(Fail) No Wii For The Kids: Hidden Costs Compel Console Return

[ameratsu]

If you read his actual column, he didn't return it just because he needed to buy extra games and accessories. Part of his reasoning for returning it was that him and his wife couldn't determine some sort of system for rationing play time. They are both notably resistant to giving their kids access to their home computer (each gets 30 minutes of "screen time" per week) so I can see their apprehension in this regard. As he noted, their kids can play games on the internet for free, so he and his wife seemed to prefer that on their established model to introducing a game system and the ensuing desires of the kids to play it all the time. He did specify that he intends to buy one again sometime in the future.

For someone who isn't tech inclined, I can definitely see where he's coming from. However, advertisements of all kinds are misleading in product representation and even cursory research on his part would have revealed that you need extra things when purchasing a game system.