Wii Warm Up: Playing is believing
by David Hinkle 
{ May 7th 2008 at 9:00AM }
The biggest selling point of the Wii has to be the fact that it's incredibly fun to play. Thinking about that, we then pondered the people in our own life we've turned on to the console thanks to a play session of Wii Sports or WarioWare: Smooth Moves. Who have you turned on to the Wii in your life? And, what game was it that converted them from a casual onlooker into rabid Wii fan, combing over weekly sales in the newspaper and calling up various retail outlets to track down a console of their own? Who have you showed the wonder of the Wii off to and how quick did they want one of their own?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Rowdehaj @ May 7th 2008 9:06AM
I think Wii Sports is going to come up on this list a lot...
Crabbyman @ May 7th 2008 9:07AM
I got my 68 year old parents to buy a Wii. The last, and only, video game they'd ever played was Mario Bros. on the original NES now they want to have Wii parties with their friends. What a crazy world!
Also got my two brother in-laws to get one (28 and 30 y/o), but that's less impressive.
samfish @ May 7th 2008 9:13AM
My mom, my aunt and a girl I work with (who still wouldn't sleep with me!) were all introduced to the Wii via Your's Truly.
Of course, rather than rabidly searching for things themselves, they just paid me a little bit and I camped out over night and got a Wii for them. Well, my mom and aunt did, at least.
None of my friends who still live kind of nearby have a Wii besides me, though. Kinda sucks. I have a buddy with a PS3 and another guy has a 360, so I at least can usually play other games...but it'd be nice if they had a Wii, if only to be able to call someone up and tell them to play online.
Timdogg @ May 7th 2008 9:26AM
Well because of me and my Wii (read: just the Wii) my brother-in-law, my Parent-in-laws, my boss, and another co-worker have bought Wii's.
racecar @ May 7th 2008 9:28AM
Speaking of "rabid Wii fans," the Rabbids and Wii Sports have been my main conversion tools. I helped push 3 friends over the edge into getting a Wii with a couple of good play sessions. I currently have another friend who's considering getting one with his tax return.
-racecar
Ryan Hartman @ May 7th 2008 9:29AM
I got a friend of mine drunk playing Wii bowling. He loved it. Later on he belligerently propositioned a girl for a tug job even. God bless you Nintendo.
milan @ May 7th 2008 9:46AM
hilarious
Nigeria @ May 7th 2008 9:53AM
I haven't been able to convert anybody with my Wii. The couple of friends that do play video games already have a Wii - though, ebay, and its promises of riches, has caused two of them to sell their consoles.
But I was close, once. Some dude came over and he was absolutely amazed Wii Boxing. He was really into it like you wouldn't believe. If I remember correctly, he played that one game for like three hours straight. And he was all like, right-right-right, and giddy and all that stuff. But when I asked him whether he'd consider getting his own Wii he said he was saving up for a PS3 because: "the graphics have amazing gameplay".
Kevin Lehnert @ May 7th 2008 10:11AM
The wife doesn't really get into games, but I can't get the Guitar Hero guitar away from her! We're planning on a Wii Fit regimen too.
Kaneda Jones @ May 7th 2008 10:54AM
I packed up the wii took it to my dad's place since he was hobbled by a foot injury and wasnt working.
he then says, get me one of those, so I wait for info of some coming in to a store in town, rush there and wait in line a 8am in a blizzard.
bought him some baseball games 'cause to this day he still plays snk baseball on the 8-bit nintendo!
what does all that equal? A fricken bowling machine! there are five or more diffrent relatives I have who drop by and bowl all night.. ARGH! :)
vidGuy @ May 7th 2008 11:54AM
After taking my Wii to my family Christmas after launch, my 17 year old brother, 50 year old parents, 40 year old aunt, and 70 year old grandparents all bought one. That's four consoles. After playing it at my college, two of my roommates and another four of my friends bought one. That's another six.
And of course, it was Wii Sports, especially bowling, that sold those ten consoles. Since those first few months, I've known at least another ten families that have bought a Wii as their first video game console ever.
Roto13 @ May 7th 2008 12:50PM
My husband is really into Wii Sports and, to a lesser extent, Wii Play. He's going to be buying Deca Sports later this month. The first video game he's ever bought. :P
IKILLNINJA @ May 7th 2008 1:36PM
well lets see, my friends won't buy the console cause they can't justify spending the money when they can just come over to my place and play, buy that is good because i make sure to buy all the good multiplayer games and accessories, Like the zapper which was kind of a let down so i got two of the perfect shot pistols cause everoby like house of the dead 2 & 3 and Ghost Squad(paridise mode is always fun), plus i just got two Wii wheels for Mario Kart wii. Then there is also the extra classic controlers for games like Contra 3 and Ice hockey!
But the rule is if you wanna play wii you gotta pay me, but it's all good cause I take beer as payment!
SoshiKitai @ May 7th 2008 1:56PM
Brother - Cousin - Aunt - another Aunt - another Aunt's friends - uncle - other cousin - other cousin's friends - and cousin's friends.
All through: Wii Sports.
...that's all that was needed.
But my gf was the one that "showed me the light"... I wasn't into video games. I used to be a gamer, but gave up the life when I realized how annoying the community was. I never even heard of the Wii, since I didn't care about video games. Then... a few days before it came out... my gf kept talking all about it and asked if I wanted to get it (she's not a gamer, but she reads gaming magazines).
I said "sure"... and I did my best to buy each of us one. So we got them... and...... (imaginary tears flowing down eyes) it was beautiful. Everything I was looking for in a gaming community and in future games. :D
So thank her, I'm hooked.
phenylketonurics @ May 7th 2008 2:02PM
Hah, it just makes me sad that it had to be PROMOTED in the first place. People never expected "Revolution" to go anywhere, I guess. Jerks, yo. Anyway, since I was born into a Nintendo fan household, everyone around us has been given positive vibes concerning the company.
By word-o-mouth, though, since the Wii's release and WarioWare: Smooth Moves, my mum's coworkers have picked up the console and whatever games displayed at the time (useless ones, I'd bet). It's a hit with postal workers, I'll tell ya that.
Mickey @ May 7th 2008 2:29PM
I haven't really coaxed someone into buying a Wii but I was one of two people in my circle of friends/family that had a Wii and I've taken it a lot of places for people to play. My sister and Bro-in-law just bought one and I'd like to think I had a hand in it because they called me before buying it. Not that they haven't played video games before.
I also bring the Wii to "Youth Night" at my church and Wii Sports is usually the center of the night. (We save the spiritual stuff for Sunday and Wednesday night and the Wii is not involved in that btw) Usually it's a group of about 20 people and it's actually NOT easy to teach people how to play. The hardest part is getting a match set up because you can't just use one remote to choose all the mii's. Most of the time a kid presses the B button and exits out of everything. Once the match gets started it's not that hard and after a little practice people get the hang of it and have fun.
padgon @ May 8th 2008 12:46AM
“WarioWare: Smooth Moves” is the only one that seems to work with every buddy. Wii Sports to, but they get tired after the second night.
Michael Beck @ May 8th 2008 11:17AM
My 4-year-old son has completely taken over the Wii in our house. My friend Matt got one after hearing how awesome it was, and my nephew did as well.
I think my son will slowly stop playing Wii Bowling with me now that I've gotten the art of the strike down pat. He bowled the game of his life, a 219, and I cracked him over the head with a 300. What a good dad I am.