Generations Meet for Game Night on the Wii

A new Wii game brings classic board games into the digital age.

ByABC News
December 3, 2008, 6:45 PM

Dec. 4, 2008— -- "Hasbro Family Game Night," a new game for the Nintendo Wii, may be just the game for the family facing the technology divide.

It brings favorite board games that the older generation loves to a high-tech platform that the younger generation adores, so playing the games is so easy that both generations will enjoy having a "Game Night" in front of the TV.

From Electronic Arts, "Hasbro Family Game Night" is hosted by Mr. Potato Head and offers families the opportunity to play Boggle, Connect Four, Yahtzee, Battleship and Sorry, as well as something new called Sorry Sliders. In addition to the traditional games, each game has at least one variation.

The compilation also has a special Party Mode that is full of minigames that use the game boards but are totally different from the traditional games.

So is this video game compilation as fun as playing those board games around the kitchen table? Yes, but it's different. Here's the scoop.

Games like Connect Four, Boggle and Yahtzee work well using the Wii remote. It's easy to point and click so that your colored checker drops into the Connect Four rack. Likewise, selecting letters to make words is simple in Boggle, and it is nice that the built-in dictionary lets you know right away whether you have spelled a word correctly.

In Yahtzee, shaking the Wii remote as it vibrates is a remarkably satisfying way to simulate shaking the Yahtzee dice. And the game helps you decide which of the scoring combinations to select while it keeps score for you.

But games like Sorry and Battleship don't fare so well. When playing Sorry, it is helpful to be able to study the board and count out squares before you move, and this virtual game board doesn't provide you the visuals you need.

Likewise, the virtual Battleship game is cumbersome because you have to zoom in to choose the point on the grid that you want to hit, then wait through a repetitive graphic that rotates the board to see a dramatic hit on water, and then rotates back to see if you hit anything.