My sides hurt. I mean, they really hurt!
Let me explain.
We went to "Christmas Breakfast" at my son's house this morning. "We" included my dad, my father- and mother-in-law.
We started out with a tour of the new nursery. A fiend of their's had painted the walls and we hadn't seen the finished product yet. Turned out very well!
Breakfast was excellent. The gift exchange was fun. But then we started talking about Drew's Wii. That's the Nintendo Game System with the controls you have to physically move to activate. My Dad, my father-in-law, and I had never actually seen the system demonstrated. So Drew starts by showing them some of the basic games...golf looked good, bowling was neat, and the baseball was great.
But the two Old Men related best to Ping Pong, Billiards, and Skeet Shooting. They wanted to play. So after Drew gave them a basic lesson, he strapped the controls to each of them and turned them loose on what was positively the Video Game Historic Event of the Year...my Dad and Father-in-Law waving their arms around trying to make the pool cue shoot straight, the bullets hit the targets, and the paddles hitting the balls.
Drew explains the control to Wayne.
Wayne practices his shots. He's getting the hang of it now!
Dad's turn for a lesson. Drew shows him the "wrist twist" maneuver.
After the quick lessons from Drew - the games began! Head-to-head competition!
Dad gets fancy and tries a double-handed control tactic. You can tell Wayne is thrown off his game by this sudden change in strategy.
Wayne doubles his concentration!
My Dad - who had never played a videogame in his life - immediately kicked my Father-in-law's butt in the skeet shooting contest. My father-in-law, who has shot guns and hunted all his life could not believe my Dad was beating him. My Dad explained non-nonchalantly that this was no different than his semi-annual eye exams. (??) Whatever...he was beating an experienced shooter with scores like 172 to 88, and 126 to 75. You Go, Dad!
My son and I were having a great time watching! I laughed so much my sides hurt. The OLD MEN played until they were too sore to continue. And by then it was time to go home. Hmmmph, just like kids, they got hooked and never even offered to share!
Neither of these - ahem, very senior citizens - had ever touched a videogame control unit before in their collective 173 years of life.
How do I describe two otherwise reserved and well-behaved men swinging a remote control around while shouting, "Stop shooting the men - aim for the spacehips!" ?
"Ooooh Ooooh I hit the can, I hit the can..."
"Gently, gently...pull the cue back and then SHOVE it forward fast!"
"No no no...watch me..."
"Wait, you have to aim at your own [billiard] balls!"
And if you think I'm exaggerating...just look at this last picture...that look on my Dad's face is pure Farr-focused-concentration. I think he's about to kill the Zoid Master and Win the Hand of the Fair Maiden of Geldendorf!
That's my Dad! Man of many many talents. The more he hangs around, the more he impresses me!
VIDEO GAME MASTER - WHO KNEW??????
Wii Wanna Play, Too! is an excellent story, with very expressive photographic illustrations. I love it. Your blog represents an excellent slice of life Greg, and your whole family is so creative. Happy New Year!
Posted by: neochonetes | January 02, 2008 at 12:45 PM
Neochonetes is also n2teaching;D
Posted by: neochonetes | January 02, 2008 at 12:47 PM