As you all know, the Wii has transcended its core fanbase and reached new players in a way never seen before. So big, in fact, that it has affected gaming in a way no one expected. The Wii has become for many more than just a neat console. It has become a way to bond with family, move around despite what health dictates and feel young.

My issue with this is... why do gamers get annoyed whenever something like this happens?

For years now, we have dealt with the generalization that games are nothing but murder simulators, making kids fat and lazy and just rotting society from the comfort of our homes.

But thanks to the DS and Wii and its line up of universal titles, games are seen as way of healing those who have movement issues, has given hope to people who feel they can't do much these days and are having fun in a way never thought of before.

Isn't it better to hear that senior citizens are enjoying the Wii with their grandkids than some nutjob preach that games are murder simulators?

Those mocking senior citizens...WE ARE ALL HEADING DOWN THAT PATH.

Being a senior citizen is not easy. Your health is constantly failing you, a clear indication that your body is about to expire and leave this Earth. It gets so bad that you lose your freedom. Even the easiest of tasks becomes a chore to do by yourself. Worst of all, people see this as an annoyance so they leave them to pretty much die alone in a nursing home.

Doesn't it warm your heart knowing that senior citizens are having fun with their Wiis? Doesn't it inspire that they are at least having fun despite their limited time on Earth? Don't you realize that you will also be a senior citizen and suffer the same problems as they, perhaps even worse?

So all of this "senior citizen playing Wii" bashing needs to stop. We may be young now, but sooner or later we will hit that age and it won't be pretty.

Then there's the time Miyamoto said he hoped Wii Music would inspire children to pick up an instrument and learn it. He got criticized so badly for it that it was as if he committed a gaming blasphemy. Why? What's wrong with a game developer trying to accomplish more with his games? What is wrong with a noble intention as the education of children?

I am a teacher and one thing I can tell you is that children love videogames. I know, shocking. BUT, we are taught to look at them and see how they affect their growth as human being. How this seemingly simple activity is affecting their minds, and how we can implement that into our classes. It makes learning modern and current for kids, rather than hearing the tiring "games are bad, mmmkay" speech kids receive from teachers nowadays.

The thing is that there aren't any games we can easily present in class and use it as an educational tool. So it does pleases me that something like Wii Music can be used in my class and not get flak for it because its safe enough to present to children.

One of my favorite videos is the one in which Miyamoto and crew bring Wii Music to a kindergarten class. I love the video because it warmed my heart seeing a gaming idol interacting in a area I work at (teaching). Its something you rarely see nowadays. Was it promotion? Of course it is. But at the very least its quite positive and its Miyamoto testing his concept on the young, which is the game's main audience.

Is Wii Music an effective teaching tool? Some say yes, some say no. Me? I believe that it all depends on the teacher. You could have the most comprehensive teaching tools in history and still be ineffective because the teacher didn't use it right. So Wii Music could either succeed or fail as a teaching tool because it all depends on the person using them.

So once again I ask you, why is this wrong and worth criticizing? When was the last time a game developer tried to use his talents to create a game that would have a deep social impact on someone? Has gaming become so cynical that we are forgetting that we are human beings living in a world filled with issues, emotions, thoughts and souls?

Finally, the Wii is bringing a lot of families together. People mock this a lot (this happens a lot on hardcore websites). Why? Are gamers hermits devoid of social interaction, save for the cursing of fellow players across XBOX Live?

I've played a lot of games in my lifetime and have a lot of gaming memories. But my fondest yet was when I first played Wii with my family.

My best friend came to visit from New Hampshire for the Holidays. He brought his Wii because I really wanted to play it. When we set it up on the living room my mom became highly interested. When she learned to play Wii Sports Bowling she was having a blast. She was happy. I was happy. She's had a rough life, especially that year due to my father surviving prostate cancer as well as a near divorce. So seeing her having a great time with a game I like is worth a million dollars.

OK, I am being corny here, but it just baffles how gamers can actually be offended by family bonding. I understand that in some cases gamers have been shunned by their families thanks to their gaming habits, or have issues (which family doesn't have them?). But even then, the cynical reaction this receives is unwarranted, and at times borders on cruelty.

So I ask you, how is ANY of this wrong or worth criticizing? Why is is bad that senior citizens are getting up and having fun with the Wii? What is wrong with a game developer trying to achieve a wonderful goal? Why is families bonding something that needs to be made fun of constantly?

I don't care if the Wii isn't the core's console of choice. But if the reason they hate the console is because of the above events I think it says a lot about them as human beings.

We're not offended by family bonding. What we're offended by is the idea that people think that game developers can use "family bonding" as an excuse for bad design and lack of effort.

Fair enough. But keep in mind, the most popular games are those that are highly polished and well made (like Wii Sports).

But I am not talking about game quality here. I am talking at how gamers are offended by the IDEA of games having a positive social impact.

I had fun playing Wii Music drunk last night. Me & my friend laughed it up making obscene-looking album covers. But I commented how offended some gamers would be at the Mii balls-for-hands. I think the Wii haters are all basicly technolophiles. I can understand why a programmer would feel that way perhaps, because that's how they make a living, but it's really reveals an anti-social outlook of the hard-core gamer.

They all seem to want to be holed up in their holo-deck of the future.

With you all the way pap64, it is marvellous.

Sure, there is a load of shovelware out there, but that's not all - and there are plenty of gems to find. Strangely enough, the most frowned-upon games (perhaps because they sell more) aren't shovelware at all. Or even 'casual' whatever that means. That is just selective blindness.

Old people, soccer moms and kids aren't dumb either - the good stuff will win out in the long term.

Just playing devil's advocate, it's not like it's all one side or the other. You can like teh concept but not like the execution of it. And even Wii sports has issues. I mean, sure it was meant to be simple, but would it have been that hard to provide an unlockable option that let you use the Nunchuck to move your Mii while playing Tennis, Boxing, and Baseball? or to provide an update that let you play online or something.

It's just generally that while games are indeed focusing on a different aspect of gaming, that doesn't mean they need to exclude an important aspect of gaming that already exists.

Welcome back to 1988. The scenery is a bit different now, of course, and the actual reasons for the shift are of course not identical, but the 20-year cycle of the industry has definitely come around again. If you think things are ridiculous now in 2008, you should see how PC gamers of 1988 were reacting to the NES, with exactly the same sorts of declarations but with far more vehemence. For those of us who grew up with the NES, however, that all fell on deaf ears since most of us were totally unaware of the "hardcore" PC gaming scene anyway.