Even though I have almost no spare time whatsoever, and I shouldn’t be researching better and improved ways of wasting more time, I went and got myself a Nintendo Wii.
While Microsoft and Sony are fighting over whose processor is bigger, Blu-Ray over HD-DVD, or if Playstation 3 or the Xbox 360 have better HD support, Nintendo chose step outside the graphics competition altogether. It’s not their game. They’re smart, too - they probably realize that they can be outspent by either company, and they would be bled dry if they make the mistake of even getting in that race. With the Wii Nintendo chose instead to focus on being usable and fun, and boy did they succeed.
Unless you’ve been living in a cave you probably know about the Wii’s motion sensing controller, so I won’t go into details here. If you want to read more about it, Wikipedia has tons of material for you. Have you seen those funny ads where the two japanese guys come into a family’s house and promptly start flailing around, hitting invisible tennis balls with a short white stick? It’s just like that.
What I will say is that the console delivers. Its controller is intuitive to use, feels very natural and the response is exactly what you would expect. Moreover, it feels absolutely non-threatening for someone who isn’t used to playing games, or who might have an actual bias against the multitude of buttons and triggers found on a regular Xbox control. Wii Sports is a great showcase for people to learn about the interactions with the Wii, while playing games they intuitively know about like baseball or bowling.
Let me tell you, I never thought the day would come when my dad would not only feel completely at ease with a console, but also kick my ass in the process.
For me the kicker was Rayman Raving Rabbids, however. Vero and I were just hooked by this fun collection of 75 mini games starring Rayman and a host of psychotic rabid bunnies, which often had us just laughing out loud at its blatant silliness. Graphics are relatively simple, but when the gameplay consists of brilliant bits like having to hold the controller to your ear so that you can listen to a piglet’s squeals as a warning sign to avoid burrowed rabbids who jump up with a blowtorch and burn it to a crisp, you really don’t give a crap if the PS3 could kick Skynet’s ass.
Now, if I only could find some more controllers online…
PS: Those product features they mention in Amazon about taming sharks and a huge free-roaming environment? No clue where that’s from - probably the original plans for the game.