Cribsheet: Wii, Myself & I

So I wanted to get a gaming system for the boy and me and just a little looking convinced me that the Wii was the way to go. I didn't want him sitting passively, building up massive thumb muscles and nothing else. Some other systems have better graphics and maybe even better games (from a grown up gamer point of view) but the Wii is the most truly family friendly gaming system out there right now.

So I got the system and there are pluses and minuses but I have to say on balance it's been awesome. And partly for reasons I didn't see coming.



Like more than just the fact that he would have to be standing up and moving around, this system requires him to work on his larger and smaller motor skill issues just to play the game. In the games he responds to physical challenges that he would never be brave enough to face in the real world (and nor would I for that matter)but in the sunny, candy colored world we play in he learns timing and nuance and swift action.

In Mario Kart, he steers away from cliffs, flips over ramps, throws shells while driving. In Lego Star Wars he jumps over obstacles and swings and twirls his light saber in the cross the chest motions his Physical therapist said were so important. There seems be a neurological component, stifled in Isaac that needs to learn this.

The other issue, strongly related, is that Isaac, with his crabby and rigid temperament disliked games with others, disliked games with rules. Every game with Isaac quickly became a version of Calvin ball where the rules are entirely at the discretion of a weird little boy. Naturally games like that played with anyone but an overly indulgent Poppa dissolve into furious frustration.

Well, because the game is a thing and not a person he seems to accept that there is no point in arguing and you either play the game or you don't. And so, he plays and he learns the rules and more and more he accepts being bad at first because he knows he'll get better. And that is a dream come true for me. I play with him and as we laugh over our successes and complain about our defeats it's amazing to suddenly realize how far we have come.

One amusing side note has been the fun of creating the Miis or avatars that represent you in the games. Isaac and I both enjoy making Miis though we do it very differently. He likes to make these weird, elfin starry eyed creatures who look related to Dr. Seuss characters and I like to see if I can create close approximations of real people. I started off by making people close to me and then began making people I am no longer close to, moving on to historical characters and finally into fictional characters. So now as I go running on Wii island I routinely pass (along with hosts of elfin, starry-eyed Seussians) My Mom and Dad, my grandparents, friends, old girlfriends, Hitler, Stalin, Voldemort, Tony Soprano, Groucho Marx and dozens of others, all smiling and waving as they jog past on a another beautiful day. If you are reading this I probably know you and if I know you, you probably have a small round digital existence on my Wii.