Sunday, May 18, 2008

Bridging the Gamer Generation Gap

After a short hiatus, WYSIWYB is back on the air— or wire, depending. So what's brought me out of hiding? A rather odd announcement from my mother.

My mom, who is a year or so shy of 60, announced today that she's getting a Wii. It's not really news that the Wii has shown itself appealing to non-traditional gamers because of its innovative controllers and accessible games. But this is my mother! The last game I remember her playing for her own personal enjoyment (rather than to placate my nephew) was Breakout on our old Atari 2600 in the early 80s. Apparently, someone told her about Wii Fitness (which is set to be released in North America on May 21), and she figured that it would be cheaper to buy a Wii than to get a gym membership, and she'd be more likely to use it.

I still favor the PS3, as it's an all-around entertainment system rather than just a gaming console — though I'm sticking to my PS2 until the prices for the PS3 drop a bit more — but WYSIWYB may be seeing some Wii game reviews in the near future...