It's All About Mii
I’d like you to meet my video game avatar Wii Fit family: The Mom (that’s me in all my constant sunglass wearing glory in the middle), and the rest of the crew.
What’s interesting about this little display (other than the disruptive moiré pattern) is how much my husband (right) and my son (2nd from left) look remarkably like their Wii folks (okay – it’s more accurate to say that their Mii’s look like them). Is that a figure of merit? To be able to be well represented by a limited amount of changeable cartoon characteristics?
When one is playing Wii, it certainly is – especially for your opponents. (Or, in general, if it makes you look cooler than you really look.)
While making her world of Mii friends, the youngest did not forget her littlest, hairiest friend...
Izzy the Pug-Mii.
And yes. People really do chuck their Wii-motes in all the excitement. Ask my mother (fortunately, there was no damage to the remote or the metal DDR pad into which it flew)!
Update: Check out this Pug-Mii construction!
What’s interesting about this little display (other than the disruptive moiré pattern) is how much my husband (right) and my son (2nd from left) look remarkably like their Wii folks (okay – it’s more accurate to say that their Mii’s look like them). Is that a figure of merit? To be able to be well represented by a limited amount of changeable cartoon characteristics?
When one is playing Wii, it certainly is – especially for your opponents. (Or, in general, if it makes you look cooler than you really look.)
While making her world of Mii friends, the youngest did not forget her littlest, hairiest friend...
Izzy the Pug-Mii.
And yes. People really do chuck their Wii-motes in all the excitement. Ask my mother (fortunately, there was no damage to the remote or the metal DDR pad into which it flew)!
Update: Check out this Pug-Mii construction!
Comments
LB, I have to agree that Stephen's Mii looks an awful lot like him. My Mii also looks like me -- it's easy to make a bald guy. And the controls for changing brow shape, head shape, eye shape/color/angle, etc. are so detailed, that you really can come to a close approximation. Of course it helps if there is a strong defining characteristic to the face so that if you capture it, it really looks like the person.
What games do y'all play? Because my kids are 5 and 3, we're heavy on the Disney Princess adventure genre, and Dora and Diego. My daughter got the High School Musical sing-along for xmas, which she loves. For me, I love Guitar Hero, but since I'm not a gamer at all, I haven't sought out any other games. I have Madden '08, but can't be bothered to learn it.
Wii Fit is a kind of fitness video game. It keeps track of your balance, BMI, and weight while you do strength, balance, stretching, and aerobic games/exercises standing on a board that sends wireless data to the system. (Mii's are the little video game representations you make of yourself on the system.)
So until the government steps in to monitor those things for me, I'm having fun with my Wii. (Sounds funny.)
DDR is Dance Dance Revolution, a dancing game that I've been a little crazy about for a while.
The Wii console, Wii Fit, RockBand, DDR, and metal DDR pads were what the five of us shared for Christmas this year. And little else. Happily, we are all still enamored with it and have been using it - a lot - together. It's been fun.
His willingness to give it a try (Pong was his last foray into video games as well) and ever-expanding skill set never cease to amaze me.
Anyhoo, all I have is GH III, which is still tons of fun. Can I just tell you that playing Slow Ride on the expert level is really damn hard? I finally got it though.
I played RockBand with my nephews over Christmas, and it was just tons of fun. I've played drums a bit, bass, guitar, and have a good singing voice, so I was on the hard level while they were on easy. That flexibility makes it so that a 37 year old guy with musical training can play with a 7 year old and it works. Awesome!
Tell Stephen we'll have to get a fake band together!
Never tried DDR, though the kids did get Wii Outdoor Challenge which has a "Step-on-a-mole" game that appears to require similar footwork. (we haven't tried the game yet) If the kids can do it, perhaps DDR will be the next purchase.
Now, if I could just make a rational case for shelling out $250 for a video game when I'm the only one in the house able to play it...
Before you know it, you'll have your own family band together. My youngest is usually the drummer.
The pug is awesome. I totally see it.
That's the thing about video games that makes me crazy - it approximates a real skill (in this case, drawing) but without the effort. I'm sure she is learning something, though, like how the shape, size, and placement of facial features really changes the appearance. I just don't know how that affects her development of other, more demanding skills.