Actually for me, I'm just now starting to play my Wii pretty frequently. It was starting to collect dust there for a while. I kind of got out of gaming for a long while just due to real life and not having as much time to devote to games anymore. Eventually I just never felt like playing anything. Lately though, I feel like giving gaming a higher priority again. Now I guess I've turned into a casual gamer, but the Wii is perfect for that.
I must admit though that I've mainly been playing virtual console right now, but I'm playing games on it I've never played before (I'm just now for the first time ever playing Paper Mario 64 and am discovering its awesomeness!). Its just funner for me than emulation. I mean, I've had nearly every game imaginable on my hard drive for years, but I rarely feel like playing them especially if its an extensive game thats going to take a little time and devotion to completely beat. Emulating games I've already played before on the console just seems pointless since I have so much other stuff to choose from, and there's so much to choose from that I just end up playing nothing. Plus there's the whole, digging through to find which rom I want to play, having to get a different emulator for each system, configuring my controller to work best with the emulator and game, finding my last save so I can continue from it and all of that. It's not really that much hassle, but most of the time its enough to give me a reason to not even fool with it.
With the wii though, I don't know, it just makes playing all of the older games fun again. I feel like I did the first time I ever played them as an exited kid on christmas, even with games that I have played to death by now on the original console. It makes me feel like sitting down and spending the whole day playing video games again (which I have done now nearly every weekend). I guess the Wii is kind of like a Mac as emulation is to a PC. On the wii, its more expensive, but everything works exactly as it should without you having to do anything to get it to work, it feels more fun, and its stylish. (I don't mean to start a Mac/PC thing. I don't even own a Mac, that's just my overall impression of them from what I've heard)
Plus, I am currently playing Mario Party 8 as much as the VC. I have Zelda, but am barely into it right now. It's a great game, but I'm just not motivated to play it right now. Mainly because it's the first Zelda game I've ever played, and I feel like playing stuff that's more familiar right now rather than learning a whole new game. I also have Sonic but it pretty much sucks, and I haven't even played Wii sports yet. But I'm eventually going to get Super Paper Mario after playing Thousand Year Door, and I'll get Super Mario Galaxy, Super Smash Brothers, and Metroid. Considering that I didn't even really buy this system for the newer games, but for everything else it had to offer, and there are still plenty of newer games coming out that interest me, this thing's going to keep me entertained for a while.
I almost always play the thing 1-player and I still have plenty of fun with it. Plus, when I do have friends that want to play, its just that much better. I like the fact that my family is actually interested in it, plus it gives me a reason to come out of my room and get of the computer for once. I can even pack it up easily, hook it up at my grandmas house, and she can actually play it, as well as have fun watching it which to me is awsome
So i guess I can understand why the novelty may be wearing off for more hardcore gamers, but I think the Wii is still holding strong for casual gamers and the appeal to them is only going to continue to grow. And considering that casual gamers are the Wii's primary market, I think its working out quite well.
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