[StevieG]

Also, long trip report:

<font color="#5ca5c9">Wii == huge hit with family</font>

Long Story short:

People liked playing sports, making their own Mii. Grandfather got addicted to golf. Even the Wii picture channel impressed.

Long story long:

With help from this thread, I had a Wii setup for Thanksgiving, held for the first time at my house.

So a dozen people were around, of all ages, really.

My mother, her husband Bill, and my grandfather arrived on Wednesday, and so they were the first ones to get a crack at it.

When I first played Wii Sports, I though my grandfather would like the golf. He's 86 but still very active. He's known for breaking any piece of electronics, from answering machines to DVD players, but I thought the natural swing motion would make the game inviting.

Did it ever. My grandfather played the game with Bill for around two hours Wednesday afternoon!

After dinner, the family played some analog pinochle, and I thought everyone was going to bed after a few games. Nope. "Let's play nine holes," my grandfather said.

"Steve, this game is beautiful."

Bill and I also played a game of tennis.

Then I showed them the Weather and News functions, and he was impressed again. "I forgot the Flyers were playing tonight" as we found and read the sports article on their 6-3 win.

On Thanksgiving, my teenage cousins had a blast making Miis for themselves and other family members. We had a pretty full gallery by the end of the day.

We played some Raving Rabbids mini games, but the Wii Sports Tennis, Baseball, and Boxing ruled the day. Grandfather played more golf.

Then my uncle wanted to look at photos, so I suggested the Wii, having not tried that yet. The Phot channel was great! No beeping between pictures, just let the slideshow run. Then we found the puzzle option for photos and had fun with that.

The Wii really delivered, especially for people I've never really seen play video games before.