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Wii the people

by Alison Lebovitz

Photo by David Andrews

My husband and I have three boys under the age of 10, so as you can imagine we lead very active lives. In fact, on any given day you can find one or both of us playing tennis, hitting a baseball, running, golfing, bowling and even boxing with our kids. These are activities we can do together as a family and without ever leaving the comforts of home. And it’s all because we have a Wii.

Video might have killed the radio star in the 70s, but in the 21^st century, the Wii has given new life to home video game systems. I am actually a proud card-carrying and joystick-toting member of the Atari generation—an era when a good game of Pong constituted genuine entertainment. But comparing an Atari system to the Wii is like comparing an abacus to an iPhone. (The abacus would actually seem far more sophisticated in this scenario.) And while I’m still a die-hard fan of the classic arcade games—like Ms. Pacman, Donkey Kong and Galag—I must admit there is no amount of dot eating, ladder climbing or missile shooting that can compete with the adrenaline rush you get from a hand-swatting, body-moving, head-tossing sports game on the Wii. And the men in my house agree.

Every morning, right after breakfast and before they go to work and school, my husband and the three boys quickly head to the basement to assume their usual positions in front of the television—evenly divided into two teams and ready for their daily dose of doubles on Wii tennis. And even though my husband is a four-time marathon runner, an Iron Man finisher and a Leadville mountain bike racer, he is no match for our 5-year-old when it comes to the Wii. This is a fact he will readily, however regretfully, admit. And so, after just 10 minutes of heated competition, he is sweating and yelling as much as, if not more than, the other three boys combined. And we all take pleasure in these moments, since for now, the Wii platform is the only place where the boys and I have a chance of beating him in anything sports-related.

Although one of the upsides of the Wii system is that it offers a unique combination of virtual competition with actual physical exertion, there is one significant downside. For those of us who have played video games for years at the risk of nothing more serious than a possible case of carpal tunnel syndrome, playing the Wii can often result in real sports-related pains and injuries. (In my house, we call these, “inju-Wii’s.”) I have a friend whose son once spent an entire afternoon playing Wii baseball in an attempt to beat his high score. He eventually succeeded, but he literally couldn’t move his arm for a week after. Of course, the only thing more painful than hurting yourself during a Wii competition is getting hurt by someone else during a Wii competition—like when you accidentally whack your competitor or an innocent bystander in the head with your controller in an attempt to land that perfect shot. Luckily, my son forgave me for that one.

Contrary to the typical arcade or home gaming experiences that might be entertaining but otherwise offer no practical benefits, the virtual play on the Wii provides some real-life advantages. For instance, it encourages creativity and self-expression, because every player can create a Mii. For those of you who might be a Wii bit confused right now, a Mii is a customized and often eerily similar animated version of yourself that competes on your behalf. Also, our three boys play tennis—in real life, that is—and during a recent tournament they were among the only kids who could accurately keep score. Their coach said, and I kid you not, that the Wii “is the best thing to ever happen to tennis, because kids really understand how to keep score.” I will admit that we have yet to introduce our kids to the real-life experience of playing baseball, however, because even when we play in our driveway, our 5-year-old tends to mimic the robotic voice of the Wii baseball game. He will hit the ball and yell, “IT’S A DUH-BLE,” or yell victoriously, “IT’S A HOOOOOOME RUUUUUUUN,” when the ball goes over the fence. All the while adding sound effects that also simulate computer-generated cheering. Not sure that will go over well with the Little League crowd.

Of course, the best thing about the Wii is that it promotes a no-nonsense approach to competitive sports. When you win, your Mii jumps for joy while the words “YOU WIN” flash across the screen. On the other hand, when you lose, your Mii drops her head in shame, crestfallen by the defeat, while the words “YOU LOSE” flash across the screen. And while this may not be the best lesson in good sportsmanship, this feature is probably the most authentic part of the virtual experience. Our boys understand that in the real world, there is no “i” in team, but in the Wii world, there are always at least two. And that’s good enough for Mii.