My husband and I went to visit our friends last night. They recently bought a Wii and invited us to play. Although I’m Japanese and many people may think that I must have played it by now, it was actually my first time playing it! I knew we were going to have fun, but I was amazed I had so much more fun than I expected! Starting from making our own “mini-me”s, we couldn’t stop laughing. My husband made himself a really funny looking face with geeky haircut and big sunglasses (and he was really strong at every sport he played!), while I made a big-eyed Japanese anime-like character. We played tennis and bowling and drank cocktails made with freshly juiced pineapple, peach, and orange juice.
The experience I had with Wii was very different from other video games. Wii targets people who don’t usually play video games. It is inclusive and interactive. I usually don’t play video games, and I have to say I am not really good at playing them. I mean, I don’t think I have particularly good fine motor skills, so video games that need to have good eye and body coordination (like racing cars), I am not good at it. But this one was different. It really feels like you are playing tennis or bowling. And it even has an audience who “wow”s and “oh”s for you, which provides emotional aspects in playing it, not mentioning our own “mini-me”s. In fact, we were calling each other by “mini-me” character names, and not our own. It was also easy to learn how to use the controller. For the games we played, I only needed to use two buttons: button A and B, which were placed at front and back, so I was only using my thumb and index finger. Other things were done by body motions. Wii addresses barriers for non-gamers: it can be played with many different groups of people. It is easy to learn. And it encourage emotional connection, making you want to come back and play again and again. For example, once you create your “mini-me”, you can transport it to other locations. So you always feel like you are the main actor.
I think we’ll go back to their place again and play more games. And now, I want to get Wii Fit, with which I can do my own exercise.
