On black Friday, I got up at 4:45 AM and met my 12 year old son in the dark hallway of a house in Medford Oregon. 30 minutes later we were bleary-eyed and 5th in line at the local EB Games store waiting to spend my son's nest egg on the new Nintendo Wii (pronounced "we") game console. As I was standing there with other parents and their kids I couldn't help but think that we were all there to buy a machine that would be a divider between the generations. The irony of taking an unusual effort to buy one more anti-social escape mechanism was not lost on me. I was feeling a bit helpless that this new Wii, which my son saved his money for since last spring was destined to produce more couch-plated vegetating inactivity and increasing his risk of future blobdom.
Oops, wrong! I never thought I would be blogging favorably about a game console, but here it is. The Nintendo Wii is an extremely creative machine. While not as thrilling as an actual strap-in flight simulator, the Wii is amazingly stimulating and has the best interface ever imagined. Instead of exhausting the phalanges and tendons pushing buttons, the Wii is run by waving the controller around in the air. Not only that, but the darn thing seems to work best when you get the whole body behind the motions. Want to virtual bowl on the Wii? then practice your steps and take big, active swings with the controller. Want to score better at Tennis? then you ought to be up on your toes, paying attention to move to the next position to hit the ball on the screen. Want to box with a fictional opponent, then you better start ducking and weaving to avoid getting virtually knocked out.
The proof for me is the fairly widespread muscle soreness I have in my shoulder and back from waving the Wii's wand around. No kidding - this physical reaction is the real deal. The fact is, when you play the sports games on this thing, you get a little miniature workout. It will be very interesting to see what new action games are going to be like with this system. Its pretty clear to me that I'm going to have to start working on doing more with my left hand (and arm) in order to spread the fun and pain around a little.
So here's the final analysis: get one of these for somebody this holiday season if they 1) like gaming and 2) need more physical activity and 3) live close enough to you that you can clock some hours on it too. Its not an exercise machine, but it is a heck of a lot more fun than any exercise machine ever built and I suspect its owners won't stop using it because it's boring. It's definitely not boring. My son and I are now locked into virtual competition that is going to last for quite some time because I can actually compete with him. Rather than being a divider, this machine is giving us something to do together that's good for both of us. Wii = we. I never would have believed it.
