Get the whole family Playing Wii this Christmas
Get your Wii on this festive season.
By Ben Salter
It’s Christmas day. The one day you’re compelled to spend making small, yet deep, talk with extended family. The beauty of the Wii is its social ability. It brings together generations. Grandparents with children, cousins, and even that really creepy uncle that may not actually be related to you,- at least you hope. The Media, we here at MyMedia, and a large majority of gamers, spend a great deal of time bagging the Wii for its many flaws, but credit where it’s due. The Wii is possibly the greatest social gaming device ever created, and Christmas is the prefect time to put it to the test.
Perhaps this is what makes the Wii almost the perfect Christmas gift. Anyone can use it. Older family members have a tendency to feel the need to test out the dang fangled ‘machines’ that they youngins get from Santa. With a Wii not only can they test it out, they can get involved, actually enjoy themselves and do it with their younger relatives. Last Christmas everyone had a go using my Wii, whether it be at Christmas lunch or during the surrounding days of the chaotic disaster that is the festive season. My step-uncle and aunty really got into it, despite being almost 70. Even with a severe knee injury my step-aunty pulled off a nice jig in celebration of beating her Scottish husband in Wii bowling. He was none too happy. Next up she versed my 8-year-cousin, whom she had never met or spoken to. He dominated the match, suggesting he’d been training hard on his newly acquired console that morning. It closed the generation gap perfectly. Without it at most they would have had an awkward greeting, as you do with young children, and conversed little throughout the remainder of the long day, perhaps in part due to her confusing accent that leaves you staring blank, nodding and replying ‘yes’. However, now they had something to talk about. They had a purpose, a rivalry, and by the end of the day were ready for the highly anticipated rematch!
Wii Sports started it all, and was followed up nicely by Wii Sports Resort earlier this year. We recommend that you start the gaming festivities there. Getting in early, well before you stuff your face with Christmas pudding, would be the strategic way to play it, but hey each to their own. If you’re a serious gamer you probably have your Wii, and other consoles, hooked up to a totally pimped out home entertainment system located away from the living room. If this is the case we recommended moving it, especially if you’re young and it normally resides in your bedroom, as the under 21-year-old smell can be fatal to the elderly.
You’ll want to ensure that all controllers, 4 if possible, are charged and ready to go and that all games on the agenda are in plain view. Wii Sports is the perfect way to start, and if the whole family joins in it’ll be more than enough for an afternoon’s fun. However, if the kids hog it for hours on end they’ll be after some variety. We recommend Mario Kart for a bit of easy fun, and Super Smash Bros Brawl for any aggressive kids. The latter is a little too confusing for non-gamers, so we suggest only pulling that one out when the veterans arrive, and we mean gaming veterans, just to be clear.
We don't suggest Wii Fit for this reason.
New Super Mario Bros. Wii should be the new addition that you smack into your console when 4 people of a similar skill level come together. While it’s been designed to cater for a range of different players, NSMBW really needs to be played by players that are all at the same level. Go find the biggest ‘noob’ on Christmas day and ask them to play and you’ll see what I mean; by the end of it you’ll rather slice your own nipples off than play again.
After a few drinks this will all start sounding a little complicated to the technological challenged, and for some reason all they’ll want to do is sing really out of pitch, and play charades (you’re on your own there). That’s where Guitar Hero comes in. Try and pass off the microphone to the most talented out of the lot, and then proceed to assign instruments based on the levels of awareness. If someone’s not quite with it best not give them the drums, for example, or you’ll have an interesting time trying to explain that Aunty Nora’s broken nose is not a result of domestic abuse.
That covers basic play, racing, fighting, platforming and music simulation. There’s heaps of puzzle games, like Rabbids Go Home, which may be worth a look, but if you have an audience that seriously wants to play and/or watch them Wii Play will probably suffice. If you’re after an FPS we suggest looking into an Xbox 360 as the centre of your gaming festivities. It too has some great family and social titles, but it doesn’t quite have the same draw appeal that comes with the Wii; perhaps that’ll all change with Natal.
Now, once you’ve got everyone playing Wii, and having a jolly old time, you’ll have to work on subtly getting them to leave. After all, you want your Wii back for the great new games Santa brought with him. If all else fails you can try yelling “GTFO” but expect some confused and confusing looks in return, then an awkward silence. The batteries going flat is a god send at this point in time, but only if you have spares that nobody else knows about. We also suggest recruiting people to help with various tasks, such as washing up or entertaining children. If everything’s taking too long you can drug the spouses of those stealing your Wii and pass it off as falling asleep after eating too much turkey, but that may carry some minor consequences.
Once you’ve finally got your Wii back to yourself prepare for a night of solid post-Christmas gaming! While it may have been used as a social aid throughout the day, Christmas night is all about the solo gaming experience. Grab some red bull, the quality left overs, and a Wii Remote, then prepare to spend all boxing day sleeping in. Unless you have to be up to do it all again for the cricket, of course!
Merry Christmas shopping! (I figured it was too early)
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