My family gathers in northern Wisconsin each Thanksgiving; we all fly or drive across the country to reach this rural area away from TV reception and high-speed internet. We've always played games at these gatherings, and for the past three or four years, I've brought videogames. (We have a TV for DVDs and videotapes.)
In previous years, I lugged a GameCube and/or PS2 across two time zones. The most popular games have been unique or competitive titles; favorites have included Bomberman and Katamari Damacy. This year, I brought a Wii, and all the extra controllers I could find -- three Remotes and one Nunchuk.
Our Thanksgiving gathering is smaller than normal; we're missing a collection of cousins that regularly visit. But my parents, sister Alison, her boyfriend Zurich, and I have been playing the Wii, and this post documents our experience.
The amount of videogames each of them plays varies from never to occasionally. Alison has gamed over the years, but usually only with me. Zurich has a PS2 but doesn't play much anymore.
My parents don't play videogames. My dad didn't realize that Nintendo was launching a console; he thought I was trying to buy a PlayStation 3. My mom calls the Nintendo system the "Wee Wee."
None of them has liked the console name. My dad asked, "They could have gotten a better name, don't you think? Or does it stand for something?" All of them have wondered about its meaning, and all I can do is trail off, saying, "You know ... for kids."
Once we set it up, I gave them a Remote to create Mii characters. With little guidance, they aimed the pointer to change hair, type names, and otherwise build the players. My sister was amused at the unplanned resemblance between her character and my mom's Mii. They had fun making the avatars; Zurich has revisited his a few times to update its hideous appearance.
Wii Sports has been popular, with them regularly playing everything but golf. Alison boxed Zurich last night, and after pummeling him to the mat, she asked, "Can I punch him when he's down?"
"That could be a good workout," she added, towering over his virtual, crumpled body. "Tomorrow morning, we'll put on our gym clothes and come down here..."
"... And I'll get my ass kicked," Zurich added.
Seeing them play, I've grown less concerned that they wouldn't be interested in the Wii and more watchful for injuries; nobody has thrown a controller across the room, but my mom hit Zurich in the hand with a tennis swing. Everyone has been engaged in the games instead of their surroundings, wildly flailing Remotes around themselves. (The exception is my dad; he has usually played from the couch.) Four-player tennis requires a big, open room; I may have to move furniture around my apartment to make it work at home.
Rayman Raving Rabbids has been another favorite; we've most-often played the dancing mini-game. This game, similar to Samba De Amigo, requires players to shake the left and/or right controller in time with the music.
While my sister and mom competed, my dad grew interested, but I wasn't sure if he'd make an attempt. He heard them play many rounds of the beginning level, with Misirlou as the background music. He asked from the couch, "Have you got anything like [Willie Nelson's] Stardust?"
He eventually stood up for the first time to play -- he'd even bowled from the couch, shoveling the ball down the lane -- laughing and smiling while shaking his wrists to the music's beat. We were all surprised at how well he picked it up.
After the music ended, he deadpanned about the better of two bland choices, saying, "There was a lot of pressure. ... Between this and [watching] the Vikings [football] game ... I'd go for this." He then bowed out, adding, "I'm not sure my cardiologist would permit a second game."
My mom, still impressed with the performance, said, "I was amazed. I didn't think you had rhythm."
"I have rhythm," he answered.
The Wii has been popular with my family of never-to-occasional gamers. The big question I still have is about longevity; will the Wii keep them entertained, or is it a novelty that will soon grow stale? Even if it doesn't turn them into regular gamers, I'm sure we'll revisit the Wii on future Thanksgivings.
(Page 1) Reader Comments
The Wii is a pleasent surprise. It's underpowered but it's so much fun to play that sometimes you get really into a game with the movement and all. Wii Boxing is one where we both played it so much and got into it so much that we were sweating. Worked out my arms pretty good too.
Good stuff
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but in the end they are not new found fans that will purchase and play games regularly
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That's a pretty broad statement. In just a week, three people who have been to my house and experienced the Wii are now intent on purchasing one. These people (the wives of my friends) would NEVER have considered purchasing a console in the past. While I respect your opinion, don't paint it as gospel.
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I seriously doubt the same would have happened with a PS3 or 360. At least, none of my family members are remotely interested in how nice a game's graphics are, and don't feel like dealing with the learning curve of using the multi-button controls of either of those systems. If I was playing Resistance or Gears of War I don't think anyone in my family would want to give it a shot and try it out --- but they were crowded around me while playing Wii Sports Tennis, smiling and laughing and wanting to try it out.
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...They're out there somewhere. (o____o
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James Soreson:
ya, this is the case with any new activity, be it game or new console.... take a ps3 or 360, same would have happened. family get-together, parents don't play video games, but will at least try it out... may be somewhat interested..
Not really, none of the non-gamers in my family EVER touch PS2 or Xbox/360. Usually the reason given is that all the buttons are too confusing. They don't even want to touch it.
Nintendo really has tapped into non-gamer appeal the same way they did with DS, by making the interface something everyone's familiar with: writing for DS, remotes and movement for Wii. And I think Wii will end up being successful though not a juggernaut like the DS. They just need to make sure they have enough games for core gamers but there are a few already so that looks promising hopefully.
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YOu're on crack. There is not a chance in h*** that anybody in my family other than my brothers and the nephews would pick up & play XBox360 games at a holiday gathering.
We put out the wii, and everybody was at least trying it, including my dad, who is about as NON-gamer as they come.
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You're not going to tell people to NOT buy one, because NOBODY will listen to you.
Why would they? Obviously you don't have one and are in no position to offer meaningful advice or information about the purchase. The article is ABOUT the wii and family experiences with it. Most of us who comment here own machines and like them and are sharing our experience.
If you had actually BOUGHT one and had a negative experience and returned it, THEN I might take you seriously.
But given that you don't even have one, your advice can be considered useless. Your opinions are based entirely on dabbling at a kiosk or preconceptions. You have less basis to comment than my dog does, since he at least watched us play for a few hours.
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I think this thing has some staying power.
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We are a family of gamers with two linen closets and bookshelves full of board/card games, boxes and bookshelves full of various RPGs dating back decades, and an Xbox 360 on one HDTV and an Xbox and GameCube on the other (with a history of video/console gaming also going back decades).
And, yet, despite a love for gaming in general and Nintendo franchises in particular, we just can't bring ourselves to commit to a Wii right now. After numerous discussions around the pros and cons, the cons always win. While we appreciate that it could be an occasional source of group hilarity and fun, we just can't see it as a regular system or one that we could leave the kids with unattended as we can with the other systems. (Unattended as in we don't have to be sitting there monitoring/managing their game time and not to mean we don't know what they're playing; we set their game library and they know what they can and can't play.)
I think the Wii is well-suited to party gaming, family get-togethers, and to many gamers who will appreciate and enjoy the experience it offers. But despites its broader appeal, it's still not a one-size-fits-all solution and it hasn't shown itself to be well-suited to my immediate and extended family.
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After a few rounds myself, I invite my sister to play. She's played every nintendo system with me. (she's a N64 addict now at college) She absolutely loved it.
Next introduced to her friend - he had the intent of getting one, and was very pleased with how it turned out. He wants one more than anything now.
After that i introduced it to my non-gaming sister. Outside of DDR, the last game she wanted to play was Mario 3. Although she only liked the 1st world in that game, when playing Wii sports she absolutely loved it. By the end of the day she was trying to convince our parents to play, which may play today.
Later last night, I brought the Wii to my girlfriends house. She's starting to turn into a gamer as time goes on. I'm planning on getting her a DS lite for xmas. She absolutely loved bowling, beat me everytime unlike real life bowling. (Keeping in mind my average on Wii Sports is around 160). Next came her brothers, which are current gamers (PS2, Xbox, 360) although they do have a Cube and N64, I rarely see those played. After experiencing the Wii, 2 brothers which had full intent to get the PS3 someday, dropped that idea and now asking for a Wii. The 3rd brother (360 owner) wants one, but he figures he would play his brother's Wii. Even my girlfriends parents watched a little. I may try to get them to try later on tonight when I bring it over again.
Lastly, my gaming sister's boyfriend. When I brought it back home, he just had to try it. He loved it to. I'm sure he'll be getting one as soon as he can.
I know my story is just one, but it really sounds like Nintendo knew what they were doing. This clearly is the revolution they wanted. Non-gamers and gamers to come together and play video games. There's clearly not 100% success stories as you can see from a few people's posts, but there certainly seems to be a majority and if these trends continue, you should be able to clearly see the winner this time around.
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nintendo is definitely going to broaden the demographic. it was amazing to watch.
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I switched on the motion controls and let the family have a go at it. (The only buttons required for motorstorm are R2, L2 and X) Everyone had a lot of fun with it including my aunts and uncles who probably haven't played a video game since Space Invaders. One of my uncles played the race three times.
I guess Nintendo does have the right idea with motion controls getting people into the game that normally wouldn't. Joysticks and buttons seem to make alot of people nervous.
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I do enjoy hearing the positive stories of non-gamers taking to the Wii. But I still question whether the Wii has made them "gamers" or just "Wii gamers." Does their Wii become the equivalent of the battered box of Trivial Pursuit hauled out at the holidays? Will there be an ongoing revenue stream as they pick up Red Steel, Call of Duty 3, Tony Hawk, Mario Galaxy, and future games? Or are they satisfied with the Wii Sports that comes with the system because the system is only intermittantly played? (These questions are regarding the non-gamers who like the Wii.)
As far as the gamers who discovered an interest for the Wii, will they pick up multi-plats for the Wii or their other system? Will they make duplicate multi-plat game purchases so they have it on Wii and their other system? Is the Wii their primary or secondary system, or is it equal?
These questions are why we're in wait-and-see mode. We haven't said "no" to the Wii. We've said "no for now and we'll check back later." So I appreciate both the positive personal reviews and even the negative perspectives. We tuck everything away so that when the time comes again to discuss and decide, we'll have more info at our disposal. Hopefully in six months and a year people we'll be beyond holiday get-togethers and we'll see how the Wii has flourished with non-gamers in the meantime.
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The generation before that (like my parents, or recent grandparents) don't stand much of a chance of buying a Wii. When I was a kid, I remember my dad getting into certain Intellivision games like Night Stalker and Astrosmash, but I seriously doubt he'd would ever buy one on his own had my brother and I not been so enthusiastic about video games.
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No longer does being a "gamer" justify having no social skills and sitting alone in a bedroom staring at a screen for hour upon hour. If being a "true gamer" means just that, then you better consider getting a shrink, as you obviously have serious issues.
When mom an pop are now "gamers", you might as well end it now you sad, sad, pathetic worm.
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Then came the Wii. Everyone looked at the wiimote a little funny; they passed it around and each person smirked or smiled.
Tennis and Bowling were the crowd favorites. The boxing seemed to confuse everyone and no one really got the hang of it; same with baseball (everyone had trouble with the response time with both boxing and baseball). Not one person went anywhere near the golf game nor suggested doing so. My 11 year old loves Red Steel. I have Zelda in the drawer for X-mas day and each day it becomes harder and harder not to tear it open and start playing.
My sister is hell bent on getting one now and my nieces boyfriend also wants one.
I've played the wii steadily since launch day; it gets 2-4 hrs a day from my immediate family (wife & 2 sons)
I have 2000 wii points that I'm not using yet because there aren't any games i'm interested in. I am absolutley downloading Super Mario World as soon as it's available and I'm also waiting for kid icarus.
My sons and I are splitting equal time now between the 360 and the Wii. Ridge Racer 6 and Gears of War were the most played these past two weeks(strange how we dug up RR6 and started enjoying it again)
I'm cool with the Wii60 combo; no need for the PS3; I actually passed up two opportunities for pre-order and on launch day and thought i was going to regret it; on the contrary, I think it was the wisest decision I made this year.
Peace
Dave
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Who cares if the Wii will take off with non-gamers? If you enjoy games, you owe it to yourself to try the Wii. I've been playing video games pretty much every day since 1979 and the Wii is the most fun I've had in decades.
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Sorry but nintendo put the screws to us with the n64,the gamecube and even the snes wasnt as good as nes was. If they made the wii close to the quality of 360 and ps3 they would have won the console war possibly. instead they are going to be left at finishng second or third beyond ms 360, and possibly behind ps3.
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Took the Wii over my Sister's house, she was preparing thanks giving dinner for the family this year. We had a small gathering this year, just 5 other people. Me, My sister (35-ish), her fiance (37-ish), my mom (mid-50ish) and my nephew (12). Also i only had to wii-motes and one nunchuk (yeah, cant find em!)
My nephew loved the Wii. At first he wanted a PS3, but he started playing Wii sports and couldnt stop, we couldnt pull him away from baseball and bowling! He said golfing was too hard. We finally pulled him away for dinner.
After dinner my sister's fiance starting getting into bowling, trying to beat my nephew. I also bowled a few rounds with them. Then my mom (who is in her mid-50s) started in with bowling. We had a blast. My sister's fiance still wants a PS3, he likes the Wii, but he says he wants "good graphics". Once it old him the PS3 price, he said he may buy a PS2 and wait for the PS3 price to drop.
My Sister didnt want to try anything, but we got her to play excite truck. it was hard for her to play but she liked it a bit.
But the story ends badly. My mother, after playing said she loved the Wii, but doesnt see buying it because she is by herself at home and that wouldnt be much fun without other people. My Sister doesnt want to buy the Wii for my nephew because she is afraid he will hurt his younger brother....he was swinging pretty franticly even though i told him (and showed him) he didnt have to. And her fiance wants a PS3. So no win for Nintendo here in terms of a sale. But it was a great thanksgiving! Watching my mom have that much fun was great! We are making bowling plans now to go do some real bowling....thanks nintendo!
Welp...back to zelda! lol (actually i have the urge to bowl a few rounds too....lol)
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As far as the questions, they're just part of how we're looking at the current crop of systems and how they're playing out in the marketplace. A Wii purchase for my family is not driven solely by whether someone else likes it or not, but how they're using it. We're not yet convinced by the Wii and, yes, we're looking at other people's stories to see if our concerns are being realized. We are gamers, but I don't owe anyone - Nintendo or my family - a Wii purchase if we cannot find a compelling reason to make it.
And perhaps it is *because* we are gamers we are holding off. We have a number of non-video games that are fun to play, but they aren't played regularly because as good as they are, there are others that are better. We have other non-video games that only come out for family gatherings or a party game night. So I do want to know if that's how the Wii ends up for some people, because it's one thing to pay $30 for a game that only comes to the table a few times each year and quite another to pay $400-$500 (which would likely be our initial Wii investment) for a console version of the same.
So, yeah, as fun as the Wii may be it will take time for us to determine whether the Wii is going to be worth our money or if it would be better spent elsewhere. Part of that is seeing what games continue to come out and part of it is seeing how people really are using the system. In the meantime we have a number of other family-friendly and fun options.
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Should have been clearer on that one. Neither of these is the "sole" driver of our purchase. Our purchase, if there is one, is going to be based on a number of considerations. However, with regard to other people's experiences the consideration is not just whether they like it or not, but also how they are using it.
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People are really underestimating the power of blu-ray you have to see it in action to believe it. The movies in full 1080p are incredible people are just totally blown away. To hear the amazement from non gamers for the games looking at all the small details that come to life with HD. Visual immersion is more important than physical inmersion and nintendo is going to learn that the hard way.
The PS3 is amazing and sony are genius to include blu-ray, wether it's used for games or movies it just very impresive to look at. I bought the PS3 just for gaming, but now I see it's just way more than that in one swoop the PS3 has taken over my living room.
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I've already had technical difficulties with the Remote sync and had to blow in the remote to get it to sync with the console (typical cheap nintendo stuff).
Besides Bowling there isn't a single other compelling reason for using the wiimote. All the other games suck with the motion sensing. Nintendo should concentrate on the mouse pointer cause thats the only functionality that seems to work properly.
This is definately a gimmik system, I just hope it says fun for longer than it seems like it will.
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Aside from Wii Sports (ok Rayman) there is no game people can enjoy this quick - e.g. nobody would have bothered playing Zelda (it's for the hardcore folks, I know) but still...
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I won't deny that the first hour or so playin Wii sports was fun, but once you realize that the Wii is only interpreting approximations of very specific movements, you're left with a $250 Gamecube with a novel input device.
$250 isn't enough to justify something that you pull out the 5 or 6 times a year you have a family gathering at your house.
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If you read all the comments you would see that killr0y said earlier, "I have one and I'm already about to put it up on ebay."
Not everyone who owns one loves it. You can't assume that everyone who loves one has one either.
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I think these approximations you speak of are much more nuanced than you are making them out to be. Let's look how nuanced bowling in wii sports is.
The velocity of one's physical swing determines the velocity of the ball. The amount of phyiscal twist of the controller determines the amount of spin on the ball. The timing of releasing the B button along with the height of the controller determines if the ball is thrown smoothly, lobbed into the air, or somewhere inbetween.
Yes, these are approximations. However, they are very nuanced approximations. Much more than some button presses could ever be.
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Sell it. Case closed. It's not for you.
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For everyone else. I'm with you on that one. Zelda is game of the year/best Zelda ever made/ makes the 10 ten best of all time list.
Wii Sports shows serious potential for the controller. Can I get a punch out that plays like Wii Boxing? Or a Virtual Tennis that plays like Wii Tennis.
Can I get a driving game that plays like the jeep levels in Call of Duty 3 which is just awesome.
Beyond that, I'm really loving Tony Hawk's DHJ and hope Nintendo can give us a new 1080. I played Wii boxing in front of my father and after one match, I handed him the controller he jumped right in like he was playing it for weeks. It IS that good. There is so much potential with the Wii it's retarded. I shutter to think what Nintendo has planned for Mario Galaxy and Super Smash Brothers Brawl. Then there's Metroid 3. I pray that Retro rips off the controls from Call of Duty 3 instead using that gimped control setup from Red "piece of shit" Steel.
There's just so much potential. When LucasArts releases a Jedi Knight using the remote, it's over.
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If all you're going to do is bash it why still own it you idiot?
"it wasn't worth 250" Then sell it on eBay or return it you retard. I'm sure thousands of others would want to buy it.
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For those who claim "it is just like any other system" where people show interest and then get back with their regularly scheduled lives, I disagree. I'm betting it will be like the DS has been for me and my family. After a family event where everyone took turns playing 2 player big brain academy, my Mom, Dad, Sister and her boyfriend all went out and bought them. None of them are gamers, except my sisters bf, and they all continue to play their DSs months later.
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Besides the fact that I watched my 8-year-old overweight nephew get a freaking WORKOUT playing tennis on Thanksgiving. And 5 or 6 times a year? Whatever. We've played it every day since we got it. Ten of us. EVERY DAY.
Don't buy it. Or return it. Or buy a PS3. Let someone who appreciates it have the one you'll be leaving behind.
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My only concern is that you might miss out on some killer apps that will come in the next year. I think that's all the Wii needs - we have the party games which Ninty always goes for. So far I only have Zelda. Excite Truck I got last night and most of the guys were liking it at my brother's place. Some more hardcore games would be good... or something like Katamari Damacy.
I do admit that the graphics are not up to the level of the best (say a geforce 8800 gtx, definitely). However, it's a time when if I was in the market for a good computer that would play something like... FEAR or HL2 I don't have to splurge to get something that is capable. So the Wii is in line with my own personal vision for gaming - a balance between fun, cost, and shinies.
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