Even Grown-Ups Are Excited About Nintendo Wii

I am not a gamer, though I've got a healthy respect for the profession. I do hang out with a fair number of educators, though, who really like games and really like kids. They're starting to get jazzed about the Nintendo Wii because it's breathing a bit of fresh air into the traditional gaming world. By breaking the mold, all sorts of new people will be gaming and gaming will take on all sorts of new dimensions.

The three things about the Nintendo Wii that are really resonating with the educators are the price, the controllers, and the unique channels.

At $249, it's a whole lot less expensive than the PlayStation ($499) or Xbox ($399). Much has been written about the Nintendo wii's capabilities, so I'll stick to its potential, and I'm going to do it through an educator's eyes. Warren Buckleitner, a Ph.D. and the editor of Children's Technology Review, was gracious enough to share his copious notes and insights with me after following the Wii's progression from concept to product. I'll share a few of them with you.

The Wii Controls: There are numerous controls for the Wii, but the two wireless options encourage you to get somewhat physical (at least wave your hands in space) in order to control a game. (Some adults may need a masseuse after a few game plays.) The main control has eight buttons and a trigger. Like those universal gym machines, there are also attachments like a wrist strap to help you keep things from flying too far out of hand. The second wireless controller, the Nunchuk, is optional depending on the game. While this is hard to visualize, the point is that the variations are endless, with lots of kinetic feedback. You can smack a baseball, kickbox, or brandish a sword, all with your Wii inputs. The controllers have sound built in, so you can hear the rumbles and roars, and tactile feedback lets you feel them, too.

The Channels: Channels guide to some of the stuff you can do and there are plenty of cool channels: One lets you build a cartoon avatar to place into your games, one lets you upload your photos and then manipulate them in creative and clever ways, weather and news channels (each mapped onto a 3D globe), channels to redeem your hard won play points, and more.

It's easy for folks like Warren to use the Wii platform to dream about the "might bes" for kids. "In Phys Ed classes," he says, "groups of four students could velcro the Wii remote to their ankles and be tested on how many jumping jacks they can do in five minutes. They could use the bow and arrow for historical simulations in a first person perspective. They could manipulate graphics blobs.' The list goes on and on. Nintendo has built a novel platform for a novel price. Let's see how the "if you build it they will come" rule works for educational programmers.