Wii Sports Changes Way the World Plays Video Games

wiisports1When Nintendo revealed its first game for the Wii at the E3 in 2006, entitled Wii Sports, the entire gaming community was set ablaze. Implementing the latest motion-sensing technology, Wii Sports gives gamers the freedom to actually throw a bowling ball, swing a tennis racket, baseball bat, golf club or throw a jab, in the privacy of their own home, rather than pressing a button, creating a one of a kind experience that not only serves as a great pack-in title with the Nintendo Wii, but forever changes the way people think about video games.

While Wii Sports only consists of five mini-games: bowling, tennis, baseball, golf and boxing, each game has its own charm and group of gameplay modes associated with it that provide hours of venerable gameplay. For instance, not only can you bowl a full 10-frame game in Wii Bowling, but you can also play a spare-pick up mini-game and a power-throwing mini-game that are both challenging and extremely fun. Wii Boxing also sports some pretty interesting game modes, such as a “destroy the heavy bag” mini-game and a target punching mode that use both the Wii remote and nunchuck accessory, providing a good change of pace from the other games on the disc.

Unfortunately, there aren’t really any rewards for succeeding in any of the games; however, they are addicting, as after a few go-rounds, gamers will be in awe of just how responsive the Wii remote is, responding to their every move.

Just how responsive you ask? The use of the Wii remote in Wii Sports is so innovative, fluid and enjoyable that it will make the non-athletic want to play these games in real life and will turn people who you never thought would touch a video game in their lives into addicts.

This is accomplished even further by the implementation of Nintendo Mii’s [creatable characters that are used in selected Nintendo Wii games] in Wii Sports. Now, the gamer can take the fun a step further and create themselves and see a cyber version of themselves perform their actions on the television while they perform them in the real world. This may not sound like such a big deal, but to the casual gamer, this may be worth the price of admission alone.

However, despite all the fun you’ll be having by yourself playing the game, Wii Sports is at its best when played with two or more people. Bowling is easily the best multi-player game on the disc, but playing doubles in tennis or a head-on game of baseball are great ways of killing massive amounts of time. On the whole, the multi-player elements in Wii Sports provide an entirely new gameplay experience that can stand tall by themselves if need be.

Wii Sports unfortunately does have a few drawbacks, however. A few of the games, most notably boxing and baseball, don’t have the same depth of golf and bowling, as both games are only three rounds or innings long and in the case of baseball, games can actually end in tie. Some may feel these are small blemishes on an amazing group of games that is forgivable, but hardcore gamers may feel a bit disappointed that the extra work needed to make these games perfect was put into them.

As well, despite the flat-out fun you’ll have playing Wii Sports, playing these games for hours on end will definitely take a toll on your body and gamers [especially out of shape ones] should be advised to take it slow and steady. Aside from that, the sky’s the limit for any gamer looking for a good time with this title.

Aside from these small imperfections and nuances, Wii Sports is a must own title and is a great launching pad for anyone who thinks video games aren’t for them. Creating a completely new genre of video games that will be imitated for years to come, Nintendo has brought out all the stops with this one and have done the impossible in creating a game that a middle-aged mother or father will want to play more his video game-addict son or daughter.

Be warned.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14230 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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