Remember when the Wii was the hottest thing? It’s cooled off and the people at National Public Radio needed to figure out why. I tried to help, but it was a lady named Elizabeth Bewley who made the best point.
The 57-year-old Arizona woman had enjoyed her Wii and Wii Fit the way so many people who would otherwise never buy a video game machine did in the past few years.
NPR’s Marketplace explains:
She and her husband started playing every night for at least an hour. After six months, they got tired of the workouts, so Bewley figured she’d just get a new disc for Christmas.
Bewley: But we were really disappointed because all the ones I saw are really like video games.
Did she just nail it?
Look, there are gamers who complain that the Wii doesn’t have good games on it anymore. I disagree with them. I played my Wii plenty in 2010. I happily played Kirby’s Epic Yarn, Endless Ocean 2, Red Steel 2, Super Mario Galaxy 2, Art-Style Light Trax, Art-Style Rotozoa, Frobot, Fluidity, Sin & Punishment 2, Bit.Trip Runner, Max and the Magic Marker, Thruspace…. and…. those are all games that “are really like video games.”
Wii Fit wasn’t like a video game. Wii Sports and Wii Music — even Activision and MTV’s Guitar Hero and Rock Band — all could have been mistaken for being something other than video games. What did Nintendo make for the Elizabeth Bewley’s this year? (Aside from Metroid Other: M.) Wii Party, I guess.
Who’s excited about Zelda: Skyward Sword next year? Me. Maybe you. Elizabeth Bewley? I doubt it.
