Playing Around on Wii Sports Resort

July 23, 2009 — -- The Nintendo Wii gaming console is in more than 20 million U.S. households. Kids play, serious gamers play, seniors play.

Gaming experts attribute one of the biggest changes in the industry to the Wii; women and girls are playing this console in record numbers. The NPD Group tracks the demographics of gamers, and in the last year alone it has seen a 5 percent rise in female gamers on all consoles/platforms. The Wii alone saw a 19 percent jump in women gamers over the last year. More than 10 million Wii consoles were sold in 2008.

Capitalizing on the momentum, Nintendo is releasing a set of Wii games and new technology that could make the killer console even more popular.

Wii Sports Resort releases July 26 and debuts on national TV July 23 on "Good Morning America." The 12-game suite features basketball, wakeboarding, frisbee, and sword fighting along with eight other beach and vacation themed games.

The real story here is a new add-on to the Wii-mote controller. Called Wii Motion Plus, this inch-long cube snaps on to the end of the existing Wii controller to give you expanded movement, aiming and control during game play. In the past the controller basically replicated straight-arm movements: which side of your body the remote was on and how fast you were moving it. Those broad motions were translated to control game play. For example: forehand or backhand? Powerful shot or weak shot?

The Wii Motion Plus gives you 360 degrees of control and factors in the movements of your wrist and forearm. In frisbee it gauges the accuracy of your aim and the angle of the disc as you release it.

In basketball it determines the arc of your shot: is it a brick or a sky-ball? In golf, the angle at which you hold the Wii-mote positions your club-face: if it's open or angled back you slice to the right. If it's angled forward (closed) it results in a hook to the left.

More Motion, More Complex, More Challenging

All of this control makes for more complex and challenging gameplay. More motion, more finesse, and more strategy mean that the games hold your interest longer. The games are still simple to understand and compelling from the get-go, but there is a longer learning curve as you get used to the games.

Wii Sports Resort costs $49 and comes with one Wii Motion Plus controller. Additional controllers cost $24. The new games cannot be played without the Wii Motion Plus device. The new Tiger Woods golf game for Wii takes advantage of the new controls and Nintendo says even more new titles will be released this year for Wii motion plus.

As cost dominates buying decisions in this economy, many will see the $50 game and the $25 additional controllers as a big expense, but others may believe that staying at home and playing the new video games as a family is the cheapest staycation you can plan.