Nintendo's Wii a hit with the geriatric set?

No, we don't expect the vast majority of elderly folks kickin' it in a retirement home to honestly show any interest in video games (right?), but apparently, the Wii's at least making some minor strides in getting the geriatric set up and active with virtual sports. While we assume those suffering from lingering hip injuries are apt to join the (admittedly quiet) cheerleading section, a group of athletic 70-somethings from Sedgebrook retirement community are "hooked on Wii Sports," with bowling being the unanimous favorite. The response has been so positive that the locale is actually cranking up a 20-person tournament for an undisclosed reward, and while the residents have often commented about how "realistic" the Wiimote was in tossing the ball, the community actually has a fan for folks to dry their hands off before rolling a strike -- which is probably a smart move considering the potentially fatal injuries that could occur from slippage. Still, an isolated incident of fun-lovin' grandparents getting their game on isn't apt to convince us that the next big gaming market is in retirees, and honestly, how many elderly folks rushed out to snag a Wii for the grandchild, and ended up keeping it for themselves?

[Via DailyTech, thanks Randall B]

[LukeA @ Feb 23rd 2007 8:45PM]

These people are at least likely to not throw the controllers.

[tchiseen @ Feb 23rd 2007 8:47PM]

how cool. how many 70 y.o.'s have ps3s or x360s? :P they dont give a shittle about graphics, i promise.

[Jamie @ Feb 24th 2007 7:46AM]

And you get mad when I say the wii is for old folks. It is a fun break (love the golf) from my Ps3 and 360 gameplay but as my primary console... nah, not that old yet. My fam loves it though.

[midnightblade @ Feb 23rd 2007 8:52PM]

Whoa. I use to work there as a waiter in the restuarant. Haha I can actually recognize some of the residents.

[Mel Marcelo @ Feb 23rd 2007 8:53PM]

My parent's birthday is coming up...they were born 2 days appart. I lost track of their ages--somewhere around 66.

My siblings and I are getting them a Wii. Everytime I stop over to their house for free dinners, they request that I bring along my Wii. My worst situation: I did this on a Saturday night and they played until 11PM--I had friends waiting at a club for me! When they take care of their grandkids, guess who hogs the Wii for Bowling?

[steve @ Feb 23rd 2007 9:02PM]

wow the wii really is an everybody console

[required @ Feb 23rd 2007 9:05PM]

engadget your site for joystiq (aka nintendo pr) reruns

[hoohoo @ Feb 23rd 2007 10:02PM]

all fun and games until somebody breaks a hip.

[Jim @ Feb 23rd 2007 10:02PM]

It looks to me like it's 2 Janitors taking the Wii away from the poor elderly folks in the background. No Dice!!

[tiuk @ Feb 23rd 2007 10:21PM]

The day after I got my Wii my shoulder and elbow were killing me. I admit that I'm horribly out of shape, but I could honestly see an elderly person injuring themselves.

[LiQuiD_FuSioN @ Feb 23rd 2007 11:35PM]

I really have to say that the Nintendo Wii has impressed me a lot lately.

I actually bought Super Mario Bros, Kirby's Adventure both for NES and then I got Super Mario 64. I just have to run out and get some more points now! Also, the Wii channels are really innovative. The ability to look at news headlines and check up on my local weather is simply amazing. Good job, Nintendo!

[mkivgli @ Feb 24th 2007 12:18AM]

Wow. Weird. This is the company I work for. It is a scary day when the tech blog I read posts about a retirement community I support. I need a beer.

[John Doe @ Feb 24th 2007 12:49AM]

Shit. Just another group of people I have to get in line with to get a Wii. Thankfully I can run faster then them. :-P

[jindigar @ Feb 24th 2007 1:33AM]

My friend's grandmother (71 yrs. young) is addicted to bowling, and the worst part is she's great at it! She constantly beats the entire household and the next day is ready for more. I think it's great to have a game that the whole family can play together.

[Wun Chiou @ Feb 24th 2007 9:30AM]

The previous issue of EGM had a long article on this, where they actually had some elderly folks play various Wii games, observed, and got their opinions. Excite Truck was actually a big hit, too, for the folks who can no longer drive.

[am @ Feb 24th 2007 10:40AM]

This is really nice to see.

[Matt @ Feb 24th 2007 1:35PM]

It makes for a nice story, but none of these people would ever buy any games if they had a Wii. It would simply be a Wii Sports console unless a younger relative kept pushing more games on them.

[JET @ Feb 24th 2007 9:35PM]

Amazingly, it was grandparents who originally got me into gaming. My grandfather had an orginal Pong set way back in the day, followed by an Atari 2600 and later a Commodore 128. His favorite games were Space Shuttle (for Atari), Flight Simulator (C64), and Leaderboard Golf (C64).

But amazingly, my grandmother played Atari more than he did. She loved Pitfall, even though she never could get the hang of moving the joysick diagonally to climb down the ladders. She also loved Tennis, Ms. Pac Man, and Q-Bert.

I got misty-eyed thinking of them when I played Wii for the first time. They would have loved Wii Sports (and, I'd expect, Tiger Woods).

I wonder if gaming is heredetary?

JET

[Triggerhappy @ Mar 10th 2007 9:50AM]

I keep hearing about this...leave it to engadget to have covered this like two weeks ago.

But my question is "Why are people so amazed that because someone is 'old' they're not going to get into video games?" The problem isn't age, it's the fact that for so long video game designers just kept building overly complicated systems with no intuitive elements or game play whatsoever. This is why Nintendo will in the end beat out and is currently beating out the other systems. I can find Xbox 360 and PS3 everywhere but still can't score a Nintendo Wii of my own.

Good design and interfacing my friends will rule the school no matter what grade level were talking about.

I'm excited to see that someone figured out that to make video games more "real" you don't need insane graphics, you need insanely real game play. This is only the beginning of what's to come. Congrats Nintendo on understanding the future and congrats to these people in Chicago at the Sedgebrook retirement community. You are both knocking down ridiculous boundaries.

I found a link through USA Today's blog post about this to a video that was made of these people playing.

Check it:
http://www.erickson.com/ericksonvideogallery/evlPlayerver5.asp?videoname=sportsActivitiesStreaming&var2=7

It loads for second before starting.

[chrisp @ Apr 24th 2007 4:54PM]

http://www.statenews.com/article.phtml?pk=40902

DA Coolest 92 year old wiimote toting pimp you'll EVER see :)

UBER LOL!!!!!!!!!!!11