Fun With The Nintendo Wii
This afternoon my wife and I went to check out our friend’s Wii at a “Wii party” — he got it last week. There were a bunch of people trying the thing out, having a great time playing the Wii sports of tennis, boxing, golf, and bowling.
My opinion is that it’s awesome fun. The games are simple enough that pretty much anybody can get into it. The kinetic motion control aspect is brilliant. All the games would be basically stupid pre-Wii (i.e. if you just were to press a button to swing a bat or a racket), but the addition of motion adds a whole new level to the game play. Enough so, that while playing Wii tennis, the instinct is to use the same arm gestures, poses, and swings as you would playing the actual game.
A few downsides (not big ones, though) — at one point, someone hit another person’s shoulder with the Wiimote. While playing a four person game of tennis, I was getting tired out from laughing and the physical exertion. I definitely think there are going to be some unintentional injuries with the Wii — either people whacking each other with flailing arms, or passing out from the physical exhaustion — especially for those gamers whose usual position is sitting on a couch with a pizza on your stomach.
Potential physical pain and lawsuits aside, Nintendo has done a pretty smart thing here. They probably knew they couldn’t compete directly with XBOX 360 or PlayStation 3 as the console’s graphics are admittedly underpowered and inferior. So they went around this negative by using different controllers and designing the games and UI to be really simple and fun. Some folks today were calling it “Mac-like.”
The other sneaky thing is that because of the simpler hardware, the Wii is relatively cheap — about $250 plus another Wiimote (for at least two person play) will set you back only $300. At that level it’s an expensive but doable impulse buy. Think the iPod Mini.
I’m thinking that because of the lower price and the simple, fun game-play, the Wii is going to find a huge number of mainstream buyers. Serious gamers might find it wussy, but there are tons of families and game novices (like myself) that see this as a better value over other consoles (or at this price, someone with an XBOX 360 might pony up for Wii because it isn’t that expensive). I’m thinking about my wife, who shies away from video games or most electronic devices with more than four buttons. After a bit of bowling today, the “spousal approval” barrier was dropped. She’s thinking the Wii would be a fun way to get some exercise.
Nintendo, that’s freaking brilliant. I hope someone’s working on a yoga title.
I really want to try this out myself. Nintendo has always been about simple brilliance, mario clouds f.e. The first Nintendo point and shoot device was ‘duck hunt’ remember. I guess that evolved to DDR (though not Nintendo). Reintroducing bodily movement into video games is brilliant.… It all originates from Lucas’ light saber i think… collectively it’s just branded in our heads.
Yeah I would recommend checking it out even if it’s at a store. The movement also makes it easier to learn how to control the games… instead of having to learn what all the buttons and joysticks do.
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I know it kinda defeats the raison-d’etre of the Wii, but I read a rumor at some point that the GameCube controller would work with it. But I’ve not heard any confirmation of that. Any indication that it’s true?
As a non-hardcore gamer, I’m seriously interested in the Wii, but my gaming space is a bit cramped and I’m certain I’ll bust a knuckle or someone’s face by mimicking the swing of a bat. It would be nice to have the option to sit back and play if so desired.
Hemm, I didn’t witness it first hand, but the Wii is supposed to be backward compatible with GameCube software and has GameCube controller ports. The question I think you’re asking… whether the GameCube controller will work with the new Wii games — I don’t know. I guess I’ll shoot an email off to my pal and see if he knows…
tunequest… so the verdict is that a lot of the Wii specific games require the Wiimote. But there is also a classic controller just for the Wii for 20 bucks that plugs into the Wii remote for old style games.
Thanks for checking on that. I’ll have to file it away, since I won’t really be in the market for one until the new Smash Bros game is released.
My mother in law bought a Wii for the grandkids this Christmas and it was a smash hit. Adults vs kids in Wii boxing and Wii bowling! It was sooo much fun — you have to get a Wii if you don’t already have one.