For a long time I’ve thought of myself as a hardcore gamer. But the truth is that I’m really not. At a certain point (around the PlayStation 1) I started migrating to mostly playing sports games and casual games. There was the Tomb Raider period certainly, but that was kind of an exception. And in terms of the systems themselves (a Genesis, a DreamCast, a Playstation, an XBOX, a PSP, and a 360) each one brought mostly new graphics, new storage, and new realism. I was happy for some time. But frankly, with each system, as good as the graphics got (and even with the online play) I was getting less and less excited. And then I got a Wii.

In our last post I mentioned how when M.U.L.E. came out for my Atari 800 it was an incredible moment that showed me just a whole new dimension of what videogames could be. The Wii has done the same thing for me. Honestly I’ve almost not even tried a single other game other than the Wii Sports game that came with the console. Never mind that I fantasize that I too can play 30 minutes a day and lose 9 pounds in six weeks, even without the hope of physical benefits, I just love playing the Wii. I’m up, I’m about, it’s adorable, real work to improve, and a ton of fun. I was telling my friend Kira that I was playing the baseball game and she asked if I was playing the Red Sox. And strangely, for the first time it dawned on me that the game has no Major League Baseball license. I really hadn’t noticed. And to be clear, a year ago you wouldn’t have caught me dead buying a football game without an NFL license. I explained that my Mii (my little character that looks just like me) is playing tennis and then I realized that the Wii control mechanism and software had put me in the game. I was no longer pretending to be someone else doing something, I was playing the game myself. The fact that it wasn’t just dexterity of my fingers, but my entire body involved changed my entire outlook on what was fun. Nintendo has scored a grand slam. Frankly, even if no other games beyond Wii Sports were ever released for this system I would still feel it was worth the money.

One postscript when it comes to exercising with the Wii. Tonight I noticed a little feature of Wii Sports where it calculates your physical age based on three sports tests. I of course took it. It calculated my physical age at 41 (instead of the super young 38 I am). Of course I was mortified and pissed off. I immediately resolved to take the test over and over again until it put me at an appropriate 26. I hit “Play Again” and the Wii said… sorry, you can only take the test once a day. Damn! These bastards. They’re so confident in how good their system is that they try to actively stop me from using it. They know I’ll come back. Another example is the little tip that shows up once in awhile with a drawing of a Wii controller placed on a table next to an open window with text encouraging me to take a break from my Wii and spend some time outside.

It’s a pleasure using software that’s this well made. And maybe it’ll even make me skinnier. :)

IMPORTANT UPDATE: Tonight on only my very next try my Wii Fitness Age is now 39!!! A two year improvement. Soon I will get to 26. ;)