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(stated in Prof. Farnsworth voice) “Good news everyone!”  Outlook for new Wii games is very strong for 2008.  According to a new article by Screen Digest, “…publishers are “flocking to Wii” and that this holiday season will lead into a 2008 with plenty of Wii fun to come. “Nintendo’s success is reaping the rewards of great support from publishers … 86 titles are scheduled for release on the Wii in Q4, compared with 47 for Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and just 38 for the PS3. Furthermore, a quarter of the Wii releases are exclusive to the platform, compared with eight for the Xbox 360 and five for PS3. Screen Digest sees Nintendo’s success and external support for Wii only accelerating, primarily thanks to the quickly growing installed base and lower cost of development on the platform. The firm “expects that the number of games available for Wii will surpass Xbox 360’s library in early 2008 at current release rates.” So momentum building with many more games for the Wii, and judging by past victories we can only anticipate more fun games from the original creative minds of Nintendo.

Another article extolling the virtues of playing the Wii for fitness, this time not only for the body, but for the mind. “Physical therapists are turning to the Nintendo Wii to help the injured and infirm get their grooves back while increasing flexibility and strength. [...]Nintendo’s Brain Age series is popularly prescribed to help elderly patients stay sharp as a sort of “exercise” for the mind. therepy schedules [...] The Wii, though, is moving gaming out of niche applications and into the mainstream because the console is so accessible to such a wide variety of players. (You should see my four-year-old play Wii Carnival Games.) The upcoming Wii Fit could be a real killer in this category for those who don’t have the sense of rhythm that Dance Dance Revolution requires” Hmmm…I’ve looked at the Brain game available for the Wii with the idea that it would be cool for the kids, but now I have Carnival Games in mind too! They have more coverage on the topic in their Games for Health page, all nice to see, and check out the video of the action here. Again, I’d much rather the kids (and me) play some Wii games that make us think versus just watching TV.

Like a walk down memory lane, you’ll never forget your first…video game controller that is. That’s mine on the right, yeah, she got around a bit, but hey. So anyway, here’s a great site with an overview of the evolution of the video game controller, all the way back to the Magnavox Odyssey. Wow, I’ve owned 8 of those systems! Atari 2600, Colecovision, NES, Sega Genesis, SNES, Sony Playstation, Gamecube and now the Wii. Yeah, the only Nintendo I didn’t own was the N64, which supposedly rocked. Then if you really want to get into it, there’s a fantastic ‘family tree’ version with even more (all?) of the controllers; Sock Master’s Game Console Controller Family Tree! Much more in depth, with details once you click on them. Far out, fun to see how Nintendo lead so much of the way, but also to see how the Xbox followed Saturn’s lead. Damn, and I played the Atari Jaguar at a party (”avoid the ground!”) and that controller bit, hard. But check out ‘The Nintendo Game & Watch’, a Donkey Kong game from 1982; the case is a dead ringer for the Nintendo DS! Damn, this is fun stuff.

Ten engineering students at UCSC recreated Donkey Kong using ~6400 3×3″ Post-It® Notes on glass covering 4 floors x 2 windows E2 Building UCSC. In the ‘About this piece’ section they note, “Donkey Kong (Miyamoto, et. al.,1981) was the first appearance of the Itallian plumber we now know as Mario. While this game’s early ’80s arcade popularity predates most of today’s engineering students, it represents the amazing results that a small development team can produce. Today Donkey Kong is ranked as the 3rd most popular arcade game of all time, selling over 65,000 units.“

The blog Popcandy has a great article about a retirement community is holding Wii Bowling tournaments! (hit the link for video of the fun too) The Wii is amazing, and it’s becoming the revolution it promised to be. This has to be my favorite story I’ve read in a long time, and it hits home. My Mom who is 65 came over add had a blast playing, so much so that she wants one for her own. The poster that said this should have happened a long time ago said a mouthful; game companies trying to out-GTA each other have left out a huge section of people and created the ‘non-gamer’ group themselves. Now Nintendo picks them up! So my kids (4 and 6 1/2), my Wife, my Mom, mii (of course) are having so much fun with this. “A retirement community engaged in a Wii bowling tournament. The seniors got hooked during the holidays, when they sampled gifts residents were giving their grandchildren. Some retirees stayed up late at night playing Nintendo games, and a tournament soon followed: Residents at Sedgebrook, an Erickson community in the Chicago area, gathered for a bowling tournament recently. Find out how much fun they had playing ‘their granchildren’s game’ and discover who won for high score and high series.“

Livenintendo.com has a quick bio of perhaps one of the visionaries of video games, Shigeru Miyamoto. “Considered by his peers to be the greatest video game designer in the world and called “The Spielberg of Video Games” by Time magazine (May 1996), Shigeru Miyamoto serves as the creative force behind the world’s most popular and enduring video games for Nintendo video game hardware systems. Miyamoto joined Nintendo in 1977 as a staff artist and quickly built a reputation for himself. As the creator of the hugely popular Mario and Zelda games, he is one of the most revered figures in the video game world. In 1981, Nintendo released Miyamoto’s first masterpiece, the arcade game Donkey Kong. In 1985, Nintendo released the Nintendo Entertainment System with Miyamoto’s Super Mario Bros. The classic side-scrolling action game set the standard for all future home console video games. Eventually, more than 40 million units were sold worldwide, and a series of mega-hit titles was born, including the 1996 Nintendo 64 best seller, Super Mario 64. More than 193 million video games in the Super Mario series have been sold worldwide. To date, Miyamoto has worked on more than 100 different Nintendo video game titles. As a producer for Kirby and Pokémon games, he has supported younger video game creators. Miyamoto’s most recent video game projects include Wii Sports, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Nintendogs, Super Mario Galaxy and design work on the Wii hardware. He also was responsible for The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, Metroid Prime, Super Mario Sunshine, Pikmin, Luigi’s Mansion and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, which has been called the greatest video game of all time.” All I have to say is, “Wow” and “Thanks”

Ah, after plenty of positive Wii news, here’s more great news about the benefits of playing video games! “Video games that contain high levels of action, such as Unreal Tournament, can actually improve your vision, according to a group of Researchers at the University of Rochester. In an article to be published in Psychological Science, they have shown that people who played action video games for a few hours a day over the course of a month improved by about 20 percent in their ability to identify letters presented in clutter—a visual acuity test similar to ones used in regular ophthalmology clinics. In essence, playing video game improves your bottom line on a standard eye chart.” In the test, “Students had to quickly identify the orientation of the middle “T” — Action game players could do it better.” See graphic above.

More great news about Wii playing and health! “The International Sports Sciences Association (ISSA) has released results of a new survey into exercise and video games, finding that technologies such as Nintendo’s Wii “may prove to be just what fitness experts are looking for to help their clients get more active”. Dr. Josh Trout, Professor of Kinesiology at California State University Chico, who specializes in video game technology and exercise movement, is cited as saying: “Exertainment and home video consoles are the wave of the future.” He continues: “Exergaming can provide excellent health benefits, but so can a Stairmaster, lifecycle or treadmill, if you do it. If a person has chosen a sedentary lifestyle, there is not much a new technology is going to do for them. On that note, exergaming, and exertainment, is an excellent way for getting kids hooked on physical activity, producing good exercise habits that can last their lifetime.” The survey of the association’s members has them asked about possible health benefits and risks related to the use of ‘exertainment’ technologies implemented in such consoles as the Microsoft Xbox, the Sony Playstation 3, and the Nintendo Wii. Nichole Snow, an ISSA Certified Personal Trainer and avid gamer, was one of the more in-depth respondents, advocating Konami’s Dance Dance Revolution along with her fellow trainers as “…definitely more of an aerobic game - I see kids all the time enjoying it and losing weight - I think they gain a lot of aerobic exercise without realizing it.” She also noted of Nintendo’s new console: “The Nintendo Wii will show benefits for everyone. Whether you can sit down for the game or you have to be standing, it involves movement. The best part is its just fun - for everyone. De-conditioned and obese individuals will find it fun to play and gain aerobic movement out of the games. Seniors can enjoy gentle movements of bowling and golfing. Youth become a part of the game and don’t just turn into vegetables in front of the TV.” She concluded her comments by noting: “Everyone can burn some calories and learn some good health habits from Nintendo Wii’s fitness, and the system is just too hard to pass upwhen watching anyone play.”

Yea! I got a Wii for my 38th birthday this weekend, and it is very sweet. Believe all of the hype, it’s a blast for all to play. So far tennis, boxing and bowling are rockin’ m(ii)e. Plus, after my first round of boxing I had to take a break; it’s a real workout, with sweat included. Time to try the wii sports diet for myself. So far both kids and wife are lovin’ the wii just as much. In the words of Ferris Bueller, “It’s so choice. If you have the means, I highly recommend it.” Also, notice the new wii topic; oh yeah. More soon…

UPDATE: checking my Apache server logs, the Wii web browser’s useragent identifies itself as: Opera/9.00 (Nintendo Wii; U; ; 1309-9; en)

For anyone trying to find a fun way to get/stay in shape, this is encouraging. “Six weeks ago, I began what has become a huge obsession of mine. It is called the “Wii Sports Experiment” I outlined a 6 week game plan for myself, the idea being that I would continue ALL normal activity and eating habits, and simply add 30 minutes of Wii Sports to my day. For the past month and a half, I’ve stuck to these guidelines very strictly.” The condensed version is that he lost 9 pounds and 2% of his body fat by playing the games, and he plans to stay on it even though the experiment is over. This confirms what I have heard from friends who’ve played Wii; you can get a workout from it. While I always knew I would someday soon buy a Wii as the step up from our beloved, purple Gamecube, now I have a date, next month for my birthday. That we can play all the games that I, my wife and the kiddos like love is just gravy as we transition over to the new Wii games. Who knows, perhaps I’ll try out the 6 week plan myself.