Nintendo’s new game system gaining popularity wii-ly fast

Q: Why is the Wii so popular?

A: The Wii is Nintendo’s most recent entry into the gaming market and up until recently has not received a lot of attention. The reason it is receiving so much attention now is that sales figures have shown that it has been outselling both the Xbox 360 and the Sony PlayStation 3.

Here’s why. The Wii revolutionizes how video games are played. Instead of sitting on the couch with a game controller in your hand pressing buttons and triggers, the Wii uses a Wii remote, also referred to as a Wiimote.

What makes the Wii remote unique is that it works off motion detection and requires you to stand up and perform some kind of physical action to play a game.

For example, to play the bowling game, you literally stand up, swing your arm back and then forward as if you were really throwing a bowling ball. To swing at a pitch in the baseball game you have to stand up and hold the Wii remote like a baseball bat and swing your arms when the ball crosses the plate.

This kind of game play is what makes the Wii so popular. Some people have gone as far as to say that playing the Wii is like exercising and having fun at the same time. I can tell you from my personal experience that after running through the Wii Fitness Test on the Wii Sports game that comes with the system, my arm was actually a little sore.

I’ll leave it up to you to decide whether that means I am out of shape or that the game is just that fun.
This post was originally broadcast Friday, August 3, 2007 on Tech Talk with Noobie, a weekly radio show on WCBK 102.3 FM in Martinsville, Indiana. Tech Talk with Noobie airs every Friday between 11:30 a.m. and noon. If you have a question you would like Noobie to answer on the air, simply e-mail your question to [email protected].