GameOn!

Welcome to the internet, as brought to you by a video game machine. Many of you reading this are younger people who are used to game machines by now, however many of you have never used one before. Welcome to Wii, where age doesn't matter, where there is a game for everyone... even mom and dad.

Point the Wii Remote at the "Read More" link below to read a little into what video games really are, and what it means to play them.

Video game players or "Gamers" are people who enjoy playing interactive games as a source of personal entertainment. Gamers are very social people who enjoy discussing special achievments they have completed in games, as well as come together to compete or work together as a team in games. Traditionally Gamers have usually been young males. Today Nintendo is working on changing all that.

The title "Gamer" doesn't mean that you have to be a wizard in every video game that comes out, or that you own every video game playing machine that is sold. "Gamer" is more of a catergorization for anyone who simply enjoys playing a video game. Owning the Nintendo Wii is a great window into the world of what gamers enjoy, and a great illustrator of how the media has really tainted the image of people who enjoy video games. Most of the movies you see video games making a cameo in, usually include a violent video game in the face of a young child. But the news surrounding the Wii usually confirm the opposite: Retirement homes that hold Wii-powered bowling tournements on fridays, or children playing tennis with their parents in the living room. The demographic has changed significantly as we can see, but what really is great to realize is that the elderly are enjoying it by themselves, and that mom and dad can enjoy a hobby that their child enjoys. It really is somthing that parents can bring home and feel good about giving to their children, because they will be enjoying it with them.

Having worked in a retail setting for a few years selling video games, I am aware that many parents are very lost and blinded by video games because there is no connection. Helping moms and dads make the correct choice when buying a simple game, or a whole new system felt great because not only was I selling them somthing I knew their child would be happy with, but I also was educating them on what they were buying. Video games are actually very easy to understand, and are much simpler than computers. Think of the Nintendo Wii as a sort of washing machine, The washing machine may have a million different settings, but it has one goal, to get clothes clean. The Wii may have many different modes of function, but it was built to bring entertainment to the home.

Gamers enjoy the kind of culture that comes along with playing the games. The same way Star Wars movie fans get together and express their feelings through costumes or parties, game players do the same by dressing up like Mario or Pokemon characters and laughing and having a good time. Gamers rarely are anti-social. For many people games, like books can be an escape into fantasy, or even just an exuse to get together and enjoy each others company. Many games are specifically designed to get families to play together and share the experiance, games like Wario Ware: Touched, Mario Party, or Wii Sports. These games are actually more enjoyable when you have more people in the room to play them, and are all very simple to learn, even for the most novice of players.

The news has always frightened people inadvertanly by posting negative news stories involving somthing that the mainstream population was unfamiliar with. Rock-and-roll was a very scary thing when it came out, Elvis had to be recorded from the waist up because his dance moves were too risque for the time, and now rock-and-roll is a very celebrated music genre across all generations. The same thing has happened to video games, sometimes news reports inform us that bad people had a history of playing violent video games. The video games are not all bad, we just don't hear how good people who have a history with video games, because to say so would be irrelivant. "Today a young boy helped the local food bank" never really includes subtext saying that "he also has Sonic the Hedgehog at home". Alot of times we see things like violent people have violent games at home. Games are movies, just interactive. Many of you may own movies like Kill Bill, or somthing more tame like iRobot or Spiderman, but have never even considered owning a gun. The same is true for people who own games, alot of people just like the action fantasy of being a samurai or secret agent.

So being a gamer doesn't mean you neglect any duties or even spend half your day on video games, being a gamer simply means that you have found the medium enjoyable, and that you would welcome the chance at playing again. I consider myself very well versed in gaming culture, but only spend maybee 2-3 hours a week on video games! I go to college and plan on going to graduate school! Most of the games I do play happen to be very tame in nature, and are rated "E" for "Everyone" (the equivilant of a G rated movie). Games Like Animal Crossing or Pikmin have captured my heart, these games reward players for building friendship with the computer characters, and growing flowery gardens, or fruitful orchards. However some of my favorite games are very violent, games like Killer7 and Manhunt are very well crafted, very well written, and should not be played by children, are rated "M" for Mature (think "R" for movies).

If you haven't played the Wii as a video game machine yet, please do, the worst thing that happens is an education in what your grand-children, children, or younger brother enjoy. I suggest playing it with the established "gamer" in the house, I was more than happy to play 9-holes of golf with my grandfather who has never played a game before, much less own anything more technologically advanced than a flashlight. My mother who has always been afraid of video game controllers, decided to give tennis a shot with me - and loved it, she laughed for an entire four rounds, and i think this is only the beginning for both of them, I definetly have to bring the Wii over when there is a dinner party, mom serves mean ribs and mean aces!

- Anton Espinoza