Wii Have a Problem

Perhaps the most innovative video game system of the past few decades, and by far the cheapest marketed for this Christmas season, one would think that the Nintedo Wii - with it's motion activated controller! - would be at the top of most Santa lists; but sadly, the reports from Wii users are not all positive. See, there's this little fact of video gaming that people often overlook: the user needs to be smarter than the system. This may have been the key behind the sucess of Pong, but as video gaming systems and programs have become more advanced, one wonders if the video game players have paced the machines in continuous elevation of intelligence levels. To argue my point, I present to you this article on Reuters today that talks about the increasing problem of people breaking their Wii remotes (or worse, their television sets) by excessive swinging of the controller. To the general public I must say, as realistic as the game may seem, you are not actually bowling/playing tennis/swordfighting/etc.

In case this isn't bad enough (or, in all honesty, hilarious enough) I came across another article citing an incident in which a player smacked both his fiancee and his dog while playing a game (I'll let you decide which angered her more). Other users report various afflictions to themselves caused by playing Wii games - including the newly coined injury "Wii Elbow". I realize that it's rather mean spirited of me to laugh at the pains of others, but I stand by my assertion that these things would not happen if the users were smarter - or at least as smart - as the machines they use. Really people, did Tron teach us nothing? For those still hoping for a MerrWii Christmas, I urge you all to excercise caution this gaming season and if you decide that you can't quite handle the Wii, 36 hours in line and three times the cost just might send you home with a PS3.