Why Wii?

Nine months ago, my husband announced that we should get a Wii.

"A oui?" I was confused.

"No, a Wii."

"A what?"

"A Wii."

"Why would we want to get a wee? A wee what?"

"No, a Wii. It's a computer game you play on your television."

"I don't want another computer game. I have enough struggle detaching the kids from their Nintendos."

"No, we need a Wii."

"Okay, we'll get a wee, or a oui, or whatever."

It turns out that the best prices for Wiis, at least in our neck of the woods, are at Toys R Us, rather than online (something about marketing and tying). But, because they're hot, hot, hot, you have to buy them the moment they ship in, or else they sell out. So it was that, although it was nine months ago that my husband announced our imminent wee . . . er, Wii purchase, I didn't end up bringing one home until three weeks ago when, just by chance, I found myself near a Toys R Us that had them in stock. (By the way, it's not just a local problem. Britain is facing a serious Wii shortage as the holidays draw near.)

Once I actually had the package in hand, I discovered what it is and why Wii is getting rave reviews. The Wii is a computer game that uses your television screen and hand held remotes to manipulate the image on the screen. So far, that makes it sound like any other generic computer game. However, unlike the usual game, where your thumbs are doing all the playing, with the Wii, the remote responds to actual motion. Indeed, when you first power up the game, you can feel the remote buzz and shift like a living thing.

The Wii starter package comes complete with a disc with sports games. Thus, new gamers get a choice of bowling, golfing, playing baseball, playing tennis, or boxing. But as I said, you don't just manipulate your thumbs. To bowl, you stand up, and swing your arm (holding the remote) just as if you're actually throwing a real bowling ball toward the pins you see on the screen. At the moment you release the button on the remote, you watch your bowl roll down the alley and, with luck, you have a strike (I had three in my last game!).

Same for golf. You hold the wee Wii remote in your hands pointing downwards, just as if it's a golf club and you swing, hard swings to cover the yards, soft swings to cover the feet. As you swing the Wii, you swear you can actually feel the friction of a real club in your hands cutting through the air. When you play tennis, you can swear you feel the ball hitting that invisible racket springing upwards from your remote.

The net result of a game like Wii is that the family, instead of sitting in front of the boob tube slack-jawed, is in perpetual motion. Swinging their arms, jumping up and down, twisting around, and laughing -- laughing all the time. It's been years since I've heard my kids laughing so hard. And now that it's winter, with the days drawing in and the kids' physical activity somewhat limited, I'm actually kind of happy that they're bouncing around like contented maniacs, rather than sitting around whining that they have nothing to do.

The only caveat to the game is that you really, really need to make sure that you strap the remote around your wrist. Otherwise, well, there's no telling what will happen. I also recommend making sure you have a large area in which to play, a necessity I discovered when I knocked down a whole side table of family photos. It was sort of like bowling both off screen and on.

So, if you've got a few hundred bucks lying around, and you're willing to make regular trips to Toys R Us, or whatever store has got the goods in your community, I really recommend the Wii. It's every bit as good as its fans say it is.