Here’s an article that highlights a study that shows that playing with the Wii is a group activity. I just got a Wii about a month ago and I agree. I play Wii with my husband and on the weekends my parents have been coming over regularly to play Wii with us. It’s great and I would say that the Wii has brought back family time. We have Wii Sports, Mario Party 8, and Boom Blox for family entertainment. My parents really like Wii bowling and Boom Blox (like electronic Jenga — but so much more). My husband and I have discovered the fun of Wii boxing (it’s a good workout too). Anyhow, I highly recommend the Wii for every household. But be careful, though, the first few times you play Wii, especially if you are out of shape, will result in muscle soreness for a few days. However, once you get over it, you can play Wii until your heart’s content.

There are other features of the Wii that I like too. There are news and weather feeds that we always look at after gaming. We also like the “Everyone Votes” channel. This is a plug-in in which you vote in little insignificant surveys that ask questions like “Are you ambidexerous?” or “When it comes to food what’s most important, taste or quantity?” You can also predict the result of everyone’s vote and then come back a few days later to see the results of the polls. As you participate, you start gathering statistics about your voting and how your opinion compares with everyone else. You can also see a breakdown of the results by gender and state (within the US). It’s interesting in that Web-2.0-participatory sort of way.

For those folks in San Diego looking for a Wii, good luck. I happened to stumble upon one at my local Target. Previous attempts to actively find a Wii had failed. You have to always be on the look out for one and you have to have your money ready when you stumble upon one. They still won’t reserve them — or so I was told.