To follow up on my post about the Wii’s prediction, many people have asked me why I think it’ll dominate? Well, besides the great name, amazing content, lower price, and loyal brand, the Wii is incredible because it keeps an element in real life sports that no other gaming device has kept. That element is “mystery”.

In real life sports, no one quite understands how they did something, hit something, or rolled that bowling ball in that exact way. Everyone has an individual technique that is hard to explain yet they know it. Most sports games in this digital age are metered based on ones ability to hit a button at a precise calculated time for the best score. In life, you learn by trial and error for what works. In most digital games, you know what works best based on a meter. I’m not saying the Wii is not driven by calculation, but it keeps it a mystery since the controller has direct movements that are hard to replicate. When I played the Wii, every action by my friends were followed up with, “what did you do, how did you do it, show me what you did, etc”. I’d only follow up with, “I think I did this, I twisted after pressing, I was a little lower, or I snapped my wrist”.

Life is a mystery, sports are a mystery in technique, and the Wii has brought that magic back into our sports gaming life with a bit more exercise. Sometimes knowing all takes away all.