Nintendo Wii... I can play video games again!!

[Guest guest]

Hi all, I just wanted to share my WONDERFUL experience with the

Nintendo Wii, the new Nintendo game system.

Little background: I'm a 30yr Male, software engineer, have had CMT

issues with my hands for about 8 years now. About 6 years ago I

became unable to play video games using the " standard " controllers

that came with my systems. Due to numbness in my fingers I was unable

to tell the difference between the 4 buttons located close together,

and due to muscle loss in my hands, gripping the controller AND using

the directional pad with my thumb became impossible. For a guy who

literally grew up playing games, got my first job playing video games

for a living (no joke!) at age 18, and has owned every single game

system made since the Atari 2600, this was crushing.

I did make do, I got a Playstation 2 and a Logitech Force Feedback

Steering Wheel which allowed me to play Gran Turismo and other driving

only games along with a light gun which allowed me to play shooting

games. This entire setup cost me easily $600 (using a USED ps2) not

including games, and only let me play a total of about 15 games in a

library of 100's. Obviously this is not going to be an option for

everyone, but it did provide me my " fix " ..... then along came the Wii!!

The Wii uses a revolutionary controller that allows your body

movements to translate to action on the screen!! I couldn't believe

it, when i first heard about it I thought... " Holy crap this is too

good to be true!! " . Still I followed the system every single day

MONTHS before it was released studying the control schemes necessary

to play the various games that would be available. I got extremely

lucky and was able to get a Wii the first day it came out and have

literally played it every day since.

There are still _some_ games that require button combinations that are

too complex and need to be performed too quickly, but for the most

part, I can play over 1/2 the games available, and the new games

coming out all look very promising. It has totally opened up the

types of games I can play due to the controller. Also, the issue with

the directional pad has been solved since the directional pad is

located on a separate attachment called the " nunchuck " , which you hold

in your left hand and you hold the WiiRemote in your right hand. The

two are connected via a cord which allows free and independent

movement from either left or right. So for some games I can literally

hold the " nunchuck " up to my mouth and use my mouth to control the

movement of my character, while using my right hand and the Wii Remote

to perform actions.... it's amazing!

Here's an example of the controls for Wii Sports, which comes with the

system.

- Tennis: you swing the remote like a real racket, no buttons

required, just hold the wii remote and swing!

- Baseball: same as above

- Golf: same as above, but requires holding one button on the top w/

your thumb, no problem due to the design.

- Bowling: same as above, but requires holding the trigger button down

with your index finger, again, no problem.

- Bowing: hold the " nunchuck " in left, wii remote in right, and swing

away.. requires no buttons!

Anyways, I'm sure I sound like a commercial, but I'm truly excited

about this and wanted to pass the news on, hopefully it will open a

whole new world for others like it did me..