Wii + Parents = ???

Family was having an absolute BLAST at Thanksgiving dinner until the "unable to read disc" error popped up. BOOOO!

"11. The first time I explained tennis, she was like, "which button do I press?" When I said none she was amazed. Then she got into it."

Quoted to emphasize for all the skeptics who think the motion controls aren't making games any more approachable to casual gamers.

I thought it would catch on reasonably well with older folk, but I was never expecting this level of parental involvement. If Nintendo can successfully market the Wii to this crowd while still attracting more serious gamers, they'll pretty much have a guaranteed hit on their hands.

My dad hasn't played yet, but he has expressed quite a bit of interest in Wii Tennis.

my parents seem to be a little bit into it. My mother says she wants to play but she also says that she learns from watching....yeah....hopefully she will, my dad on the other hand, he likes playing baseball. Hopefully they get into it more i would love to see that!

After Thanksgiving Report:

Had about 12 family members over. Nearly every took a turn, and for over an hour the whole family was crowded around watching, laughing, and having a great time with Wii Sports. Watching my 8 year old cousin box my 14 year old sister was hilarious. Highlight: watching my 60 year old grandmother beat my 16 year old brother in Wii bowling!

My poor 9 year old son, had to share his WII with 2 55 year olds, an 33 year old Ivy League, and 3 other 30+ year old college grads. Only my son and I had tried the WII and it was an absolute hit! Kudos to Nintendo, everyone handled the Wiimote quickly and had a blast. Wii sports in itself was a great addition.

As expected, after Thanksgiving there was a Wii Sports and Monkeyball fest for the entire family and friends. I finally got to try 2 player on the Wii. It is incredibly fun and oddly enough, the game I like the least, boxing, was probably the most intense.

Every one that was there is planning on trying to get a Wii tomorrow. They're not only impressed with the intuitive and fun nature of the gameplay but also with Nintendo's online plans as well.

I took my Wii over to my parents' house after Thanksgiving dinner, and found it to be quite well received, with WiiSports Tennis and bowling being the favorites. Aside from some brief forays into golf and boxing, and a pause to make Miis of everyone, the bowling and tennis never stopped (I only have 2 Wiimotes though, I need to find a couple more when I get a chance.)

A soon as Thanksgiving dinner was done, the kids saw the Wii and started yelling Wiiiiii Wiiiii "I wanna play the Wiiiiii". I knew at that moment that Nintendo really has something with that name alone.

That being said, bowling and boxing were big hits, moms, dads and kids all played. Ages ranged from 4 to 74. Everyone was laughing and having a blast. I fielded several questions and most of the families with kids that played said they will get one. My cousin said "I can't wait to get the girls drunk and play wii sports" (about his wife and freinds)

My parents are not gamers at all and played Wii bowling with me and my girlfriend and had a lot of fun. Not that they will buy one, but they were both pretty amazed at the whole thing. My dad was fascinated by the controls.

My brother talked me into bringing my Wii to Thanksgiving. There were 12 of us there.

Four of us were too young to play (under 3 years old).
Of the rest, all but 1 played at one point or another. The youngest was about 30, the oldest 55.

By the end, we had 6 Miis on the unit (one person who played repeatedly refused to make one for some reason or another).

Everyone had a blast. People even enjoyed making the Miis.

I only had Wii Sports. I am a huge Monkey Ball Fan, but don't have it for Wii yet. I brought Super Monkey Ball 2 for Cube over and 4 Wavebirds, but it never made sense to put down the Wii-motes.

We played for probably 3 hours, and two of the people said they would get one after this. One of them said "I never thought a video game was something I would want before, but now I know I need one of these. Not just want it, need it."

Having two Wii-Motes was essential, it made bowling much faster (even with 4 people, one Wii-Mote can be passed while the other is in use). It also made two-player tennis possible.

Bowling and tennis were the big two. Baseball was well back in 3rd. Golf was played for 12 hours, and actually enjoyed, but it just takes too long, people would rather rotate through quickly. Only two people played boxing, both of them women! And both liked it a lot (I played it earlier and I don't like it much).

All in all, it was an ENORMOUS hit. I have to agree with the article that called this a serious dark horse. If there are more games that everyone loves to play and watch as much as bowling and tennis, then Wii will take off like a rocket. It will expand the market and sell to people who never wanted video games before, surely outselling any console ever sold before. Sadly though, I'm not sure there are that many more games of that type.

Nintendo, it's up to you. Find the right kinds of games and get them out there fast. And get a lot more Wii-Motes and component cables out there too. And make an S-video cable.

Final note, since the Wii requires setup (the light bar), you might think it's too much a hassle to take it places. It's not. We had the light bar set up in 30 seconds. We later moved it to the top of the TV because the young kids were blocking it. Even that only took 1 minute (changing the setting).

Nintendo were smart to get this baby out before Thanksgiving so it could be showed off. Too bad they didn't get more out. It really sells itself at these family gatherings.

to vidGuy:
We only had one nunchuk, so no one could box anyone else, only the computer. But two of the watchers speculated that probably when two kids play WiiSports boxing, it rapidly turns into a real fight about half the time. Did any of that seem likely to you?

Whoops. Where I said "golf was played for 12 hours", I meant 12 holes.

Wow. So many stories about people loving Wii Sports, the pack-in that nobody wanted. Everybody thought it was unfair, a $50 tack-on that nobody wanted, and here everybody has stories of their families crowding around that one game.

My family was no different. Sunday when I got the system, I took it to my brother's house and had a bunch of people over. Even non-gamers were getting into tennis. We played for hours.

Later in the week, my brother's girlfriend (an avid anti-gamer) discovered bowling, and has been asking me about it all week. She even suggested that we have a Wii night sometime during the week, every week. This coming from somebody who hates videogames (though she's recently gotten into the Balloon Battle on MKDS).

Tonight it was at my brother's again, and the whole family got into Sports (mainly bowling and tennis). Just as we were finishing up a set, my mom came downstairs and said "We're about to leave, but I want a chance to play this first. Somebody give me a controller." That's my mother, somebody who's seen videogames as a nuisance since Super Mario Bros. Twenty years ago was the last time she really took time to enjoy a videogame, and here she was delaying her departure for home. She picked up the controller and played two sets of three in Tennis, and really had a blast.

Packing Wii Sports in was a genius move. It really shows the approachability of the console, and it's fun enough that people love playing it (despite the lack of 1:1 motion). Bowling has sucked my life away; I've barely given thought to Twilight Princess. Pretty awesome stuff.

Brought it over to my dad's place. My older brother (25) played it a bit. He likes it. He seemed to spend most of his time on tennis. My dad (50) played bowling. He liked it. My niece (10 or so) spent the majority of her time on bowling. The sad thing is she got the highest score. Beat my dad's high score by 1 point. 172 or something.

my 85 year old grandfather loves it, nuff said- nintendo i praise u, u have done exactly what u vowed to do, increase supply and I guarantee u will sell so many consoles ur head will spin, and add some more sports games, thats what really hits off well with the older non-gamer crowd

I did the Thanksgiving thing with both my parents and my girlfriends' yesterday and after about 3 cumulative hours of Wii Sports, we left both houses with everyone present talking about buying a Wii. I really feel sorry for everyone that bitched about having to get WiiSports with their console considering that that is by far the game that is getting the most non-gamers interested in video games, not to mention one of the most fun. I mean, I'd much rather play that than ExciteTruck or Red Steel...

P.S. All these comments are great. I'm really glad everyone who got one of these has been playing the hell out of it.

Bowling was the game my family enjoyed most. People seemed to genuinely have fun with it, and were able to beat me.

Had it over at 2 thanksgiving dinners, and it won the night.

Had everyone from my grandfather, uncles and aunts, to my 4 year old niece playing.

1 confirmed incident of someone thinking they didn't need the lanyard, and it ended up breaking a little precious moments doll, aunt was not pleased, uncle was very pleased.

Overall much greater reception to the Wii (with Wii Sports) than any video game that's been played at thanksgiving in the past.

Mom played. Dad didn't.

All the kids who had not played vid games before loved it. The strap is necessary...

and when little kids play boxing... somebody needs to stand and referee between player and TV.

@Steve2,

Yeah, the nunchuks are hard to get ahold of right now. I'm sure they'll be available again before long. I was second in line where I bought my Wii so I made sure to pick one up.

Wii Sports Boxing didn't turn into a fight, even with an 8 year old and a 14 year old going at it. The trick is to give them enough space. The funny thing is I could sit on the couch and play any of the Wii Sports games just fine with small wrist motions, but everyone wants to get their full body into it! My girlfriend about put her hand through my drop ceiling when she JUMPED to hit a ball in tennis! My grandmother did complete swings when she played bowling, even down to the footwork.

It truly is amazing how so many people of so many different ages gather around to play Wii. I don't think any of them really considered it a video game! Because everyone knows my grandmother and mom would never be caught playing video games.

My Wii was a smash hit at Thanksgiving with the family. Aunts and uncles were wildly flailing arms and and overall just making a spectacle much to my delight. My family is the last family you'd expect to try out a game, much less embrace it, but they did and it was a lot of fun.

Graphics shmaphics. Nintendo is on to something here.

Most if not all of these comments make me smile.

My family LOVED boxing this thanksgiving. It got the attention of everyone and seeing my grandpa boxing my dad was priceless!

Nintendo's marketing ftw!