A few months back I decided to buy my family a Nintendo Wii. This may be a little off topic for what we usually discuss here, but being how surprised I am at the impact this thing has had, I wanted to share with everybody. I’ve always loved video games, even as an adult. My wife doesn’t really like them at all, and my previous all day sessions of Madden would drive her crazy. My son (he’s 5) obviously loves video games, but he’s still young enough to where he can’t really play a lot of games on your traditional systems like PS3 or Xbox (we have an old PS2). All that considered, every single one of us has found a lot of joy in playing the Wii.
First of all, if you don’t know (or have been under a rock for the past year and a half) the Wii offers a much more active video game experience making the players act out the motions on the screen. It’s less video game, more virtual reality. This is great for my wife and I, since we can play a little Wii and get a small workout to supplement our normal exercise activities. Plus, we don’t mind our son playing a lot of video games because at least he’s not sedentary playing Wii. Plus he gets all the hand-eye coordination and problem solving skills that you normally would playing video games (believe it or not, they do help children in some ways). The activeness of playing the Wii was in the news recently as well as patients are even using them for rehab.
The biggest plus about the Wii is that it has been something that everyone in the family can agree on, so we end up spending more time together. I firmly believe that a healthy family life is one of the biggest keys to success. It’s a strange feeling to come home and hear your wife say “let’s play some video games.” It’s surreal actually. But seriously, the Wii has brought us that much closer together and gives us something to do as a family on a regular basis. Not to mention, it’s been great whenever we have other people over as well. Even if most of the games are pretty simple in nature, the fact that you get to act them out makes fun. So if you have a chance to pick one up, do so. It’s fun for the whole family and gives you something to do together in your spare time.
