Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Geriatric Gaming?

My wife stumbled across this article about the Nintendo Wii. To sum it up, they've installed a Wii console in a retirement home, and it's become a popular thing to do.

Contrast this with an experience I had a few weeks ago. I mentioned to someone that I had been playing video games. She responded, "what are you, twelve?" This surprised me, and I told her she was weird, but it reminded me of just how much the Wii has changed the world. I had forgotten that video games were juvenile before the Wii debuted.

How did the Wii change this? Some will say that it's because their marketing is more focused on non-gamers than ever before. Others say its motion-sensing controller is a gimmick that appeals to non-gamers. These things, of course, are part of it, but they are indicative of a spirit of innovation at Nintendo. Their goal is to bring the user into the games by giving her a more natural interface. This naturally appeals to gamers and non-gamers.

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