Motion Sensor – Fun Detector

So, I’ve been thinking about the 7^th Gen era recently – and before you ask this isn’t one of those ‘this console is superior to that console dumbfuckery…. You’ll find none of that silliness here!

 

What’s got my noggin pondering is about the Nintendo Wii, for a lot of people this little fella fell short – the graphics didn’t match the PS3 or Xbox 360, it lacked a number of console exclusives that the other big two had, and it fell short on some of the additional functionality (such as the PS3 BlueRay playback) which shone in the other two. However,…. this post isn’t even about any of that… actually what is this post about? Give me a second it’ll come back to me… probably!

Ha! Right, my point – the Nintendo Wii is often maligned on social media (or at least it appears that way to) but I love the little console, the versatility + the motion sensor was a great addition and the game library for this one is truly breath-taking! I’m honestly not sure whether there was a single film/ tv show or cartoon that didn’t get a Wii game port?! Admittedly some of the games ported across to the Wii left more than a bad taste in the mouth … I’m not going to name names, but did we really need soo many singing or cooking games! That’s largely a rhetorical question by the way, each to their own after all.

There were some truly great titles released for the Wii: Mario Kart Wii, Red Steel, Super Mario Bros.Wii and Zelda Twilight Princess to name just a few! We all have our favourites when it comes to gaming, whether that’s game type, developer, level design or even just sticking console to console, but that’s what I think the Wii did really well, it provided players with versatility and choice where others lacked such qualities in depth. 

 

 

Now here comes the controversial bit (drum role please)…… I think that the most important game released on the Wii was… Wii Sports! Heresy I hear some of you say, stupid Wii Me’s and sports, that’s not even gaming…. are you even a real gamer??? Ok, got that out of your systems? I’ll continue, I’m not suggesting that the in-the console box Wii Sports (there are some brilliant games on the platform – 4 of which I’ve already mentioned) is the best Wii game but what I am saying is that it was the most ‘important’ game. For most of us we can remember our first console, the first game we played and it’s a pretty easy track to follow from that Genesis (see what I did there) to where we are in our gaming lives now. For most people however who do not consider themselves as gamers, the Wii was a gateway to another way of life, it was a start down the gaming path…. Forever it may dominate their destinies. The Wii motion sensor and simple controller setup coupled with the universality of the various sports on the game made for an instant success not just in the home where families and friends could compete against each other, but in other settings – pubs and clubs across the land fell prey to the charms of Wii Sports. I’m quite certain one could obtain a PhD on the number of pints spilled whilst going for strike in Wii bowling or how many injuries occurred because of the match point smash in Wii tennis! I conjecture that for the first time (in such large numbers) people who would have scoffed and scorned playing ‘one of those video games’ were having cracking times hitting the ball for a home run or plugging in the Wii Nun Chuck and going for the knockout. 

 

 

The Wii and in particular Wii Sports bought gaming into homes and into settings to which it had previously never trodden and once the uninitiated had played this first game, so many more then went looking for what other thrills video games could provide.

‘Real gamers’ may look down on this maligned classic, but how many of those ‘real gamers’ started their journey into this world with something as simple as the motion senor simple sports games? Maybe something to ponder I dare say…