Sunday, March 09, 2008

The Wii—It’s All In Your Head


We have a Nintendo Wii at my house. If you haven’t played a Wii then WAKE UP—It’s 2008! For those who don’t know, the Wii is a video game console that incorporates interactivity in a fantastic new way. Instead of using buttons and joysticks to control the game, you actually move and shake the controller. In Wii Bowling, for example, you hold the controller in your hand, and then you motion with the controller just as you would if your were really bowling. It is so easy and intuitive that even the older generation is getting into it.


It is a lot of fun, but it can also shatter your confidence.

I am a Pro Bowler on Wii bowling. On average I score about 250 points per game (a perfect game is 300 points so...yeah). I was amazed by my new ability, until I went to FatCats. I strutted into the alley with confidence. I was sure that the hours if mimicking the movements of a professional bowler would pay off. I was confident that my Wii skills would transfer into a real-life situation. I was wrong. After three games my highest score was 112 points. I was shocked! I quickly went home and bowled on the Wii and scored my highest score ever. I couldn’t understand it. I then came to the conclusion that it was all in my head. The Wii won’t teach you any skills that you can use in real life. At least that's true for bowling. I’m still pretty sure that I can play the guitar though.

3 comments:

MARK SMITH said...

No offense, but I had a Wii, I gave it a chance. Aside from Resident Evil, I found the Wii to be fairly boring. They didn't have enough classic games to buy. I could easily download an emulator and play every single Mega Man game ever made for free on my computer. I like my Xbox 360. It offers a wide range of killing options. Of course, I did purchase the Wii when I had started dating a girl and when she dumped me, it was clear that I would no longer have a Wii companion (With Xbox live, I have an entire world of companions). Therefore, I had strong negative emotions associated with the Wii. That, combined with its inferiority to the emulators available on my Mac motivated me to sell it (for a profit) during the holiday season.

Sarah Larsen said...

Actually, Wii Baseball has vastly improved my softball game. I went to the batting cages on Saturday and was able to smack a few good ones due to the fact that I learned to wait for the ball to come to me, not the other way around in Wii Sports. So keep it up! You never know!!

Andy Erekson said...

I bowled a 272.