Wii - Fun for the Whole Family

Nintendo didn't rely on cutting-edge technology when they released their newest game platform, the Wii, in November of 2006. Instead, they opted to try to open up the whole idea of who video games are intended for. They didn't make the Wii for gamers, they made the Wii for everybody. In our family, we feel they did an outstanding job, and here's why.

The controller for the Wii is a remote control that creates action on the screen through the action of the person controlling the remote (or the Wii-mote, as we like to call it). For instance, in the game Wii Sports (which comes with every Wii game system), when you choose boxing, you stand in front of the screen holding the Wii remote and the nunchuk (a detachable appendage for the Wii remote that also comes with the system) in each of your hands and you punch the air. In Wii Sports baseball, you hold the Wii-mote like a bat and you swing when the ball comes.

This has proven to be loads of fun for our family. It results in a lot of laughing as we get the hang of things, and cheering each other on. It's now possible for us to have a family game night in which we go bowling in our living room. The Wii makes it possible to play video games and not have it be a solitary activity, though it can be that as well.

The main screen that comes up when you turn on the Wii is a set of T.V.-shaped rectangles that each represent an option of what to do. The first is for whatever game is in the disc slot. This can be either a Wii game or a GameCube game, which has been a great advantage around here, as we have a lot of GameCube games and this eliminates the need to constantly switch between systems. Some of the other boxes are for various "channels." There's the Mii Channel, in which you can create up to 100 Miis, or avatars, using various choices for eyes, hair, noses, and so on. These Miis can be used in games such as Wii Sports. If you have wireless internet or a wireless adapter for you computer, Miis from other people's Wiis can come to your Wii via the "Mii Parade." The Mii Channel has provided hours of fun around our house and we've already filled up the 100 Mii limit. Most of the Miis have been made by the kids, but there are a handful that were made by myself and my husband.

There is also a News Channel, a Forecast Channel, a Photo Channel, and an Internet Channel (so far, this is only a trial version which can be downloaded from the Wii Shop Channel -- more on that later). Using the Photo Channel, you can view and play with digital photos from any SD card. The News and Forecast Channels do pretty much what you'd expect them to do, though you do need an internet connection to use them. The Internet Trial Channel (obviously also needing an internet connection) allows some limited surfing of the web. It's a bit difficult to do with the Wii remote and we hope they will eventually come out with a keyboard that connects to the Wii-mote in the same way that the nunchuk does. Occasionally, new channels become available to download. The latest one was the Everybody Votes Channel, which asks questions of people with internet-connected Wiis and reports the results. This channel uses the Miis and has proven to be pretty fun for our family.

That brings us to what I, personally, think is the best feature of the Wii. One of the channels is the Wii Shop Channel, and using an internet connection, you can download old school Nintendo titles directly to your Wii. They intend to eventually have available all of the games from the original Nintendo, the Super Nintendo, and the Nintendo 64. There are also some Sega games and some games from other lesser-known systems. In order to download the games, you purchase Wii Points, either on a card from a store like Target or Best Buy, or directly from the system using a credit card. So far, at our house, we've downloaded Super Mario Brothers, The Legend of Zelda, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, Super Mario World, and a few others. The great thing about this is that I can share these old games that I remember spending countless hours playing as a kid with my own children. It's so fun to see these games again and let them awaken memories which I can then share with my kids. It's yet another way that the Wii helps our family connect.

When the Wii first came out, I knew I wanted to get one for our family, but I decided to put it off until they were more available. My brother, younger and more energetic than I am, offered to stand in line overnight outside of a store and buy a Nintendo Wii for us, so I took him up on the offer. I'm so glad that I did, and that he did, because, so far, that purchase has proven to be very worth it. It has been even better than I expected it to be, with lots of unforeseen benefits in family togetherness.