"Wii" Have A New Obsession

Some people have obsession with shoes or maybe they play too much golf.

I admit it – I have one for designer handbags, but my new obsession surpassed my handbag one. It’s nothing illegal mind you. It’s playing the Nintendo Wii.

It started about two months ago. Jason’s parents gave us a Wii and the Wii Sports Resort game for our birthdays. His parents bought themselves a system last Christmas and Jason got bit by the Wii bug after playing just one game. Most of my family have been owners for awhile. I have wanted one since the first time I played one too. Jason and I talked about buying one as our birthday gift to each other. Now. we didn’t have too.

“Score! We got a Wii.”

I pooled most of my birthday money that I received to purchase another controller, nunchuck, controller charger, two more games and a Wii Fit Plus. We are officially Wii-tricked out.

One of the funniest things is to see Jason’s mom and dad competing against each other when they play the Wii. They are super-competitive. It also includes some really funny trash talk. They had me laughing so hard last Christmas that my ribs hurt. This should have been a wake-up call that Jason might be the same way.

As soon as we got the Wii set up, we started playing all the different games. It became very clear that I’m a bit rusty with playing video games. I did okay at basketball, but so far Jason was kicking my butt in everything else. Whenever I would get a high score, Jason would say “Let me give it a try.” and within that time he would be the top score yet again.

This isn’t the first gaming system that I have owned. Growing up, we had the Nintendo, SEGA, and even an Atari. One Christmas, I got my very own Gameboy. You know, the boxy gray one that cast a green glow on the little obsessed gamer’s face. The thing also weighted about 3 pounds and sucked batteries like it was going out of style.

The very next morning, I knew that I’m going to need to stretch a bit before I turn on the Wii. My left arm was so sore, and so was my right leg. I figured out that I have a very forceful swing. I swing with a purpose.

Just this last weekend, I spent a total of six hours playing the Sims 2 Castaway game. I made it to the second island and also found my other castaway. At the time, that was all I wanted to do. I truly became obsessed with the game.

I will need to be very careful about the Wii sucking my every free minute, but right now it’s still kind of new. Guess who almost didn’t write her column for a round of wakeboarding?

Jason holds the top score of 1,538 to my 986. Having a Wii has put me in the mindset of a four-year-old with a brand new toy. I’ve even had Wii dreams with myself as my Mii character looking for a point of interest or trying to get the best time.

I have also caught myself thinking from time to time about the Wii games and “How can I be faster?” or “I think that last balloon might be over there!” I’m just itching to get home and play the games to see if I was right.

If this obsession doesn’t fade in the next month or so, I’ll actually have to join a support group. But since it’s still new, I’ll go easy on myself. On the plus side, I have lost four pounds from playing the Biggest Loser and the Wii Fit Plus Games. And I’m becoming more competitive myself.

This column is officially done. Time to power up the Wii and try to beat Jason’s high score on wakeboarding.