I didn't play videogames very much (usually 5-6 hours a month) from the later PSX/N64 era all the way until about the release of the DS Lite and Wii. The only games I got very much into during that 5 or 6 year timeframe were Skies of Arcadia and Grand Theft Auto Vice City. I think what got me interested in gaming again was picking up Final Fantasy 8 and finding the game to be a LOT more enjoyable than I remembered it being (and I liked it before, it was my 3rd favourite FF, but has been my first favourite since that replay), then going onto Xenogears right after, and then discovering Phoenix Wright and Wii Sports.
I think a major thing about the Wii was the social aspect of the games, online games, while playing with hundreds of online players, just didn't feel very 'social' whereas passing a Wii remote around with Warioware or Wii Sports, and especially Just Dance games, have been very social experiences. At the time, being in my late teen years to my mid twenties, I was more interested in social things rather than gaming, and the Wii is the first (and still the only) console that really effectively mixes those two. The games like Just Dance, nowadays, take the social aspect of gaming SO much further than Street Fighter, Mario Kart, DDR, or Rockband ever did.... Most of those games were only played by gamers and people who didn't have anything better to do - but Wii games are played at actual cool parties; particularly Just Dance.
I describe myself as a little dose of toxic masculinity.
