Why I Say Oui to Wii

First a confession. I'm a huge fan of Nintendo. Despite the fact that they've never actually sold their games or consoles in India officially. Despite the fact that they couldn't care less about the market here. Despite the fact that they came out with the lame-ass light gun that idiots like me bought and still own. Despite all that I love Nintendo and what they do. The way I see it any company that can take a mushroom stumping Italian plummer and make him a cult icon all over the world deserve to be loved. That at a time when game consoles didn't have processors or hard drives or internet connections. Just two people going at it in a room (read that in context pun23!). And thats the important bit, two people.

As I've grown up video games have become less and less participative and more and more competitive. I miss games like Contra where two people could play together. Or Battle city, where you and a friend could hunt down enemy tanks and destroy them. Sometimes your friend would end up destroying the silver bird you were protecting. But thats alright, shit happens. I remember spending hours in the game arcade just standing around, watching others play and trying to learn their techniques. In a game like Street Fighter I (and many other people) weren't averse to elbowing the competition to avoid getting beaten up in the game. It was all fair play. The game was as much outside as it was inside.

Today however, the enduring image of a gamer in most people's minds is that of a lonely geek basked in the blue glow of his television mashing away at buttons like there was no tomorrow. The same games come out again and again. Exactly how many Need For Speed titles do we need anyway? Yes, Nintendo have used Mario in almost all their games but they've all been different games. Games aren't movies. They don't have to have a format and they don't have to have a genre.

When I first saw and heard about the Revolution controller I was surprised like everybody else. At the same time I realised how much potential something like this has. Like Sony and Microsoft, Nintendo too want to bring the gaming experience closer to reality. But they don't choose to go about it by giving you better graphics or sound. They go about it by letting you immerse yourself in the graphics and sound. And if they're a little bit less than perfect on a high definition TV that practically no one can afford, so what? The reason Wii is better than the PS3 or the XBox is the same reason a party is more fun than eating alone. People want other people. People want to talk and they want to interact with each other and in real life.


I wouldn't be surprised if Wii ends up in Gyms and sports clubs all over the world. I wouldn't even be surprised if Wii brings back old-style game arcades where people used to play standing up and you fed the machine coin after coin just to get a high score. Where there was no internet connectivity but plenty of people around if you wanted to team up. Places where gamers were people, not slaves to a machine.

So I don't know about you but I'm saving up for Wii even though I can't stand that name. If you want to come hang out with me over the weekends, I suggest you at least invest in a controller :)