Once again I've been beaten by a machine
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And quite convincingly too. This weekend, my parents purchased a Nintendo Wii, and I've unintentionally spent the majority of this afternoon playing Wii Sports (a collection of sports games for the Wii—do you see?). After getting used to the way the thing works, I've spent a few hours improving my skill levels, while at the same time being royally trounced by a collection of humanoid, blob-like mononyms.
It's actually a lot of fun and I'd highly recommend it. However, it would be irresponsible of me not to point out that if you're of a competitive or addictive nature then you'd better be prepared to put your life on hold for several hours and surrender the use of one arm for the twenty-four hours that follow.
When the Wii was originally released, I thought it was something of a clever gimmick, but didn't believe it would be a lasting success. After all, the motion sensitive remote control seems like little more than a novelty when compared to the majority of other consoles past and present. How wrong I was.
It's perhaps this novelty that has made it such a hit. Rather than simply sitting down and tapping buttons the way one would with any other games console, the Wii requires you to be somewhat more active. The end result is that you tend to find yourself jumping around your living room and waving your arms about like a lunatic. Admittedly, with some practice, you could probably learn to achieve a similar end result with some well-trained wrist action from the comfort of your favourite arm chair, but where's the fun in that?
Thankfully, I consider myself to be reasonably fit and in okay shape. Sure, you probably wouldn't find me playing many of the sports available on the Wii in real life, but I'm not afraid of a bit of exercise and already work out at least three times a day. But when one brings a Wii into the equation, things get a little more complicated.
After just a few hours of play, my right arm, for example, feels like it doesn't belong to me and I'm pretty sure I'm going to pay for that in the morning. I've attempted to stretch out the muscles since I've stopped playing but my upper arm still feels a bit like jelly and has a similar tremble even at rest.
The thing is, I'm a glutton for punishment, and chances are I'll find myself holding that remote again at some point in the not too distant future. It's simply too enjoyable, and equally frustrating, to not do it again, and my original doubts about the long term success of the console have been permanently laid to rest.
As things stand, I'm a little nervous about whether my arm will recover by tomorrow when I'll have to face my colleagues at work. Somehow I don't think they'll believe me if I say I have a sports-related injury.