Nintendo's Wii Becoming Big Hit in Nursing Homes Nationwide

A very interesting news story seen on the Fox News web site: "Nintendo's Wii Becoming Big Hit in Nursing Homes Nationwide"

Here's an excerpt:

LOS ANGELES — Until two weeks ago, Ruth Ebert never had the slightest interest in the video games favored by her one and only granddaughter.

"I'm 82 years old, so I missed that part of our culture. Soap operas, yes. Video games, no," chirped Ebert, who recently started playing a tennis game on Nintendo Co. Ltd.'s new Wii video game console at the Virginia retirement community she calls home.

"It was funny, because normally I would not be someone who would do that," said Ebert, who picked up the console's motion-sensing Wiimote and challenged the machine to a match.

"I played tennis, if you can call it that, as a high school student. I had such fun doing it," she said.

Ebert swung the Wiimote just like a tennis racquet and said playing the game reminded her of the feeling she had all those years ago.

While she took the early on-court lead, the Wii beat her in the end.

While Microsoft and Playstation have been chasing the small but intense "extreme gamer" market, Nintendo has quietly been pursuing a strategy to make video games accessible to everyone else, and it seems they have exceeded beyend their wildest expectations with the introduction of the Wii. I've already informed my household--which already owns two Nintendo DS's and a Gamecube--that the next, and ONLY game console that will be allowed in the house is the Wii. The fact that it's backward compatible with the Gamecube, (and even Nintendo64!!!) makes the choice a no-brainer. Plus the fact that most everyone is reporting that it's a lot of FUN to play, even more so than the X-Box and the PS3, makes it even more of a no-brainer. And the asking price of a mere $250 is the icing on the cake.

To be honest, the reason I want a Wii is simple: to be able to play those old Nintendo64 games that I miss since we sold our 64 to buy more games for the Cube. Bad decision, as some of those old games have no equivalent on the newer systems.

<>< TM