Skip to main content

new toy

We've got a Wii!

I have to say, they are one awesome bit of kit. Normally we'd be a bit leery about shelling out that much money on something non-essential, but we had some vouchers which we didn't know what to do with, and we'd played on Wii's a couple of times at friends' houses, so... we decided to splash out and have a bit of fun.

So far we have mostly tried bowling and tennis, plus a bit of boxing where Graham pummelled me to a pulp several times and then felt too guilty to continue! It's really good; the software is sensitive enough that it feels very realistic, while simultaneously being much easier than in real life, so you get that additional boost of feeling like a pro. A triple strike (turkey) in actual ten-pin bowling is beyond my wildest dreams, yet I've achieved it a couple of times on the Wii. Likewise the most I can do with a real tennis racket is maybe hope to hit the ball, but we got up some fun rallies with our virtual doubles.

What I also like about it is that it's quite sociable. It's fun to play in groups and it's funny to watch others waving their arms about when you're not playing. With your average video game, watching someone else playing is about on a par with watching paint dry, and the players tend to be very isolated from anyone else in the room. The Wii is a fun after-dinner activity - even if it has a tendency to extend the after-dinner time until one in the morning: "OK, just one more game!"

We like Wii. Here endeth the advertising.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Mr White Watson of Bakewell

Once upon a time, back in 1795 or so, lived a man who was always asking questions.  The kind of questions like, "Why is glass transparent?" or "Why do fruit trees grow better in that place than in this place?" or "What does the earth look like underneath the surface?"  This last question was one that he was particularly interested in, and he went so far as to work out what the rock layers looked like where he lived, and draw little pictures of them.  Now he was a marble sculptor by trade (as well as fossil hunter, mineral seller, and a few other things) so he thought it would be even better to make his little pictures in stone.  That way he could represent the layers using the actual rocks they were composed of.  Over the course of his lifetime he made almost 100 of these tablets, as he called them. Then he died.  And no one else was quite as interested in all those rocks and minerals as he was.  His collection was sold off, bit by bit, and the table...
Post a Comment
Read more

Laid-back Lille and Bustling Brussels

After a night in a tiny AirBnB in Canterbury , where there were chocolates on the table and artwork on every inch of the walls, we boarded a ferry with an absolute minimum of fuss, enjoyed a smooth crossing of the channel, and were deposited in the decidedly unscenic surroundings of the port of Dunkirk two hours later. Once we got past the cranes and shipping containers, though, the countryside was flat but pleasant. We stopped at a small town called Cassel, reached by cobbled roads winding up a hill. On the summit was an old windmill and a topograph telling you the distances to various improbable places; St Omer may have been visible in the haze, but Manchester was surely over the horizon.  In Lille, we found our apartment, unpacked the luggage (one rucksack apiece), and set out to find food. Our first choice was fully booked, so we embarked on that kind of aimless wandering where everyone is hungry and no one wants to actually choose a restaurant. We reached a Lebanese place call...
Post a Comment
Read more

Canterbury Cathedral

We were booking a trip to France, and I persuaded the family that it was madness to drive four hours to Dover and get straight on the ferry. "We should definitely stay overnight somewhere," I said. "Oh look, Canterbury is very handy - just twenty minutes from Dover." Of course, my suggestion was not influenced in the slightest by the fact that Canterbury contains England's most famous cathedral. On the way down, we stretched our legs on Dunstable Downs, an area of chalk grassland owned by the National Trust. I was pleased to spot a scarlet pimpernel for my 100 Plants Challenge . We also enjoyed watching gliders ascending and descending. We turned onto the M25 and made our way through busy traffic to the Dartford Crossing. This is one of those mythical points on the UK road network, like Scotch Corner and Watford Gap: the name familiar from traffic reports on the radio; the reality - for someone who grew up west of London - a hazy blur of imagination. It turns ou...
Post a Comment
Read more