Cartman maybe wasn’t so crazy when he froze himself because he couldn’t wait any longer to get a Wii.
A few days ago I was in the Rockefeller Center area with over an hour to kill. Part of me wanted to walk over to the public library to read, but another (and, in this case, victorious part) got me over to the Nintendo World store.
It was 10 AM — an empty time. Still kinda early, but late enough that the daily rush of people who still camp out for a Wii have already cleared out the store. There were no more Wiis to sell, but they had a few to play with.
So I started playing Wii Tennis. And the next thing you knew, I was nearly late for my next appointment.
The Wii is the most addictive video system ever! Now, granted, I haven’t actually owned any video games since the old Atari, so I am hardly a hardcore “gamer.” Still, if the store had any Wiis in stock, I may have bought one right there.
And here’s the funny part: I was actually working up a sweat! Compared to PlayStation or XBox, the Wii involves a tiny bit of excersize. Not a lot, but a little. I’d say that playing Wii Tennis is about as strenuous as playing ping-pong. (Not like, you know, the way Chinese people do, but, like, the way you do in a bar.)
I also played Wii Bowling. I will not lie: there is no excersize involved in this.
I didn’t get around to any games where you shoot Zombies or Klingons, but I’m sure they exist. I look forward to killing time in Rockefeller Center again soon.
I heart Wii!
With video games, I can see the attraction of killing thousands of people with high-powered and automatic guns — it’s hopefully not something the player of the game is ever going to do, a pure fantasy sequence that taps into some dark, primordial urge.
But playing a video game that uses your body motion to replicate tennis, golf and bowling? What gives? I don’t quite understand the attraction … when you can buy a tennis racket, golf clubs or a bowling ball, and take up the activity yourself, and do it for real.
I’m glad I’m not a kid now. Because these things seem insanely addictive to any kids who have these systems in their homes. And the few instances when I’ve sat down and played them myself, I’m just not into it — a visit to a friend’s house with a teenage son will result in all of us sitting there for three hours, not communicating anything worthwhile, just grunting, twidding our fingers on the controls and trying to kill each other in virtual reality.
What’s wrong with this picture?
Yeah, looking back Vectrex was like crack, but at least it got boring after you mastered the games in a few months. now, it never ends.