Andrew Mager

The sandlot is destitute. The ice cream truck is parked in the garage. Tennis courts, bowling alleys, and football fields are collecting soot. And the swing sets and monkey bars on the playground haven’t seen significant action since the 1980s.

That’s when the word Nintendo became dinner table dabble. Everyone had the original Nintendo Entertainment System—a simple 8-bit game console that required the player to blow in the game cartridge from time to time to make the system work. Super Mario, Kirby the Marshmallow Puff, and Battletoads became role models for youngsters.

Fast forward to the 21^st century, where there is lot more huffing and puffing going on about Nintendo’s newest invention. Behold the $250 Wii, pronounced “we” not “why”, a game console that brings physical activity to the couch. Players are required to actually move the controller around to make the players in the game move. What a novel concept.

For example, Wii Sports offers a bowling game, where the player is expected to step up to the television screen as if they were actually staring down the lane at ten shiny pins. If you release the bowling ball (the B button) just a little too late, your ball will hit the gutter.

Another popular game is Wii Tennis, where two players can go against each other. The room suddenly becomes an imaginary ping pong table, and video gamers worldwide require Gatorade more and more.

Hopefully, this phenomenon will help young kids with their physical activity quotas. Have traditional sandlot games been surpassed by their virtual counterpart? The makers of Madden 2007 will stand by that remark until the end.

In that game, when the football is snapped, Player 1 must step back and haul the wireless controller by his head as if he is launching the ball down the field. As the ball is coming to the receiver, the catch will only complete if Player 2 puts his hands above his head, and presses the button at the right time, and closes his hands on the imaginary ball.

This might look really silly, but it makes for great entertainment. Nintendo’s newest console is also more than a wee bit cheaper than Sony’s new Playstation 3, and Microsoft’s Xbox 360. Granted, these systems have mind-boggling graphics, and superior video features, but Nintendo gamers are simply having more fun playing the Wii, and that’s what is most important.

Christmas is more exciting for younger generations these days. Not only is the Nintendo Wii a completely new way of playing video games, it’s also a good exercise. Finally, the youth of our nation will not be glued to the couch with thumb disorders this holiday season. Instead, they will be one step closer to actually playing real games.