January 17, 2007 Sometimes when I need a break, I just go places to get out and about. Many times I visit bookstores, but over the last week I have gone to game stores for fun and observation.

Perhaps it is only in my area, but the majority of people working in game stores appear to be Nintendo supporters of various ages. Questions about anything (including unrelated subjects) lead to excited proclamations about the Wii, as though it could do chores and replace the opposite sex. Apparently, the employees of these stores feel the Wii is the "best thing since sliced bread."

The Wii is certainly an exciting system, because the new controllers offer innovations unseen since Dance Dance Revolution. Unless you have used the Wii's controllers, it is difficult to understand how fun and immersive the experience is. The current selection of games, especially Wii Sports, use the new controllers to make game-play more fun — and even appeal to people who have had no past video gaming interest. That said, as with the PlayStation 3 there are still too few games available for the Nintendo Wii to know how great the system is over the long term.

When asked about PS3 or Xbox 360, the employees all responded with either no knowledge or something "invented" and incorrect.

For example, the Wii does not offer the same quality of HD graphics as the other consoles, and the graphics were noticeably less impressive when compared to the displayed PS3 and Xbox 360. When I asked if the lower resolution on the Wii was a problem on larger screens, the employees said no... and if anything they all felt the Wii's graphics looked better on a larger HD TV than the HD TV in the store. There is no possibility that lower resolution on a small screen will look better on a large screen, since if anything the pixels will become larger and more noticeable.

While the PS3 is equally new to the Wii and untested over time, it is difficult to understand the bias against the Xbox 360. After being out for over a year, it would be natural for employees of game stores to know something about the Xbox 360 system — but they knew surprisingly little. There are two comments expressed about the other systems that I encountered at several stores, regardless of the retail company or affiliations:

• You have to buy a special cable for HD if you get a PS3, and that costs an extra $15.
• The graphics on the Xbox 360 don't really look that good, even if you have an HD TV.

For those that cannot figure out the problems with those statements, I will explain:

• Like the PS3, the Wii only includes a composite cable and not an HDRI cable. Apparently the $15 cost for an HDRI cable is acceptable for the Wii, but not the PS3.
• Only someone unwilling to be objective would look at Xbox 360 games in HD format and not think the games in question looked good compared to lower-resolution games. This is not about preferences, but about quality of video.

The consistency of pro-Nintendo opinions, that could not be objectively supported, makes me wonder if there isn't another common denominator.

1. All of my local game stores only hire Nintendo fans.
2. Nintendo supporters are the only people who want to work in my local game stores.
3. Nintendo has better marketing and retail education for employees at my local game stores, and that makes a significant difference.

However I look back on it, my recent visits to the local game stores were a strange experience.