Wiiiiiiiii

I got a chance to play the new Nintendo Wii (pronounced "wee") the other day when my coworker invited us to play their set, which they play some 4 hours a day. I must say, I could easily see how one could get hooked on this 4 hours a day.

The controls might tether to each other but aren't connected directly to the console. They're remotes and can tell which way you're swinging, even turning. The Wii comes with Wii games which includes, bowling, baseball, golf, tennis, and boxing. We tried tennis, bowling and boxing. Basically, you don't have to know anything about playing games or knowing the proper keypad combination, you just move. In the boxing game, you even put your hands in front of your face to block and can even duck by moving your body. I'm sure to the current kid generation the graphics seem simple, you play with what look like smooth body lego figures, but I'm sure that's what we said about pong.

In any case with a very low learning curve and a high fun factor, I can see why Wii kicked the crap out of PS3. It's the first game station in a long while that is really changing the way in which people interact with video games.

My coworker also had a sugery game where you have to do stuff like stitch up an arm and pull glass out of the body. A bit gruesome, but you could get your ER, Gray's Anatomy kicks out of it. We also tried this crazy bunny game where you shoot these wild attacking bunnies with plungers. Not sure what the point is, but it was fun. She also had Zelda which we didn't try but she said was way fun since you held the sword and got to swing it around.

Of course, in a matter of minutes, I was completely addicted which is rather rare for me because I generally don't like video games because they 1) make me dizzy or 2) I don't really have the patience to learn all the nuances of a video game. The Nintendo Wii fell into my category of game play that I enjoy the most: easy learning curve and more physical movement. I've always like things like Dance Dance Revolution and I especially like how the Wii controllers can be all these different things, unlike DDR where you're stuck with well DDR.

Reports are that people are injuring themselves playing the game and controllers are flying out of people's hands. I can see how. In the bowling game, one presses the buttons then releases them (one on the bottom and one on top), but if you're not still gripping it with the bottom three fingers which few people can do, well, say goodbye to your tv screen.

I've made the new Wii the prize if/when I ever score 200 in bowling league, which gives me a few more months to pull off. And maybe by then, there will be some kind of Madden Football game for it. Ooh, imagine, actually getting to catch, throw and tackle! It's about as virtual machine as you can get for less than $300.