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Wii's graphical power – or lack thereof – is a touchy subject for some gamers, but Mary couldn't care less. "I'm not a big gamer... I mean when I see graphics that are really 3D and really cool, I'm totally mesmerized by them, but it they don't have to be." Is there anything that stood out to Mary as mesmerizing on the Wii? "Absolutely," she replied, which surprised me a little. "That game that the kids were playing just now, Tony Hawk... The graphics and all the different courses and everything – it was very, very well done."Clearly her stance on graphics isn't very important because she immediately cut back to how the games play instead of how they look. "Wii Sports [doesn't look realistic], but it's still very neat that a ball will be coming at you and you hit the ball as you would when you play baseball, or throwing the big ball down the bowling alley to hit the pins, I think that's amazing."
Mary prefers the Wii Remote to conventional controllers
The big question of course, is whether or not Wii is worth the price of admission. Referring to the Wii Remote, Nunchuk, and Wii Sports, in addition to the console itself, "I think [the price is] very reasonable, considering what you pay for. What's the new one out there? The PlayStation 3. Look how expensive that is. I think for $280 [Canadian Wii price], I think that's fairly reasonable. I can only imagine that, in time, the price will probably come down."
One thing that Mary was very vocal about in her pre-Wii interview was not letting her children play for long periods at a time. Though the Wii doesn't have a built-in timer, it does keep track of how long it is played. "I think [the playing record] is useful. I still think you shouldn't be playing any videogame for six hours a day; it's not a productive thing to do. I'd probably check on that, especially if the kids were playing and I lose track of time, I could check and say, 'No, you've been playing for an hour, it's time to get off.'"
Backwards compatibility seemed to be a big hit with Mary, seeing as there's a 'Cube in her home. "We've invested in buying GameCube games, so when we switch over to the Wii, it's good to know that we can still use those games, that my kids can play what they want to play without pulling out the GameCube. I like the Wii better."
Mary likes the Wii better, but does she like it enough to go out there and buy one? "I could see buying a Wii at some point, and I can see us playing as a family. I hope they continue to make games for it."
Just as importantly, would Mary recommend Wii to others? "Absolutely," she says with confidence, "without a doubt. I already have and I don't even have one!"
N-Philes' Wii Ambassadorship has just begun! Check back later as Ben spreads the word of Wii to more non-gamers and follow along with Nintendo's emergence of the "new generation".
