First Look at the Wii

So I got to play with the Wii on Monday night at the Colorado Game Developers meeting. I loved it! Everyone was trying out the Wii Sports that comes with the console, though I did see a bit of Zelda too.

I resisted trying to play, thinking that I’ll get one eventually and there’s no point to playing for just a few minutes. But then I saw there was a bowling game, so I had to try that. Sure enough, you hold and toss the controller just like a bowling ball. You can throw it faster or slower, and even put some spin on the ball. Tons of fun. Then I played the baseball game. I anticipated that you would swing the controller like a bat, but you also get to pitch the ball by throwing the controller — well not literally throwing it, but by moving through the pitch motions.

My thoughts afterward were about how we were standing up and moving around when playing. Heck, my arm hurt the next day from bowling and pitching. That’s quite a difference from sitting very still pressing buttons on a controller. I felt like I was actually “playing” — more in the way you play sports or in a schoolyard as a kid.

It will be interesting to see how this changes gaming. It certainly has changed it for me. Getting a PS3 or a XBox360 suddenly seems boring when compared to the Wii.

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