Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Wii Would Like To Play, Would I?

I work at the edges of the video game industry these days. It's an interesting gig, when I've got the work. I've been a speaker at the Austin Game Developers Con. I'm on a list serve for game writers. I'm probably doing a seminar at Austin Community College on ARGs in October. But I don't actually play games. I get motion sick watching first person shooters. (Warren Spector told me that one of the play testers for Deus Ex had to take Dramamine. I felt better.) And I never learned to use a controller. So now, at 48, I'm useless. If I tried to play Halo 3 on the easiest setting, I'd probably still be dead in five minutes.

I'm wondering if maybe I should get a Wii? Wii is sufficiently different from every other game console that I'm starting at the same level of klutziness as everyone else. And Caroline Spector says that The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess for Wii is fun. I keep thinking it would, you know, improve my credentials to actually play games.

Then again, a lot of people who work in the industry don't play anymore because they don't have time. I'm up to my eyeballs in work at the moment, and when I finish, I don't exactly want to be near a computer. At least the Wii would make me move around.

I'm on the fence. Does anybody else have one?

9 Comments:

Blogger Tobias Buckell said...

I do, it's a lot of fun, although I haven't had time in a couple months to play either the Wii or the Xbox 360 (although with a few new games coming out I'm looking forward to spending some time after book #3 is wrapped up).

What I like about the Wii is it really does bring back the original fun games and fun feeling video games used to have. It's not too hard to use and most games don't leave you with 3-d car sickness feeling.

Emily doesn't hardly touch the 360, too many buttons on the controller, too much on the screen going on, but we both play the Wii a fair amount.

September 13, 2007 3:57 AM  
Blogger SquidgePa said...

We have one as well.

I couldn't watch Julie or Steph play Legend of Zelda for very long without getting motion sick, but had no problem when I was the player, and I get motion sick very easily. (It was like, back in the day, the difference between being the pilot or being an observer and getting simulator sickness; the pilot can {typically} anticipate how the scenery is about to change.)

Tom

September 13, 2007 9:28 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I agree with Toby about bringing back the old-time fun video game feel. I too have worked in the game industry and get terrible motion sickness around a lot of 1st-person games, so I can't play them. But we have a Wii and my son absolutely loves it. The controls are easy enough, and of course the real fun of Wii is games that have you swinging the controls like baseball bats and so forth.

September 13, 2007 10:08 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

wellllllllll.....

if we ever get together you can play mine!

September 13, 2007 11:40 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Games night!

September 13, 2007 12:08 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Oh yes, buy it. I'm not at all a gamer, but I enjoy the Wii quite a bit. And you can actually pretend you're exercising while you're playing it.

September 13, 2007 1:13 PM  
Blogger Steven Gould said...

Just be sure and move your whole arm. There's lots of repetitive motion wrist trouble out there for Wii players who still just want to sit on the couch and use the wrist only for what were supposed to be whole body movements.

September 13, 2007 2:14 PM  
Blogger Derryl Murphy said...

The boys got a Wii for Christmas, and even my wife likes it. Interestingly, though, lately the boys have taken to playing Gamecube games on it with traditional controllers. Just to be difficult, I suppose.

D

September 13, 2007 3:54 PM  
Blogger Gwenda said...

Kelly and Gavin let us play with Holly and Theo's and I was immediately addicted. It's worth it just for the tutorial games and for making Miis!

As soon as we invest in a better TV, I want one.

September 14, 2007 8:09 PM  

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