Everyone is gaming
Remember what gaming used to be like? Resigned to your bedroom for hours on end, or else negotiating with all the skill of an international diplomat for control of the family TV. Far from ideal.Gaming was either a solitary pursuit or had to be planned well in advance, and that said, scheduling was the least of our worries.
Outside of the hardcore, a lot of people just didn’t ‘get’ gaming. It was misguidedly branded as that mindless teenage thing that kids did until they grew out of it. We tried to explain, but it was nigh impossible to get a non-gamer to give listen. And persuading them to give it a try? Forget it. However much we justified the fun and invention, the response was always the same:
‘Why won’t you just go outside and play tennis?’
That’s all changed now as a result of the Wii. The DS did the groundwork in making games accessible, but as soon as people saw us leaping around and laughing at the screen with Wii Sports, the flood-gates were open.Two yearsago, could you have imaginedrounding off Christmas dinner by handing out a sound e-whupping to your whole family? And how hard would you have mocked the person who told you thatretirement homes would soon be packed with consoles? Walking into the pub and starting a conversation about games usually used to have you consigned to a darkened corner within minutes, but now everyone’s using the Wii as a jumping-in point. Games are also in the mainstream press more than ever now, and finally for the right reasons.
In short, the Wii has been the gateway drug we’ve always needed in order to get the rest of the world into our addiction, and long may the pushing continue.
