Posted on 03/23/2007 6:17:53 PM PDT by JohnSheppard
Until two weeks ago, Ruth Ebert never had the slightest interest in the video games favored by her one and only granddaughter.
"I'm 82 years old, so I missed that part of our culture. Soap operas, yes. Video games, no," chirped Ebert, who recently started playing a tennis game on Nintendo's new Wii video game console at the Virginia retirement community she calls home.
"It was funny, because normally I would not be someone who would do that," said Ebert, who picked up the console's motion-sensing Wiimote and challenged the machine to a match.
"I played tennis, if you can call it that, as a high school student. I had such fun doing it," she said.
Ebert swung the Wiimote just like a tennis racquet and said playing the game reminded her of the feeling she had all those years ago.
While she took the early on-court lead, the Wii beat her in the end. Still, it hurt less than her real-world losses: "I didn't mind losing to a video game. It couldn't rub it in."
Japan's Nintendo has been on a mission to expand the $30 billion global video game market far beyond the children and young males who make up its core consumers.
And the company, a former underdog best known for fun, high-quality games based on off-beat characters like plumbers--think Mario Bros.--has sent shock waves through a game industry with the unexpected and runaway success of the Wii.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.com.com ...
Great graphics only go so far.
Gameplay is still what makes it FUN !
BS! Next you'll be telling me about "bowling alleys!"
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