Saturday, August 01, 2009

Wii Can't Believe This

Back in the day, I was quite the gamer. This life phase occurred sometime around my mid to late thirties. My platform of choice was the PS2 and my preferred genre was survival/horror. I had to spend more time than I liked dealing with condescending store clerks who wanted to make sure that this unsuspecting soccer mom understood she was purchasing a somewhat graphic game for junior, but it was worth it. I got pretty good.

I didn't spend my entire life in front of a screen clutching a controller. I never quite made the move over to being one of The Pale People. I had a life. But I was a player. I'm not saying I was great. I was, however, quite good. I took some pride in that fact.

Time passed, though (as time is wont to do) and one day I decided to revisit an old hobby. I picked up a pair of knitting needles, one thing led to another and soon I was spending more time wrangling the wool than saving the world from the zombie scourge. The PS2 was used more often as a DVD player than anything else. When I got the new TV back in April, it happened to come with a handy player already installed so the game console began gathering dust. I finally put it away. I wasn't ready to get rid of it altogether, mind you. I figured there was still some play time left in there should the spirit ever move me again.

This brings us to last Tuesday. I bought a Wii. I've been eyeing them for a while now. It is marketed to a pretty wide audience, including adults. Many of the games are designed to help people move along towards a fitness goal or two. Having become bored with my workouts of late, I found myself getting a bit lazy about the whole exercise thing. Frankly, I'm breaking more of a sweat trying to button my jeans these days than I am doing anything else. I figured the Wii would be a nice way to spice things up a bit. And besides, I'm a gamer...or at least I used to be. I could use this thing on many levels!

And so it is as a former gamer with a background in the slaying of all manner of ghouls, monsters and gigantic arachnids, that I tell you of my shame. How did it come to this? How did I become someone who prefers dancing for hours with a monkey in a sombrero? I used to be one of the heroes. I used to shoot first and ask questions later. Now I'm passing over the chance to explore darkened warehouses so I can go bowling. I'm horrified by this turn of events.

I'm blaming the whole thing on the need to traverse the learning curve. I keep telling myself that I should learn to manage the controllers before I go running pell mell into virtual danger. And I suppose that this is a very logical thing to do. But a part of me just can't help but cringe a bit when I get a mental picture of me playing golf. It's a short hop from there to shuffleboard. And I'm pretty sure that activity is available on the Wii Resort game that I'm picking up soon. It's only a matter of time.

Oh, how the mighty have fallen...

There is really no going back, I suppose. However, in an attempt to redeem myself (at least in the eyes of the knitters) I have cast on for another Invisibility Shawl from Charmed Knits. I knit one a while back and it gave me no end of difficulty. I don't quite know what the drama was there. It's not like it's a hard pattern. I suppose it's got something to do with the tinking difficulty that S1, K2, PSSO's present. One missed yarnover and you have to work back through a billion of these things, most of which are just dying to unravel on you. The final result, though, was rather lovely. Even considering the simplicity of the stitches, it just looked nice. I decided to do another one.

It has taken me three tries to get back into the groove with this pattern. But I've finally got it. Maybe it's all that dancing with the monkey. It is possible I've developed some rhythm over the past few days.




The red isn't part of the shawl. I don't really trim delicate lacy wraps in squeaky acrylic. Honest. I just like to really see my provisional cast on. Makes life easier later when I'm picking it out.


It's a small gesture, the knitting of a shawl in laceweight. Even if it's your own handspun laceweight. It is never going to make up for the fact that I've turned into the gaming equivalent of cream of wheat. But it's the best I can do right now.

Maybe I just need to bowl one or two more frames. Shake my maracas with the monkey a couple more times. Look into that shuffleboard game. You know, keep practicing with those controllers.

Then maybe I'll be ready to go back to that darkened warehouse...

SA

10 comments:

Donna Lee said...

I can't get used to the strange way people look on some of the wii games. Like weebles. I am not and have never been a true gamer. I am a lover of word puzzles and I am a whiz at Tetris. I have three girls I tried really hard to raise to be young ladies but all three play things like Left 4 Dead and WoW. And they're good. I guess the controllers have been passed down to the next generation.....

Kath said...

Hey, I'd ever knock the Wii games,,,even golf. Or shuffleboard. As I see it, the gamer that you used to be sat on the couch and worked a controller. But Wii games require a person to get up off the couch and DO stuff, that's why they are such a good workout. So think of it this way - enough exercise with the Wii (whether it be bowling, monkey dancing, whatever!) and the new gamer-Sheepie will be able to whup the old gamer-Sheepie!

Anonymous said...

I need to start using my Wii more. Especially the boxing and tennis - I put on a sleeveless shirt the other day and decided that I could not walk outside the house in it. UGH - when did that happen to my arms; my arms used to be the only part of my body I liked!

p.s. I know all too well what you mean about the buttoning of the pants!

The Kelly Green Rogue said...

Love my Wii! Although I don't think there are many shot em up games for it, you might wanna hang on to the PS2 for when you have the urge to kill something! ;-)

I just got Wii Active a week ago and so far love it! Even when I come home exhausted its so fun & interesting enough that I do my 30 day challenge and one other work out. Plus its cheaper than Wii Fit, which I may get later.

sheep#100 said...

Once you get your game back, I know that you will be diligent in working through all of those virtual zombie training missions - it will be very good preparation for the coming zombie apocalypse.

You know something? The purchase price, plus the power to run the system, should all come under professional training supplies and be tax-deductible.

I think that with a little creative accounting, you could even write off your Wii workiout clothing expenses...

April said...

Is there curling? Maybe that's only the Canadian edition. If you start curling, it's game over.

Jeanne said...

I tried my friend's Wii. I'm hooked. When I'm flush again, I'm buying one. For fitness purposes.

And cow racing.

Though how I'll ever find time between training eight real live horses and keeping up with my virtual farms and YoVille, I'll never know.

Anonymous said...

shake them maracas baby :)

mia

Cathy said...

I keep thinking about knitting the IS but then I immediately think of your post about the last IS you knit and I laugh and laugh and laugh.

For some reason, laughter is not conducive for knitting IS.

Cursing Mama said...

There must be some kind of Zombie warrior or Buffy the Vampire slayer game available to further your training in case of zombie attack