By now you have probably read a review of this video game console somewhere or even watched one on your local news as it is widely covered by the media (not just the hardcore gaming publications) I'll try to provide a different point of view, as a gamer more experienced than a newbie but far from hardcore. I plan to share some of my thoughts after spending some time playing 3 games on it:
1) Wii Sports
This is the game that puts Wii on the map, so to speak. It includes 5 sport games (baseball, bowling, golf, boxing and tennis) that showcases the strength of Wii: the motion sensing controller. It is so much easier to play video games by waving a "magic wand" then pressing buttons and pushing joystick, which has been the staples in gaming since Day 1. This innovative user interface single handedly turned a lot of non-gamer into Wii players. They would not have play video game if they have to use a joystick! Nintendo was brilliant in making Wii Sports simple yet addictive. Analyzing closely though, the games are not actually that realistic. For example, you can't full swing in the golf game or you will overshoot the ball. Also, motion sensing can only be precise to a certain degree. So you might miss some balls you though you didn't when playing tennis. Same for boxing. Finally, most of the games are rather primitive: No base-stealing in baseball. Only 9 holes in golf. The one that I feel most complete is bowling. And I could understand that Nintendo would want people to buy more sophisticated games, not just playing Wii Sports all the time! Still, Wii Sports will be the most played game in my home in the near future. Wii fitness has become my previously non-existent workout routine. One guy claimed that he lost 9 lbs after playing Wii Sports 30 min per day for 6 weeks!
Another thing unexpected that I got out of this game is more appreciation and understanding of baseball! I've been a big fan for a long long time, but I've never played real baseball. Even though this baseball game is far from realistic, it is still miles ahead of those uses joystick and buttons. With this game I could feel the frustration of a batter being fooled by the pitcher's speed or location, as well as the pressure on a pitcher who is unable to get anybody out no matter what type of ball he throws. A slight difference between swings or speed of pitches turns a strikeout to a homerun. Subtleties like these are what makes baseball the great game it is. Ironically, these are also the Achilles' heel of the sport because appreciation of subtleties has been lost in this generation.
Part 2 of this series will be about Wii Play. Stay tuned.
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