• by Betsy , January 15, 2007

My roommate got the Nintendo Wii for Christmas. I’ve been playing it ever since! I’ve created a Mii, which is an avatar to represent yourself on the network and in the sports games. Once you create your own Mii, your Mii can travel around to different Nintendo Wii’s that are connected to the same network! So in essence, my Mii can go hang out with your Mii!

The Wii is physically immersive in the basic sports games: Tennis, Golf, Bowling, Baseball, and Boxing. The first game I played was tennis. I am a good tennis player in RL and thought I had the best chance at winning. I shortly became addicted. I was physically serving the ball, hitting forehands and backhands, but could not figure out how to run up to the net. (It is not 100% immersive; there are some limitations to the sports games) I did wonder if I was using good strokes, or if I was going to pull something. Mind you, I maybe a bit out of shape, but I was sweating after only two games in tennis! My arms were sore the next day, and yet all I wanted to do was play again.

The whole set up of the Wii is a joystick/mouse wireless controller. The Wii has truly taken a new approach to how videos games can and will be played. This new gaming system is doing a wonderful job of blurring the lines between a PC mouse and a video game console to create a whole new immersive environment.

And the last thing I will mention: the Wii Menu, it is a very simple interface that keeps all possible avenues to explore clean and organized. The Wii connects easily to a wireless network and you can surf the internet simply with the console. There is the typical game channel, which is the game you have in, plus the weather channel, photo channel, Internet channel, and the Wii Shop channel. In the Wii Shop Channel you can purchase old games (with Wii Points, $20 = 2000 points) from previous gaming consoles, such as NES, SNES, and Sega Genesis. These are all consoles I grew up with and I am very excited to be able to play them again in the newest version.

Once my roommate opens up The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess I know where I will be spending a lot of my free time.