wherein i defend the wii
Slate’s got this incredibly wrong-headed review of the Wii by Erik Sofge, and since I’m a fan of the system, I felt the need to point out a few things.
Referring to the Wii’s “nunchuck” attachment, which is a small, motion sensitive analog stick that connects to the main Remote, Sofge writes, “But if you think you’ll be able to whip them around like Bruce Lee, you’re in for the first of many disappointments.” Like what? Reality? Sofge makes the mistake of confusing a cute marketing name with a functional promise. Besides, you don’t want to use that thing like a real nunchuk, trust me. If I had a dime for every time Dave cracked himself in the back of the head with the real thing…
Sofge notes sarcastically that “Nintendo wants you to believe that the Wii will tear kids off the couch and get them swinging virtual tennis rackets.” I do believe Nintendo, because I have seen, with my own two eyes, my little brother off the couch and swinging the Remotes. My father does this so much that he complains of muscle soreness. I contend he needs to get to the gym more often.
The crowning glory in this “review”?
I’ve played and won 14-hour-long Halo tournaments. I was a bird-slaughtering Duck Hunt master back when Times Square still had arcades. But the Wii, which is being marketed as the ideal system for newbies, made me feel like an incompetent novice.
Throughout the article, Sofge seems to be making the case that because you can’t pick up a Remote and instamagically understand exactly how the Wii works, it therefore fails to deliver on its promise of an approachable, intuitive interface. There are two critical points that I think need to be made explicit here.
- Plastic, no matter how shiny, is not a palantir. It is not capable of psychically transmitting knowledge to those who touch it.
- There is a tremendous difference between the Wii’s learning curve and the learning curve of every other console on the market.
The Wii may, indeed, be a bit harder to grasp (har har) for the kind of person who wins a fourteen hour Halo tournament (As long as I’m being a bastard about it, numbers less than fifty are spelled, Erik, and names of videogames should be italicized, like movies). The classic control schemes of ages past are heavily entrenched in your motor pathways and it can be hard to break that mindset. Perhaps expecting to be an expert on the Wii after ten minutes of play gave too much weight to all that Duck Hunt you used to play.
It is not, however, difficult to understand the control scheme for Wii Bowling. In fact, I would go so far as to say that it is easy: raise arm as if lifting a bowling ball, squeeze the B button, move arm as if bowling, release B button when you would normally release ball. I can personally attest that this is infinitely more approachable to the inexperienced gamer than some Sixaxis monstrosity.
A far more important issue with the Wii is that some gamers will not want to look like morons when they play it. This is why the Wii responds to basic flicks and twists as well as it does large pantomimes. Sofge, inexplicably, seems to regard this as another huge disappointment. I think of it as a smart move on Nintendo’s part. Besides, we don’t all have palatial living rooms.
I don’t know. Am I wrong here? Is there a kernel of truth in what Sofge writes, or does this guy hate the Wii just because it doesn’t match his fantasies?
The first time I watched my brother and his wife play the Wii I was thinking that I would probably look like a retard playing it. However, once I did start playing I didn’t care. I was having too much fun! You could sit, but what’s the fun in that? You always sit in front of the tv. I brought my friend to my brothers to play it. She loved it too. We ended up playing it for 3 hours straight. The next day I was sore and I realized that I need to work out. :) Anyway, the point is anyone could have fun playing the Wii, if they would give it a try. And the only game I have played so far is Wii Sports.