Wii Sports brings sports such as boxing, bowling, baseball, golf and tennis into your living room. When Nintendo launched its Wii video game console in 2006, it also included Wii Sports along with it (except in Japan).
Quite simply, the Wii Remote of Wii Sports allows you to enjoy simulated play in five sports arenas – tennis, baseball, bowling, golf, and boxing. It was launched with single and multi-player modes. The idea behind Wii Sports was to reach out to people who had never played video games before.
The games can be played at three levels: standard, training and multi-player mode. Besides game play, there are fitness and training methods to help players design their own regimes. Players can take fitness tests that calculate speed, stamina and age. Tennis requires you to have your own Wii remote. Tennis is the only game that can have two people playing together or against each other. In the other games, like baseball, golf and bowling ball, you can use the remote like you would while playing the real game. Due to some injuries being reported by over-enthusiastic players, Nintendo recalled straps for the remote and reintroduced newer versions that were twice as thick and long lasting.
To make the gaming experience even more personal, Wii’s Mii Channel was launched that allowed you to create a Mii or an avatar. You are awarded points and sometimes even cosmetic features for your Mii. The Wii Message Boards also allow you to interact with other players.
In Japan, Wii Sports became the best selling game of 2007. The games generated much enthusiasm and saw the staging of competitions and social events. The games were so popular that they were spoofed on late night TV shows, in adverts and even at the Oscars! On one such TV show, a former Canadian prime minister was shown beating his opponent in a Wii Sports boxing game.
By 2007, over 17.85 million copies of the game had been sold around the world. The game won numerous awards, including Best Sports Game of 2006 from IGN, Number One Game for 2006 from Time magazine, Grand Prize at the Japan Media Arts Festival and even a BAFTA award.
Wii Sports was so successful that Nintendo later came out with Wii Play, Wii Fit, Wii Chess and soon to be released Wii Music. The games have had a positive social impact with many people citing them as wonderful instruments for social bonding.
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