How the Nintendo Wii Scores One for the Family

One night, when I was hanging out at a friend's place, I had the unique opportunity of trying out the much sought after and publicized Nintendo Wii. During the time, which was several weeks before Christmas, the Wii was becoming a sudden craze, even though Sony's Playstation 3 was still holding onto the limelight. Personally, I was never that much of a big console gamer, besides the occasional Halo 2 on the X-box, and most of my experience lies with computer and tabletop gaming. But with the Nintendo Wii, boy, was I taken for a ride. Bringing a fresh new experience to the gaming arena, the Wii introduced an intuitive motion sensor game control that everyone and anyone could enjoy, including those who were never into video games in the first place. In fact, a lot of people who were with me at the time, who would never touch a game console with a nine-foot pole, really got a kick out of swinging the controller around to the point where some of us were already bracing for a possible Wii "accident" to happen. Now at this point, I won't go any further in describing all the features and technical properties of the Wii system, since these are old territories well covered by countless gaming articles already out there, but what I will go over is a basic revelation that I had regarding my experience.

For the longest time, the concept of modern gaming and the cause of family were in two separate divisions from each other. At best, one had absolutely nothing to do with the other and, at worst, the two were in constant odds with each other. Though the demography for gamers, namely video gamers, have greatly expanded since the 1980's to include up to middle aged men, video gaming, as whole, has always been associated as a "kid's" thing or at least something that wasn't "family friendly", especially regarding issues of censorship. In addition to all this, video gaming itself has an undeniable history of absorbing kids so deeply into games that they would tend to spend more time wasting space aliens and less time with the family. But with the recent release of the Wii, a new issue has been brought up that has been haunting the landscape of the masses for years--can video games ever be used to bring families together?

Decades ago, before modern gaming came out, there was this other thing called "family time" or "family night" that most people were familiar with. It was, as one can simply put it, a time spent were the family got together and, well, just did stuff together. Even further back, before even the TV or the radio came out, it wasn't unusual at all for families to spend time together talking, singing songs, or just playing simple games. So, what if a new game system, with all its flashy gadgets and do-dads, can actually be used to bring "family time" back into the mainstream?

For the longest time "family" was the one thing that was missing from the field of gaming. And a sense of family is the one thing that the world has been losing sight of year after year. Overall, what Nintendo did was a good thing in terms of creating a game system that can easily involve and bring together the rest of the family, at least more so than all the other game systems out there. And, in light of this, other game companies should follow in Nintendo's footsteps and try to break further ground in terms of making systems and games that the whole family can enjoy. As for family friendly companies already out there, who may or may not have experience with the gaming industry, now's the time for them to explore new avenues. Nintendo, as a whole, has opened the door to a cause that most game companies have neglected (and in some cases avoided) for many years--the cause of family. And now it's time for Nintendo, as a leading game company, to hopefully embrace that cause and make it known to the rest of the gaming community itself.

Will this resolve all family issues and conflicts? No, not by a long shot. Will this cure all the problems kids face with their parents and vice-versa? Not likely. But what this will do is at least provide a common ground or at least another avenue in which the family can come together and share a few good moments as, well, a family. Of course, if the family isn't willing to come together in the first place, then it won't matter at all, but that's another can of worms altogether. Though the avenue that the Wii has opened up will never give the royal flush that people need, it'll at least put the cards on the table.

For all you gaming readers out there who may think this idea is cheesy or that I might have lost my sense of taste as a gamer, well, you're entitled to your opinion. But to me, family is far more important than any high score or pwnage that you can dish out on any noob, any day of the week. Call me old fashioned, but just as some people were wrong about the Wii's chance of success, it would be wrong to ignore the potential of what family friendly gaming can offer. Now, if you would please excuse me, I have a virtual cow to swing over my head and throw.