My dad recently decided that he wanted to buy a Wii - more or less completely out of the blue, and when I came home from University for Easter he’d managed to buy one (after being on a waiting list for a couple of weeks). I’m surprised at how highly they’re demanded at the moment, especially when you compare it to the abundance of Playstation 3 units readily available at their launch. Wii seems to be a really resounding success.

After playing on it for half an hour, it’s clear to see why. Differentiating themselves and moving away from the standard games console market was a great decision by Nintendo, as they simply couldn’t have competed with Sony and Microsoft with a generic console. They wouldn’t have the following, game titles or economies of scale the other two can benefit from and it would have been a tale reminiscent to the Sega Dreamcast.

The Wii is refreshing, original and addictive. It’s really fast to start using it, with a well designed interface and straight forward controls - literally point and click. He bought the console with Wii Sports, Wii Play and a Sonic game. So far the Wii Sports blow the other two away, with the perfect combination of pick-up-and-playability, with some finer touches when you become more adept at a sport.

It really is a great interactive and fun console, with multiplayer also succeeding immensely because of the physical nature of control. Nintendo have done something amazing and really turned around their future with the Wii - it’s a great idea, executed in a near-perfect way. Go have a play with one and I’m sure you’ll agree!

Something that has been on my ‘to do’ list for a while is to create a seperate site to differentiate this blog from my web design and portfolio work. I love blogging and writing online, but I think it’s important to seperate that from my professional work. With that in mind, I’ve launched my new portfolio which is a simple one page design, showcasing my most recent work and showing how simple it is to have a website created.

This also ties in with some promotion I’m planning to do over the next couple of months. I have what seems to be a vast holiday panning out in front of me over summer and I want to make sure that I’m not stuck for something to do. I imagine I’ll be getting a job as well as designing on the side - it should be a productive summer!

I went to see Air on their new Pocket Symphony tour at Manchester Academy a couple of days ago and was really impressed. It was the last gig to be played at Academy before it is pulled down a rebuilt in a complete re-fit. I’m looking forward to seeing what the new venue will be like, as it’s one of my favourites for seeing live music round Manchester. It really has a personal feel and lets you get up close.

Their new album is really good, and a great addition to my collection. They played a really good mix of tracks, some from their really early stuff and some much more recent. Some of the ones which stood out from the rest were Cherry Blossom Girl, Le Femme d’Argent and the tracks off their new album which seemed to have a real energy and passion.

They weren’t quite what I expected. Firstly, I didn’t realise that the vocals were performed by one of the main artists. I thought that they had several external female vocalists and it was a surprise to hear some of the notes the guy could hit! Also, they had a serious amount of equipment - several synthesisers and keyboards, all working and layering together to create their unique sound.

I’d really recommend checking out their new album and catching them on tour if it’s the style of music you’re into!

It’s been a while since I went away anywhere on holiday, and I’ve just spend a really nice weekend away in Edinburgh. We took the train up (first class!) on Saturday and came back on Monday, staying at the Apex International hotel. The weather left a little to be desired, but we still managed to see quite a lot and get to grips with the city. It’s a great place for a short break, and I’m looking forward to going back again sometime in the future.