Tech Talk: Wii Games Roundup

Welcome to Jess T.’s Tech Tuesday, where all your geek are belong to us!

Lately, my family has been putting some serious miles on our Wii. Honestly, there was a time when we would actually forget we had one unless we were watching Netflix movies. We don’t have a huuuuge library of games and we were feeling burned out on the usual lineup.

So I decided to embark on a perilous journey to uncover new and fun games for the Wii, for both kids and adults! Luckily for you, I’m going to share my findings so you don’t have to do any of the legwork . Ready? Here it is…

Jess T.’s Wii Games Roundup

First on the list is Just Dance Summer Party, the newest addition to the Just Dance family. Spanning the 80’s, 90’s and 2000’s, this version offers up 23 songs in the format we already know and love. Pop it in, turn it on and get dancing! The girls LOVE that it’s got “Firework” by Katy Perry and the laughter starts during Carl Douglas’s “Kung Fu Fighting” remix. Now don’t expect the little ones to be any good at this game… they will fail entirely. But they won’t even notice! Little Olivia has such a blast flailing around to the music, that she doesn’t pay attention to her score. Plus, it can double as a quick workout for you, if you really put some oomph into your moves.

Next up is WiiPlay Motion – this comes bundled with a Wii remote Plus, which has the enhanced motion sensor already inside it. You can pick this up on Amazon for about $48 so its a great value, since that’s basically the cost of a new remote anyway. It has 12 games on it (similar to the way Wii Sports and Wii Sports Resort were set up). Including four of our favorites:

• Grappling Ghosts – Catch ghosts that fly out of from your television and surround your body. First, you’ll search for a ghost with the Wii Remote Plus controller, which beeps faster as you bring it near the “invisible” ghost. Then you’ll hook it with the controller, wrestle it back into your TV, then stuff it into a cage.
• Veggie Guardin’ – Smack garden pests on the head or bat them far away – twisting, turning, and swinging your Wii Remote Plus controller as you defend your vegetables.
• Cone Zone – Hold the Wii Remote Plus controller like an ice cream cone, then try to keep it in balance as more and more ice cream is piled on.
• Jump Park – Jump around a huge trampoline park by tilting the Wii Remote Plus controller at the exact angle you want to bounce next. You’ll gather all the gems you can to earn a high score.

Oh heeeeey, its a game for the puzzle-lovers: Mystery Case Files: The Malgrave Incident! A new addition to the popular series, The Malgrave Incident is a must-have for adults and older kids (reading is required) who love hidden-pictures and solving mysteries! A bit slow paced for my taste, my oldest daughter loved shouting out when she saw the hidden compass or the pea pod. My husband even got in on the action, suggesting I use the rope to repel down the cliff, instead of repeatedly throwing it at a tree while mumbling obscenities. Play alone or use multi-player mode to solve the crime as a team!

If your Wii Fit has been collecting dust, but you’d still like to use your system to put some G in your GTL, check out ExerBeat. On Amazon for under $20, you can’t go wrong with this workout game. Everything from Hip Hop and Latin dance, Yoga, Aerobics and “Boxercising” (which shockingly has nothing to do with underpants) are here, ready to get you and your family in shape… or at the very least, sweating and jumping around clumsily. The personal trainer feature is neat, allowing for you to customize workout suggestions based on what you feel you need to improve. Also fun is the Party Fitness exercises, which are a little less structured and great for wee ones.

Have you snagged any cool Wii games lately? Do you have an all-time favorite that we should try out? Let us know!

I’ll see you next week on another installment of…

TECH TUESDAY!

*Thanks to Nintendo for providing some Wii games to test out – but all opinions are my own!*