Friday, December 26, 2008

the wii craze


Can this help your marriage?

OK, I hate to admit it. I have sinned. We got a Wii. In an economic crisis, where I'm crazy mad about cutting all kinds of corners (lights, getting creative with yummy ways to eat bean, growing some of our food, keeping a couple of hens around, keeping heat off, starting the coupon thing) it was my crazy idea.

I know, I know. It doesn't line up with my Mom Advice encouraging women to become frugal let alone with my Proverbs 31 Woman pursuit to cut our budget and be this amazing Proverbs 31 Frugal woman.

This crazy idea came to me on Christmas Eve morning. Like there's really going to be a store that has ONE Wii for the family! I kept thinking that somehow it would offer some fun "family time" and thus the "investment."

The even crazier thing is that my darling hubs went along with it (one can rationalize anything, can't they and Oh, the scarey power of a woman's influence) and found a bit of a deal on Craig's List, loaded up the boisterous boys and headed west to buy this woman a Wii.

Only one major speed bump occurred with the Wii. While two boisterous boys were playing Clone Wars, one little girl got knocked between the eyes with the Wii stick. I've never seen such a scary knot on her forehead. We did call the doctor. All is ok.

I looked up the Wii website and found it amazing that they, too, think it's an investment for the family. (Boy, they'll use anything to sell you.)

They even tell you why you need a Wii!

Wii is not just a gaming console, it's a reason to get together with your friends and family and play today's hottest games. Wii offers legendary Nintendo franchises ....

Question:
Do you have a Wii and if so, do you use it? How often? Is a family affair? Is anyone addicted to the Wii in your family? If so, what are your "rules" of usage? What games do you play? Do you use the Wii fit, boxing or yoga programs? If so, is it working if you work it?

Bring on the comments!


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9 comments:

Julia @ Hooked on Houses said...

We do play the Wii as a family a lot. The kids love it because even my 6-yr old can bowl with us, for example. We also do the Wii Fit, although it's been sorely neglected for the past month or so.

Several family members got together to buy a Wii for my parents this year for Christmas so we can play games when we're all there together.

Hope you have fun with yours! :-)

DEANNA said...

One can rationalize anything.. hehehe

We have a Wii and a Wii fit and it seriously is all about family time with us. We bowl and Box and ski and do balance games all together and we love it. We were addicted to it last year when Santa brought it for us but that has tapered off a bit.

Our absolute favorite thing to do is have a family picnic in our huge family room and bowl and do the 91 pin bowling together. You will find that the adults start taking it very seriously but ultimately laugh til you nearly wet your pants.

My Binky bowls a perfect 300 almost every time now. I even blogged it about three weeks back. It is a lot of money but the fun you will have is priceless!

Merry Christmas and Happy, Healthy New Year to you!!

With Love, Me

Unknown said...

oh oh oh...so excited! I got DH a wii for christmas, found it early at a great price! It made it as far as...
your birthday! He got it for our anniversary...Yes we play. I even bowled once, and I abhor boring..(notes about that to appear in my memoir, *smile*)
I got a wii fit for Christmas...haven't tried it yet! Have you made your MII's yet? Ours look just like us...is yours online. We can play together..if so! Talk to Miss DeAnna, the wii queen! She even has a post up about it. As a matter of fact, Larry is reading the instructions to his new ww2 fighter pilot game..he flew in the AF, so he was all smiles.
The jury is still out..no addictions..no traumas..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syCQhMuAI5I&feature=channel_page
Kiersten, home sick, but not bored!! Learning to play Wii...
miss you! Let me know when we can meet online! I'll be there...

Unknown said...

I am a bit astonished about how much we talk about "punch his face"

ewww...

doughtydigest said...

Our boys, now 7 and 5, got a Wii last year for Christmas from Grandparents. We love it, we play together as a family and the boys play together. We put time restrictions on it and if it becomes a issue we just turn it off for a week or so. We don't have any violent games, mostly sports:) Have fun!

Deborah Granick said...

Wii is amazing! I have never been a video game person. But Wii is different. It brings people together, its fun and it actually has brought me and my husband together even more. Its fun to laugh with each other, we both do wii fit which is AWESOME! We also like a game called "boom blox" kinda like jenga and duck hunt only instead of ducks its blocks. I like that the Wii has more family fun games to offer. My husband tried to do Wii fit everyday and it really is making him healthy. Some of the games will even encourage you to take a break. ( you wont see that with ps3) I heard that nintendo made it more for families and more for those who are not usually into video games. The yoga for Wii fit is more about breathing and stretching and less about all the new age stuff which is also cool. We absolutly love it and have extra controllers so the whole fam can play! I think its great!!!

Youthful One said...

Well....
No.
I don't have an encouraging comment to add.

Just last week I finally looked up how to pronounce Wii, since I've only seen it typed out online. (Whew, I guessed right on how to pronounce it.) That means, yes, I've never seen a commercial for one (we don't turn on the t.v. except to watch dvds), never seen one in person, and never had an audible conversation about one. I'm not really interested.
I am rather shocked and surprised at the sheer numbers of people that I know that have them now. I imagine I'll run into it someday.

Honestly, I'm having a hard enough time simplifying our lives as it is. We already have addictions to being online and my hubby battles addictions to playing games online. We do limit our kids' time on the computer - no more than 30 mins/day, and NONE of that time is online. It is only with educational games we purchased - reading & math games.

I don't have a judgement toward anybody else & their Wii. Sounds like many families are having quite a blast with it. I really just don't have time to consider such a thing. :)

Lylah Ledner said...

i have so loved the youthful one's comments - and today that is no different.

in an age where we do want to simplify - we must simplify i can see how one more thing that comes into the home - such as a wii - can only create chaos and increase stimulus.

like you, the parents here and we support that value to limit tv and the time spent on those little gaming boxes. there's a great book every parent should read - endangered minds - it'll rock your world as to what you allow your little ones to have come through their 'ear and eye' gates.

yesterday, i "boxed" with my oldest grandson - and after 3 rounds i lost - but got some good cardiovascular in (hope i lost at least 6.3 #)

i love to walk, have recently started running (slow at it though) and enjoy pilates and yoga so i'm looking forward to seeing how that works.

on the other side of all this - Craig's List will have another wii for sale.

blessings...to you and thanks for your input - it's always appreciated.

Melody said...

My older son has a Wii that he got as a Christmas gift last year.

We also have several other relatives that have them. We occasionally play the Wii Sports and Guitar Hero as a family but our son definitely plays it the most.