all.

As you guys may or may not know, I work part time at a local retail store in the electronics department. Yesterday morning, we got a large shipment of 60 Wii's in to go on sale. Of course, there was a large line starting at 6 am for the systems, and we didn't even open until 9. I was brought in to work early to help with the sales.

We handed out tickets to everyone in line. One ticket per family. This would guarantee these people would get a Wii, and it was the only way we were selling them. We were wanting to be as fair as possible. Everything was going smoothly. I was having a blast, because these people were all so happy to be getting Wii's. You could tell most of them were parents buying X-Mas gifts, which I thought was awesome.

But then there was this group of kids in their later teens or so who somehow got a hold of several tickets. We caught them jumping back into the line after buying a Wii with different clothes on. When the got up to the register, my manager explained that we would not be selling them another Wii because we watched them jump back in line after changing shirts, and we already sold them one. They proceeded to argue, saying "We have a ticket, so you have to!" My manager just kept saying "Sorry, you already got one. One per guest, that's the rules." The kid wouldn't give up, he just kept saying "So what! I have a ticket! I want another one!" This is where it gets good, because all the customers then started yelling back at the kid. "Some of us are trying to buy these as gifts for our kids, and people like you are keeping us from getting them!" I sat back and smiled while all the other customers yelled at these punk kids until they finally gave up and left!

It was a great site to see people who really wanted a Wii to give as gifts triumph over a bunch of punks who were obviously trying to make money off of them.

Retro Wii!

I was browsing around online one day when I came across an image of a Wii-mote that was styled like an old NES controller. i though to myself "That is bad ass! I would so buy a Wii-mote that looked like that!" I began searching around online, out of curiosity. Soon, I came across a website called DecalGirl.com.

This site sells skins for just about every system there is. They have hundreds of different designs. But the one I cared about most was a Wii Skin that turns the look of your Wii into that of an original Nintendo Entertainment System. Normally, I'm not a skin kind of guy. I have a hard time putting stickers and such on my systems. I like the normal look, and am always worried about ruining it. But I just couldn't pass up the chance to retro-ize my Wii.

Bam! And there she is, in all her glory!

Now, there are actually two different "Retro" skins available at DecalGirl.com. I chose to go with the one that correctly resembles the style of the NES. The other one is colored similar, but does not match up with the original as well. I received my skins in the mail yesterday, and ran right downstairs to begin applying the skins to my Wii.

One thing I noticed pretty quickly is that the decals aren't stickers. Meaning, they don't have that very sticky feel to them. They are more clingy. Slightly stickier than a static cling, but not near as sticky as a sticker. Give you a good idea of how it feels? It's hard to be precise with them. I, of course, wanted to get them as straight as possible for the best look. Thus, I was constantly peeling them back off and reapplying them until I felt it was as straight as I could get it. The good news is that they peel off very easily, and left no sticky residue behind on my Wii. The website claims that this is how it will always be. I guess time will tell. If I leave these stickers on for a year, I'm guessing my Wii won't be completely clean. But I could be wrong. I hope I'm wrong.

One of my problems is that no matter how straight I put on each sticker, some parts still did not match up correctly. For example, notice the stripe that runs down the Wii's side (or top, depending on how you display it.) It gets a little crooked towards the front of the system. And that is not because I put the stickers on crooked, trust me. I tried so hard to get that line to match up correctly, and it just wouldn't. It has to be the way the stickers were cut.

Once the decals were all applied, I was generally impressed with how sharp the system looked. The mismatched line was just a small gripe of mine. Overall, I think it looks fantastic. The decals are very professional looking, and have a nice shine to them. The decals seem tough, too. Smudges from fingerprints wiped off fairly easy with cloth. I was very happy with how it turned out.

Aside from the Wii skin, I also decided to buy the matching Wii-mote skin. This one, I'm a tad disappointed in. Don't get me wrong, I do think it looks pretty sweet! And it matches the system well. But with the Wii-mote actually bearing a close resemblance in shape and design to the original NES controller, it just seems like they should have done a better job of making a decal to match the classic controllers look. But, this isn't bad. And I do like the way it makes my Wii-mote look.The skins for the Wii-mote also came with a few small decals for the Nunchuk. nothing special, but it does liven it up.

As a set, the Wii-mote and nunchuk look pretty sweet with their new decals. So, again, I am very happy with the overall appearance.

I'm very happy with my purchase. This really gave my Wii some life. While I was always a fan of the shiny white casing of the Wii, nothing beats the ability to customize it into looking like it's great great great grandaddy. I guess the question is, should I display it in the stand like I normally do, or should I lay it down to better resemble the NES?

Be sure to visit DecalGirl.com if you are interested in doing your own custom Wii job!

Free Zelda Swag...REVIEWD!

As mentioned the other day, I received a nice little surprise in the mail from Nintendo. About a month back, I purchased The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass for my Nintendo DS, which due to time constraints I still haven't beaten yet. At the time, Nintendo.com was running a pretty sweet little freebie deal. If you register your copy of Phantom hourglass on MyNintendo.com, you get a FREE stylus that is shaped like a feather quill pen! Since I register all of my Nintendo games any way, this was a no-brainer for me! So I registered the game, filled out a short survey, and soon I was sent notification that my Feather Pen Stylus would be shipping soon!

About a month later, I found this in my mailbox!

Hard to see? Yeah, I was surprised at the actual look of the stylus. When I saw that it was called a "Feather Pen Stylus," I actually expected it to have a real feather on it. But instead, it's just a clear plastic stylus that is shaped like a feather pen. And it's a bitch to photograph, being so clear. But, even though it doesn't look how I pictured it, I'm not disappointed. It's still a neat little stylus, and it was free! How can I complain?

As you can see, it comes in a neat little box. The outside sleeve of the box has the same brownish color that the game box sports, complete with image of a fairy (whose name escapes me at the moment.) The white box inside the sleeve is what actually houses the stylus with a neat, fuzzy black lining. That makes it feel like it's really important!
It's made of a nice, strong plastic, so it doesn't feel like it's going to break in my hands. The plastic is a lot harder than a normal DS stylus, but not to where you feel like you're going to snap it. And the plastic is unbelievably translucent. It's like holding a pen made out of glass, almost. It's really sharp looking in person. The images don't do it justice.

It actually fits in your hand nicely, too. I didn't feel uncomfortable holding it as I worried I might. It might also help that I'm used to holding the tiny stylus' the DS originally included, and not the fatter ones that come with the Lite. the size of the Feather Pen Stylus is in between those.

Overall, it's a cool little freebie. I still think it would have felt more special if it was a real feather, but no biggie. It was free, and it's got the Zelda banner on it, so I love it! You may want to check out Nintendo.com to see if they are still running this promotion. And if you missed out, at least now you know to check there on a regular basis. This isn't the first promo they have run, and I'm sure it won't be the last!

Woo! Free Zelda Swag!

I just went home for lunch to find a nice little package from Nintendo containing my BRAND NEW ZELDA FEATHER PEN STYLUS! Look for a review tomorrow!