A Wii Thanksgiving test on the family: Part 2

Zack Stern — 2006-11-25T09:05:00+00:00

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.

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A Wii Thanksgiving test on the family

Alexander Sliwinski — 2006-11-24T19:55:00+00:00

Filed under: Culture, Nintendo Wii

With Nintendo marketing the Wii to cross demographics outside the realm of the hardcore gamer, it seemed only fair to test out the system at a family friends house after Thanksgiving dinner. Bringing the system over and saying I wanted them to test it out, the most apprehensive person wasn't the adults, but 21 year-old Meredith McSorley saying, "I'm not good at that stuff. I can't do the button things." I informed her this would be different.

After dinner ended we proceeded to their modest television room, I handed over a controller to Meredith and asked her to figure it out from there. She got through the menu controls good and fine, took her a second to get used to the buttons until she said, "It's like a TV remote." When we started our first game of Wii Sports tennis, that's when she got excited.

"NO WAY!" She yelled excitedly while swinging her arm to serve, "Can I do a backhand?"

"Try it."

"I could really get into this," she said instantly understanding the game, her learning curve was nil. After that we tried Wii Sports bowling and Rayman, every title she instantly understood what she had to do, and playing well, with only the basic instructions given to her by the games. After an hour she started asking where she could get a Wii, how much it cost, why hadn't she heard about this?

Wii Sports Boxing has another title she really got into, KOing her first opponent and slowly picking up the subtleties of the game by the second opponent, and then asking, "Are mothers buying this for their kids to get them to be more active?"

The adults that ended up coming to the room were a little more difficult to gauge reaction. Their learning curve was pretty steep in comparison. They kept trying to hit buttons, even though we explained they didn't have to, and generally didn't put enough force into their movements for the Wii-mote to register what they were doing. Meredith wanted to get back to playing so the adults didn't have too much time to continue testing.

So, there you go, 21 year-old sporty female who isn't into video games likes the system enough to want one for herself. The adults we'll have to re-test another time, when girl-who-likes-the-system-too-much-to-put-it-down isn't around.

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A Wii Thanksgiving test on the family: Part 2

A Wii Thanksgiving test on the family