Thanks to a friend of mine who happened to be in the right place at the right time (thanks Ice), we are now the proud owners of a Nintendo Wii (pronounced “we”). For those not in the know, gameplay on the Wii focuses around the console’s unique controller. Games are played by waving a handheld remote around in front of your television, pretty much ensuring that you’re going to look like an idiot while playing (which makes watching people play the Wii almost as much fun as playing the Wii itself). The console supports four controllers but only comes with one, which meant a trip to Wal-Mart shortly after the machine arrived. And while the Nintendo Wii is the cheapest of the “current gen” consoles, it’s still not cheap. The console itself runs $249 + tax (which is less than half the price of a PS3), with a second controller and a game adding another $100 to the total.

The game that comes with the Wii, Wii Sports, includes five “mini” sports games that show off the system and the controllers. Mason and I played Tennis for almost an hour last night. Mason had to be constantly reminded to “back away from the television screen” and “quit swinging the controller wildly near other people’s faces”. He holds his own, though — in our last game of the night, I squeaked out a victory of three games to two in a five game tennis set. In our head-to-head baseball game, I wasn’t quite so lucky — Mason won, with a score of 3-0.

And, if all this “remote swinging” sounds kind of dangerous, it can be. Check out Wii Have A Problem, where damage from Wii’s is recorded and can be sorted by people, televisions, lamps, ceiling fans, and more.