I grew up on video games. My best friends and I used to walk a couple of miles to “Tokens” on Old National Highway. We’d leave with as many quarters as we could scrounge out of the sofas, hoping to find bottles to trade in on the way. Back then, our favorites were Scramble (Jody would fly while I shot and bombed – it saved money and gave us our nicknames, “Pilot” and “Gunner”), Zaxxon, and Commander Tom (I think we liked this, in part, because we such fans on David Bowie).
My, how times have changed… but the more times change, the more they stay the same…
I don’t go to arcades much anymore, but when we do hit “Dave and Busters” or “Gamestop”, we don’t have to look for bottles on the way. In fact, one of the many great joys of being an adult is having enough money to splurge at the arcade (another is eating dessert first if you want to).
But, unlike during the early days of pong and various cartridge systems, home systems are at least as good (and often better) as the professional ones at the arcades.
The Wii is impressive because it can turn what is typically a solo pursuit into a family activity. I can’t hang with my teenage son on SuperSmash (he has to battle friends over the internet for that), but we can jam together on Guitar Hero for hours (we have two guitars… I am sure we will pick up “Rock Band” before too long). It is almost as much fun as our flute/baritone duets (which can be similarly handicapped).
I am especially impressed with the Wii Fit. We have been trying to pick one of these up since they came out. In fact, my son did not even have to ask the question; every time he walked into the local GameStop, the folks working there would simply say “nope, not yet.” So I finally gave in and turned to the ultimate clearing house (where supply and demand mix with almost perfect information to create something that would have made Adam Smith giddy with delight): eBay. Sure, I paid a bit more for it, but if time really is money, it was well worth it.
The only downside I have found is that it is brutally honest: it tells me (with its syrupy-cute voice) what no one else has the courage to do: I am overweight. Then it helps me do something about it. Going through all the stretching/yoga exercises, strength exercises, aerobic exercises, and balance exercises takes about 45 minutes and gives the equivalent workout of the Pilate DVD we bought a few years ago (with the only real difference being that we have to schedule time for the Wii Fit while the Pilate DVD gathers dust).
Sure it will make you look silly (by giving my avatar a realistic pear-like figure, saying “ouch” when I step on the scale, and hitting me in the head with cleats and pandas during the soccer game – just for starters), but it is good, clean (and healthy!) fun.
[The picture is a family portrait of our mii avatars, with mine highlighted.]
