Why Nintendo's gonna Wiin

Was out running errands and stuff today, and stopped by Fox Hills Mall for lunch. This was not by pure chance; I had known in advance that it was one of the malls that's currently hosting Nintendo's Wii Mall Experience -- which is a glorified way of saying they had kiosks set up for folks to play Wii games.

So after I had my teriyaki beef lunch, I hiked down to the "experience," which consisted of a small cluster of six kiosks -- four playing Wii Sports, one with Excite Truck, and one with The Legend of Zelda: Twilght Princess. Having played Excite Truck several times already (and still lovin' it ), and not interested in getting into a massively-complex game like Zelda, I decided to try a quick tour of the various Wii Sports games instead.

Next thing I knew, it was 90 minutes later, I was drenched in sweat from the exhaustion, and I swear I had a goofy-ass grin from all the fun I had. Any residual doubts I may have had over Nintendo's approach to gaming were eradicated with my hands-on experience. Even better, I picked up a playmate -- a passing stranger who wanted to try it as well -- and the competitive two-player contests made it even more fun. I know we caught the attention of a lot of spectators, and I can easily imagine Wii Sports being an absolute blast at parties.

For the sake of completeness, I'll quickly summarize the games I tried:

• Boxing. Played this by myself, going three rounds against the computer. It's very tiring, especially if you go full-tilt with the punches like I was. It's not geared for high-speed wailing, but towards a more "realistic" dodge-wait-punch style of boxing. Unfortunately, the tracking of your fists isn't perfect; several times I'd try a right roundhouse and get a left roundhouse instead. Not sure if it's an issue with the game or the way I was holding the controller, though near the end I was doing quick head-jabs fairly consistently.
• Tennis. This was the first game I played with my video playmate, and it was absolutely flawless. I'm not a tennis expert by any means, but I was doing lobs, backhands, and forehands with ease within a minute of playing. The feeling of control was perfect, and when I failed a return, it was clearly because I mistimed the swing.
• Baseball. Played a five-inning game against my opponent, and we ended with a 2-2 tie. The baseball game is simplified to either pitching or hitting, but even then there's a lot of skill involved. I was getting so deep into the pitching game that my shoulder started to ache, whereupon I switched to a less aggressive style and consequently played with change-ups. Didn't see any options for a nine-inning game, though.
• Bowling. This is tied with Tennis as the best game in the package, as being a game that doesn't require too much effort to play, but offers a lot of depth and requires a lot of skill to master. I was playing with changing the speed of my delivery, changing the spin of my ball, and the timing of my release, and was pleasantly rewarded to see the game realistically reflect all of those factors (and more). I bowled a 117 my first time around, which is fairly consistent with the last time I bowled in real life.
• Golf. Didn't try this, as I felt I was hogging the kiosk waaaaaaaaaaaay too long as it was, and I needed a break anyway.

Like I said, I ended up playing for well over an hour, walked away drenched in sweat and aches, and had a terrific time for my troubles. Compared to the immersive nature of the Nintendo Wii, other video games are merely pressing buttons.

But while I'm still convinced even more than ever that Nintendo has a bona fide winner here, my hands-on session is not the reason why I know the Wii will eventually dominate the video-gaming landscape.

Instead, I direct you to this thread from the NeoGaf forums, where non-professional everyday video gamers share their unvarnished experiences with Wii Sports:

I loooooooooooooove tennis... so much so that I haven't played Zelda yet !

I was so hyped for Zelda, I thought I would play Wii sports for like 5 minutes just to get used to the wiimote. 2 hours later I was still bowling!

That distant rumbling sound you hear is the legion of non-hardcore-gamers stampeding the gates of the video gaming fiefdom -- this hobby is about to be invaded by an army of casual, gesture-based, Wii-remote-waving moms, dads, grandparents, and casual gamers...