Wii? Oui!
As I mentioned at the time, T went out the first day that the Wii went on sale and got one. I meant to write a review, but when they became impossible to buy, I felt sheepish about doing so — it felt too much like gloating. So here’s the long postponed review.
In case you hadn’t heard, what makes the Wii cool is the controller, which is wireless and motion sensitive. So, to play tennis you swing the controller like a tennis racket, to race a car you turn it like a steering wheel. It’s incredibly intuitive, even (especially) for a non gamer like me. And it’s an awful lot of fun.
We have four games — Excite Truck, Super Monkey Banana Blitz, Rayman Raving Rabbids, and Wario Ware — as well as the sports pack that comes with the system. We played them a LOT for the first couple of months we had the system, less often now. As with most games, it’s a lot more fun to figure out how to play the game and develop an initial level of competence than it is to keep hammering away trying to get the last 5 points needed for a perfect score.
So, a couple of months ago I got an email at the address on this blog, from a Nintendo publicist, offering to send me a system to demo. They’re targeting moms, arguing that this is a gaming system that you don’t have to worry about your kids playing, because it gets them up and jumping around, not just using their thumbs. And it’s certainly true that D gets an aerobic workout playing, because he often gets so excited that he jumps up and down the whole time he plays, even when it’s not required for the game. And I broke a sweat trying to get through the dance sections on the Rabbids game. But overall, I think it’s a stretch to suggest that Wii games are all that more physical than your average video game.
Laura at 11d and her commenters (especially Tim Burke) have an interesting conversation going on about the value of video games. She’s focused on their role as a form of social interaction, which hasn’t been an issue for us yet — whether because of D’s age or the makeup of the neighborhood, I’m not sure.
For now, we’re ok with the TV-based system — it seems to substitute pretty directly for TV time, and that doesn’t seem to be a problem. It hasn’t been an issue yet, but we’re really reluctant to even consider handheld systems, because D would definitely want to play with them all the time. (Someone gave him a silly handheld electric Yatzee game, and he totally obsessed over it, even though he doesn’t really understand the rules.) And I’d rather have one argument over getting the system than constant arguments over turning it off.
As a parent, I’m most impressed at how much D was willing to persist
and keep on trying until he got S (super?) scores on Excite Truck. As discussed before, he
sometimes thinks he’s supposed to be able to do things perfectly from
the start and gets frustrated when he doesn’t. So that’s a plus.
April 25th, 2007 at 2:21 pm
Hey, where do I sign up for the free Nintendo system?? *wink*
The Wii is the only system that tempts me, simply because of the activity thing. Tristan is newly but completely addicted to games on the PC, though, and I’m not sure I should introduce another addictive media.
Your last paragraph caught my attention, too. We’re just moving from training wheels to two wheels, and Tristan has suddenly lost interest in his beloved bike – because he can’t ride it perfectly anymore. Sigh.
May 21st, 2007 at 6:47 am
We finally managed to get one – had promised one to the kids for xmas and then they never appeared in the stores. All 3 are thrilled so far, and their buddies are clamoring to come over for play dates. So in terms of cementing their status as desired-for-friendship, it’s a hit. Our younger guy did hit the older while they were swinging the controllers around and standing too close together. When the weather is bad, looks like a painless way for there to be some physical activity.