Comments on: Reading Notes: May 2009

By: Julia S.

Julia S. — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 15:00:29 +0000

Melissa,
I jumped over to this post from you year end book round up and was reading about your Wii and boardgames. I got the “Family Game Night” Wii game which has a lot of the classic board games (Sorry, Yahtzee, Battleship, Boggle, and something else I think I can’t remember) just because we have lots of littles who like to grab game pieces and it sort of spoils the fun (I missed the board games too).
The games can be played the classic way or with some Wii enhancements. I prefer the classic versions, but my kids like both.

Just thought you’d like to know.

By: 2009 Booklist — Here in the Bonny Glen

2009 Booklist — Here in the Bonny Glen — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 23:44:44 +0000

[...] Susan McClelland • George & Sam: Two Boys, One Family, and Autism by Charlotte Moore (brief notes) • Night by Elie [...]

By: Melissa Wiley

Melissa Wiley — Sat, 30 May 2009 18:40:24 +0000

We don’t have Animal Crossing. I think we’ve got it on request at the Library but there are always about 80 people ahead in line for games there. Beck (Frog and Toad) has that one and really likes it.

We have to swap Wii numbers to exchange Miis. I’ll email you!

By: Laurie M

Laurie M — Sat, 30 May 2009 18:30:36 +0000

i’ve been trying to decide between animal crossing & harvest moon. do you have ac?

how do we link our wii characters over the internet? If you want to.

By: Beth

Beth — Fri, 29 May 2009 22:53:36 +0000

Lissa, thank you so much for explaining! I feel much less dim now. I had no idea. I was thinking that I don’t actually know anyone who has one but maybe I just don’t know that they do. Huh.

By: Melissa Wiley

Melissa Wiley — Fri, 29 May 2009 22:05:34 +0000

Beth, I’m going to take Mamalion’s advice and write a whole Wii post, since there’s been so much interest in it here in the comments. But re your questions:

It’s pronounced “we.” You create avatars for use in some games, and those are called “Miis.” (Singular, Mii, sounds like “me.”) That was the first big chunk of fun we had with it—creating our own Miis that look like each member of our family. You can even send your Miis to other people, if you (and they) have the Wii hooked up to a wireless network. This is enormously fun because in some of the games, like Sport and Fit, other players or spectators will be the Miis you’ve created or the ones your friends have sent you. My girls go wild when our friend Kristen appears on a baseball team, for example.

OK, so the gaming system is called Wii, and it’s a small box you plug into your television. The games look like CD-roms or DVDs. The Wii comes with a controller thingie which is just called a remote. There are also attachments you can add to the main remote, like for Mario Kart you stick the remote (a slender rectangle) into a plastic steering wheel. The Wii remote works differently than other types of game controllers; it has cool motion-sensing technology that tracks what position it’s in—so that you can play games like bowling, baseball, and tennis by mimicking the movements you’d make in real life. Picture two people standing in a living room swinging remotes like tennis rackets. (There’s a wrist strap to keep you from hurling the remote at your television.)

It’s super super fun. Scott wanted me to be sure to put in that our kids enjoy watching the two of us race in Mario Kart as much as they like playing it themselves! This has become one of our favorite ways to wind up a day.

By: Beth

Beth — Fri, 29 May 2009 21:50:25 +0000

This is only serving to remind me of just how culturally illiterate I am.

Is it pronounced ‘why’ or ‘we’?

And what is it? A computer-tv-remote sensor … thingymabob that you … erm … interact with?

*clutches head*

I didn’t even have a computer until six years ago, and I don’t have a television (I watch ‘Lost’ on the computer). Ah, well.