Christian Science Monitor: To Nintendo's surprise, Wii is hot with seniors
Retirement communities around the US are adding the video game to their rec rooms.
Birmingham, Ala. - Six seniors at the Sedgebrook retirement community gathered in the lounge after dinner as the holiday season was getting under way last year. The residents at the center, about 20 miles north of Chicago, were an unlikely test audience for the season's hottest toys. The plan: determine which toys to give the grandchildren for the holidays. The assumption was that they'd give their grandchildren the toys they approved.
But it didn't quite turn out that way.
The Nintendo Wii was so popular that the residents clamored for their own. Today, all of the Erickson chain retirement communities in the US own at least one Wii.
Other retirement communities and municipal senior centers in recent months have followed, many using wellness grants and public funds to pay for the video-game system. Nintendo scrambled to tap this demographic.
Proponents say the Wii offers a welcome reprieve from a sedentary lifestyle, and boosts hand-eye coordination among the over-60 set in a way that Bingo and Mahjong can't.
However, some find that when it comes to the Wii, which retails for about $250, money is less a problem than getting comfortable with the game. Many retirement communities that purchased the games are encouraging hesitant seniors with tournaments, trophies, and cash prizes. Some centers are placing their Wiis in high-traffic areas where seniors congregate, or for the bashful, behind a moveable privacy screen. ...
Also, concerning the computer gaming industry, Pong turns 35 today.
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