I admit it. For a nerd, or even just a part-nerd which I believe I am, I am pretty “out-of-it.” Like, I have no idea, really, what a “Wii” is, other than one more thing my kids want to have and I see no reason for, or to spend money on.  Well, this is my chance to explore the world of the Wii, and get some mature perspective on what all the noise is about.

First of all, you need a console. It looks a bit like a computer and the start-up package comes with a remote controller, a “Nunchuk” controller, a sports gaming package, and a sensor bar, which I assume is how the thing knows when you are moving. What I didn’t know before is that if you have wireless broadband internet access you can play on-line games, too and stream TV and movies via Netflix. OK, so what else?

Well, I just looked at the accessories which can be purchased in addition to the basic Wii thingy. Let’s just say it is possible to spend oodles of money having fun with this thing. So what kind of fun is actually possible? Well according to their own web page, there are 1,010 different games to choose from. Luckily they have a cool way of helping you find exactly the game you would love. (Otherwise uncool people like me would probably get frustrated from all the choices and end up buying nothing, woe is me.)

There are 8 “favorite game types” you can pick from, not including “other,” ranging from role playing, sports and music and rhythm. (Even I have heard of ‘Rock Band.’) I took a look at ‘other’ and to my surprise saw a selection of regular type games, like chess, jungle speed and Texas poker. Not 100% sure why you need a motion detector for these games, but I guess it just comes with the territory.

The next choice to make is the preferred ESRB rating, in case there are some parents out there trying to protect their kids from the bad values so easily exposed to our kids. I was happy to see that (at least) in the “other” category there are no ‘M’ (Mature, 17+) titles. The highest rating in this category was ‘T’ for Teen, 13+. The vast majority of games in this category fell into the E10+ which means “Everyone 10 years old and above.
OK, I admit again that the “other” category is not really what the Wii is all about. So let’s just take a look for one minute at one of the categories that the developers of the Wii really had in mind when they spent all their time and creativity thinking up this nifty toy, I mean device.

In the Music and Rhythm category, in the Teen 13+ rating are a large selection of different versions of “Guitar Hero” and “Rock Band.” Not too sure what the differences are between them, but maybe I should stop writing and start playing, I mean interacting. I’ll let you know how it goes, and whether I have been convinced this is a real boon to civilization, or not.

But sometimes us nerds stop for two seconds and think about this fast-paced, constantly changing world that we live in and wonder if everything is really so good. For instance, I was talking to one of my neighbors today, telling her that I was going to buy a new microwave oven for my newly married daughter and son-in-law. Although we both agreed that it is hard to imagine living today without a microwave, it is certainly possible to live without one, as the both of us have proved since we both grew up without one and have lived to tell the tale. Then my friend continued to bemoan at least two ways that microwaves may actually harm our lives rather than help.

For one thing, in the old days, if you wanted a baked potato for lunch, you would say to yourself, “In about one hour or so I want to eat lunch. Therefore I should put my potato in the oven NOW so it will be ready to be eaten in about 1 hour.” Then we can wash the potato, put it in the (conventional) oven, set a timer, and come back in one hour to eat. Then we were free to get back to whatever it was we had been doing before. Very little time was wasted. Today, since the potato takes about five minutes, we just hang around next to the microwave until the potato is ready. This waiting around wastes time.

The larger problem with the microwave is how it affects the family structure, and how families don’t spend their meals together. My friend said that without a microwave, the children were forced to come home for dinner when Father came home, and everyone ate their evening meal together. This was a time to share the events of the day, ideas, dreams and whatever else people in the same family want to talk about together. Now, because the microwave has made it so easy, family members eat separately when they get back from school, work, play, etc, and don’t really share the evening meal together. A great loss, both my neighbor and I believe.

Of course if the two younger brothers don’t have to eat together, perhaps there will be less fighting between them. That’s hard to know for sure. But what can be known is that technologies such as microwaves, which have had such a profound effect on our  modern way of life, might not only improve the quality our lives, but if we are not careful, can perhaps harm it, too.

Our  world is little by little transforming into a virtual or digital world. We exercise in games,  with a projection we enjoy virtual fish or leaves. Seeing the world on a screen, hoping to reach out, to make the projection interact with us. The games of yesterday are lost before the technology of today.

Like that mail to be a child of the 90’s, which went out to play, learn to do tricks on skates or a bicycle and not invite friends to play with the Wii or being with others by a computer.

It seems that people gradually adapt to using this technology and perhaps we will get to a point where it will not be necessary to leave the house. A computer or console could do sports, go shopping. You could pay everything online, take classes and exams digitally.

One day, everything will be through our very movements. No need for mouse or keyboard. Our bodies will connect directly to the technology, and it will be unclear where we end and the technology begins.