My First Wii Challenge - feedback thread (open to non testers too - you could win 2 Wii games)

[AnnMumsnet]

This is the feedback thread for the MNers taking part in the "My First Wii Challenge" with Nintendo and Mumsnet. You may recall we asked for willing volunteers to try a Wii for 4 weeks and to add their feedback to a thread on Mumsnet. They've been adding lots of feedback already but this is now the 'official' feedback thread.

The families have been playing the following games: uDraw GameTablet with uDraw Studio, Pictionary and Spongbob, Mario Kart, and Kirby's Epic Yarn. They have also just got Wii Play Motion and Just Dance Jnrs.

We have some challenges and feedback questions for you - do let us know how you got on with set up of the Wii and also try the challenges and see what you think and let us know. Do state the ages and genders of your LO's when posting your reply.

General - please let us know how you got on with the following:

1. Getting the Wii set up for the first time

1. Connecting the Wii to the Internet (using wifi, if you could)

1. Creating a Wii Mii for each family member

1. Setting up iPlayer (if on wifi)

1. Adding additional Wii Remotes

Kirby's Epic Yarn - Challenges - let us know your overall views on the game as well as trying these challenges:

~ Create a beautifully furnished room as a family, using the soft furnishings picked up throughout the game

~ Mum and Dad (or another adult) play together (as Kirby and Prince Fluff) followed by the children - the pair with the best score wins

Just Dance Jnrs - Challenges - let us know your overall views on the game as well as trying these challenges:

~ Each family member to assign a dance to another member of the family. The family must then hold a dance off. The family member with the highest score wins

~ Family forms two teams of two. Each team must perform a perfectly synchronised routine and the other team must score them secretly. After each team has performed their routine the scores can be opened. Each family should decide on some things to award extra points for, such as enthusiasm, the best faces pulled while dancing etc.

~ Each family member teaches a routine to a non-family member. Points don?t matter here - it's the taking part that counts!

Mario Kart - Challenges - let us know your overall views on the game as well as trying these challenges:

~ An adult (eg Dad, Grandma) and and child race 3 times and record the best of 3

~ Race a match blindfold: families divide into pairs, and one must race blindfold while the other directs them

Wii Play Motion - Challenges - let us know your overall views on the game as well as trying these challenges:

~ Crown each member of the family king or queen of one mini game. The challenge is to find one game that each family member excels at

~ One sibling teaches the other how to play a new mini-game (if possible)

uDraw - Challenges - let us know your overall views on the game as well as trying these challenges:

~ Create a drawing of a designated family member in under one minute

~ Create a drawing made entirely from the stamps provided in uDraw Studio

~ Play Pictionary in teams - adults vs children, mixed teams..who wins?

~ Create teams and each team creates a Dood - the team whose Dood gets the highest score wins

If you already have a Wii, please do let Nintendo know what you think of these games and of your use as a family of the Wii - add your views here or try some of the challenges and you'll be entered into a prize draw where one lucky winner will receive two Wii games!

Thanks and good luck

MNHQ

Sorry Sams - I let Nintendo know and will get back to you when I have a delivery date for you

General - please let us know how you got on with the following:

1. Getting the Wii set up for the first time
Straighforward (dusting in behind the TV took more time than plugging it all in!)

2. Connecting the Wii to the Internet (using wifi, if you could)
Again, straightforward

3. Creating a Wii Mii for each family member
DDs enjoyed this, we now have a range for all occasions

4. Setting up iPlayer (if on wifi)
Did this, but tbh won?t use it

5. Adding additional Wii Remotes
DD2 is the only one who can manage this, especially since they disconnect each time we switch the Wii off, which is very annoying. But she?s stuck on the sofa at the moment (health issues) so is always around to push the buttons in the right order for the rest of us.

Kirby's Epic Yarn - Challenges - let us know your overall views on the game as well as trying these challenges:

Surprisingly, this game was a hot with DD2 ? she thought it was going ot be far too babyish, but was impressed at the levels of complexity. Not something she?d have picked up off the shelf in a shop, nor chosen to buy, but if she?d played it at a friends, she might have done. The packaging is deceptive.

Create a beautifully furnished room as a family, using the soft furnishings picked up throughout the game
Much squabbling as to what stuff we needed, and where it was to go, but it?s improved everyone?s negotiation skills

Mum and Dad (or another adult) play together (as Kirby and Prince Fluff) followed by the children - the pair with the best score wins
DDs were much better than DH and I

Just Dance Jnrs - Challenges - let us know your overall views on the game as well as trying these challenges:

We?re not the target age group for this, so it was not very popular here. Am being nagged to buy Just Dance 2 which they?ve all played elsewhere.

Each family member to assign a dance to another member of the family. The family must then hold a dance off. The family member with the highest score wins
The DDs are all talented dancers, but the age differences meant that DD1 (17) who works at her dance school was a LOT better than DD3 (9).Everyone was better than DH though, who is a consummate ?dad dancer?

Family forms two teams of two. Each team must perform a perfectly synchronised routine and the other team must score them secretly. After each team has performed their routine the scores can be opened. Each family should decide on some things to award extra points for, such as enthusiasm, the best faces pulled while dancing etc.
Kind of pointless challenge tbh

Each family member teaches a routine to a non-family member. Points don?t matter here - it's the taking part that counts!
Hard to teach a dance routine when the game teaches it to you. Our non-family visitors weren?t interested.

Mario Kart - Challenges - let us know your overall views on the game as well as trying these challenges:

Favourite game at the moment. DD3 struggles with staying on the track, but after experimenting with the different cars, we?ve managed to find her a combination which means she will play with us and not strop off in tears.

An adult (eg Dad, Grandma) and and child race 3 times and record the best of 3
We do this in varying combinations, but I?m guaranteed to lose against everyone.

Race a match blindfold: families divide into pairs, and one must race blindfold while the other directs them
Tried this but it seemed a bit pointless, as it?s hard enough working out which way to go on some tracks even being able to see.

Had a roomful of 13 year old girls having a fantastic time racing each other all yesterday afternoon.

Wii Play Motion - Challenges - let us know your overall views on the game as well as trying these challenges:
Some very strange games, but DD3 loves them.

Crown each member of the family king or queen of one mini game. The challenge is to find one game that each family member excels at

One sibling teaches the other how to play a new mini-game (if possible)
DD3 has been teaching everyone how to do everything here, as she is the Queen of it all.

uDraw - Challenges - let us know your overall views on the game as well as trying these challenges:

Right, where do I start. It?s really hard for left handers as the controller is on the left. I expect something like this to scroll (as pretty much everything does nowadays) and this didn?t which was irritating. It seems unnecessarily difficult to change colours/pens. The pen doesn?t work if you hold it like a pen, and needs to be held upright. The DDs much prefer using paint on the PC. Not something I would spend money on, sorry.

Create a drawing of a designated family member in under one minute
Hard, as the pen is difficult to control accurately.

Create a drawing made entirely from the stamps provided in uDraw Studio
We?re all a bit old for this really, amused DD2 for a few minutes, DD3 slightly longer

Play Pictionary in teams - adults vs children, mixed teams..who wins?
Pictionary IS fun though, and DD3 is delighted that she is the best guesser.

Create teams and each team creates a Dood - the team whose Dood gets the highest score wins
The onscreen instructions are in a very difficult to read font. Game was OK, but we really don?t like the uDraw tablet.

Sams - your game is on it's way - should be with you early next week at the latest

lovely. Ta

hi, we are back from 12 days camping in the Scillies, a long way from technology, and have done some more of the challenges.

Here are the comments, it's mostly dd1 (11), dd2 (9) and DP (Dad, 43) who have been playing. dd3 (7) does play a bit but the older two are more enthusiastic. Or maybe they just hog the controllers.

Feedback on some of the challenges we didn't have time to do before we went away:

~Kirbys epic yarn: Create a beautifully furnished room as a family, using the soft furnishings picked up throughout the game

dd1 (11) and dd2 (9) liked this.

9yo says ?I like furnishing a room, though the room is a bit small, you can't fit enough stuff in. I have lots of motifs. Then you can play in the room? (and then she put her sister on her head again in the room).

11yo says ?I like it but it does get a bit boring?.

Dad not into that game.

Me (Mum) likes it, I like all the Kirby games, it's my favourite Wii game of all the ones we have. Nice and soothing.

~Kirbys epic yarn: ~ Mum and Dad (or another adult) play together (as Kirby and Prince Fluff) followed by the children - the pair with the best score wins

The girls won, they have been playing this game a lot. But we all like this.

Just Dance Jnrs - Challenges - let us know your overall views on the game as well as trying these challenges:

Overall. Dad says ?Very limited scope to this game. Lots of dances are not very different from each other. I scored almost as high as the kids with one hand in my pocket, just by waving the controller in time. Doesn't seem to have much skill to it.?

I (mum) say: ?As a household we probably have played and like Just Dance less than the other games but none of us are that into dancing. It's OK. ?

~ Each family member to assign a dance to another member of the family. The family must then hold a dance off. The family member with the highest score wins

Ok if you get in the mood. Takes us a bit of effort to do that.

~ Family forms two teams of two. Each team must perform a perfectly synchronised routine and the other team must score them secretly. After each team has performed their routine the scores can be opened. Each family should decide on some things to award extra points for, such as enthusiasm, the best faces pulled while dancing etc.

dd1 (11) says ?It's fun, watching other people do maniacal dances and fun watching other people?.

Dd2 (9) is more self-conscious and says ?It made me feel ridiculous, I didn't really like it?.

~ Each family member teaches a routine to a non-family member. Points don?t matter here - it's the taking part that counts!

Again, we find it hard to get into. We'd rather play Pictionary. I think that's just us. All three dds (and the adults too) prefer drawing to dancing. dds also prefer to do swordfighting etc on Wii sport than dancing.

Udraw~ Create teams and each team creates a Dood - the team whose Dood gets the highest score wins

We have been trying this game for the first time this evening. They liked creating the Doods, they always like that sort of thing. But are struggling so far with the game itself.

DP says sniffily ?Creating the dood is quite fun but then it's just another bog-standard Platform game?.
Dd2 (9) says ?It's impossible!?
DD1 (11) says ?she won't let me have a go?. But they could just be getting tired.

Overall as a household I'd say we like Wii sport a lot, we also like Kirby, and some of the Udraw games, especially Pictionary. We could live without Just Dance. DP likes Mariokart, but he used to play racing games in his teen years and he's interested in the graphics. The girls quite like it but comment that everyone they know with a Wii has Mariokart so it's not very exciting, the other games are newer, so visiting children are more interested in them etc.

Wii Play Motion - Challenges - LOVE this . Some great fun , addictive games. My perdonal favorits is the stone skimming. DP soends hours on this. ALso the ggames are short enough for us all (even dd2 (3) to have a go.

~ Crown each member of the family king or queen of one mini game.
I am the stone skimming queen , DP really can't get it and he gets so cross hee hee. DP, to be fair is king of most of the other games, butexcels at the shooting one. DD1 can balance ice cream longer than anyone else. I find it hilarious when they all topple . DD2 is a bit young to be the best at any, but she is the best at looking cute swinging the wii remote around x

~ One sibling teaches the other how to play a new mini-game
DD1 (7) helped dd2 (3) to skim the stones, she showed her how to hold the remote etc.. A rare moment of real joint activity .

uDraw - Challenges - NIce concept, but the tablet isn't brilliant. The pen isn's positioned well for left handers. The buton positioned on the pen keeps being pressed by accident (wouldn't a manu key on the board have been better?) . MY children are arty so liked it, but the origional game it comes with is very limited. She prefers to create pictures on the laprop to be honest, easier and more effective.

~ Create a drawing of a designated family member in under one minute
not possible to create anything of any quality in a minute. Changing colour, pen etc too tiresome. And dd's keep catching the menu button which is annoying. We all had a go though.

~ Create a drawing made entirely from the stamps .
DD1 enjoyed doing this actually. She made a good jb of it too.

~ Play Pictionary in teams -. This game i like, it is great fun and a real family game. Some of the clues were ? for the children. Also some are a bit american. Otherwise loved it. We will definately play again. PS We let the kids win lol

~ Create teams and each team creates a Dood - Not yet had a go at this one. Will try to do it this week .

Kirby's Epic Yarn with DS1 (just 5) and DS2 (just 3)

Create a beautifully furnished room as a family, using the soft furnishings picked up throughout the game

DS1 enjoyed this, though we all prefer just picking it up at the furniture shop We don't seem to be very good at collection treasures.

Mum and Dad (or another adult) play together (as Kirby and Prince Fluff) followed by the children - the pair with the best score wins

My DC need a lot of support with the game. DS1 does pretty well by himself but still needs a hand on the difficult bits, and DS2 just does not get it, so although we tried to do this challenge, in effect I did at lot of the work and the adults would have won easily if I hadn't deliberatly engineered a lower score for us.

General

This is the most popular game with DS1. He begs for it all the time. He finds some aspects of it a bit tricky but is getting better every time and I just help him when necessary. We love playing together, and it is brilliant that a better player can basically carry a less good partner. It makes it a lot less frustrating and I like the team playing aspect. I like the fact that no one dies and you don't have to keep starting again. It doesn't feel like a violent game, which I like, though DH is a bit worried that it is a training game for the violent type ones (he is quite anti computer games really). Whereas I have become quite addicted to it and have completed 40% so far even if with probably the lowest score ever.

Criticisms are that it is quite slow to load in places and there is a fair amount of waiting. The concept of the game is totally bizarre and it took me a while to get into it (DS1 was fine from the start and I suppose it is aimed more at him than me!). The controls are too hard for DS2 but he likes it anyway, though he can't actually do anything. In fact he will happily 'play' with a control that isn't even switched on, if DS1 is playing. Otherwise, I think this is a fantastic game and my favourite.

Kirby's Epic Yarn - Challenges - let us know your overall views on the game as well as trying these challenges:

~ Create a beautifully furnished room as a family, using the soft furnishings picked up throughout the game

The dds (6 and 9) really love this game. They like exploring all the new worlds and the challenges in between them. I thought it was interesting visually and I like the fact that the music changes and you can unlock new music. The 6yo got a bit frustrated with it initially but seems to have picked it up really well.

This is not DH's sort of game at all! He prefers MarioKart. We did have a go at furnishing a room with some success - although as other testers have said, there is limited space in the room to decorate. We liked the fact that you can change the upholstery and the colour of the walls and flooring.

It does take quite a long time to pick up all the soft furnishings as you only get one or two bits per level.

More later - we are off on hols now

Sorry I haven't been up to speed with this. DD's been away etc, so we've had no kids around.

Challenges:

Kirby: I'm afraid we haven't been able to do this. No one likes the game in its early stages sufficiently to want to carry on with it far enough to actually do this. When I have some time off from studying I will (sigh) try to get this done. I'm the only one who would even pick up the disk, though, so bear that in mind.

Mario Kart: much better! Even dh will play this (occasionally!). We've done the first challenge - child vs adult - many many times. It's great fun

Racing blindfold was, um, interesting. I was blindfolded and dd directed me. We were useless! I kept not following her directions (apparently!) and going over the edge and having to be picked up by the picker-upper thing. We tried it the other way around too, with dd blindfolded. (Apparently) I was as useless at giving directions as I was at following them. Of course, dd was perfect in both guises . It was very silly and very enjoyable. We might do it again just because we can.

uDraw: Draw a family member in under a minute. Yes, done, and?

Draw something from just the stamps. Yes, done, and?

Pictionary: I've reviewed that earlier. We are now a bit stymied as we are (probably) going away next week and meanwhile, most people we know are away this week. Can't do any more challenges until people are back from holidays etc.

Dood: another of those games on a platform I hate. This one's a bit better than Kirby though. We haven't created Doods yet. Using hte stylus is OK, but in a way I'd prefer to use the remote; it's easier to translate what you're doing between the screen and the device.

Just Dance: Did I mention we're not sporty? We're not dancey either. Even dd isn't - she's the one who spends her time at the school disco talking..... The songs are all dire. I'm not sure there's even one I would want to hear again if I didn't have to. DD loathes them all. DH shut himself in his studio and played very loud guitar when we had this on.

Anyway, dd and I tried the first challenge. We chose songs we didn't know as we knew we didn't like the ones we did know, iyswim. Turns out wee didn't like the songs we didn't know either ; they're either too poppy or too childish - dd is a Bob Dylan girl. We didn't enjoy it, sorry. It is unlikely this disk will ever come out of its box again.

I do have dancer (professional) friends so will ask them if htey'd like to 'play' when they're next over. They're on hol atm. Lucky blighters!

Can I just ask how many controllers people ended up with? We have 3 - black, red, pink. Is that it or should there be a 4th? (we were hoping for a 4th, as they said "controllers for all the family")

Fennel e got the same as you controller ise but we are still missing just Dance, did that come ith a controller?

IWish you need to push the up button on the directions buttons on the left hand side when your in manual mode, It only happens to us hen DD2 set's us all up!!

We have 3, black, red, blue.

Thanks, 3 is fine, I just wasn't sure if more were coming. We have Just Dance, but I wasn't there when the parcesl came so I don't know if it came with a controller.

A round up of the U-draw games (tester DD nearly 3 & 5):

Overall: we've given it a good few tries, but I have actually packed it away now as the frustrations outweigh the fun bits. The DDs are just too young to be really savvy with it - and DD1 firmly prefers pen and paper (and I admit, so do I - I like sticking her drawings on the fridge & it bugs me a bit to have to switch both TV and Wii on to see her artwork)

Create a drawing of a designated family member in under one minute This has yielded discussion on what a minute actually is & a variety of unrecognisable scribbles. The pen is awkward to control & just doesn't work smoothly

Create a drawing made entirely from the stamps provided in uDraw Studio stamping is a minor succes, but it's more the process that amuses than any end results

Play Pictionary in teams - adults vs children, mixed teams..who wins? With the kids, not a chance; the adult version is kind of fun - but not something I would return to quickly

Create teams and each team creates a Dood - the team whose Dood gets the highest score wins Most fun was had creating the Dood, which took a long time; game was OK. Overall I am not that keen on the pure gaming games (I was expecting lots of activity) so I've not encouraged playing this again

Kirby's Epic Yarn This was a big hit with all DCs (4, 7 and 9). They played well together, mostly.There were a few raised voices.
They furnished a room and DD(7) was quite taken with this. THe DCs played for hours on this so were understandably much better at it than DH and I , who frankly found it a bit pointless. One for the kids.

Just Dance Jnrs This was worth it just to see DS(4) dancing and waving the contoller around with his tongue stuck out in concentration. He bored of it quite quickly though when he discovered he could score just as well by sitting on the sofa and waggling the controller.
DD(7) was the queen of this but then she loves music and dancing wheras the rest of us have slightly better taste in music. DH could not be persuaded, even when plied with beer, to dance with me and the DCs in a 'dance off' . Sorry, I did try.

Each family member teaches a routine to a non-family member. Points don?t matter here - it's the taking part that counts! We don't have that many non-family members to visit, but I will ask the milkman if he wants to do the Macarena with me next time I'm up at 4.30 am.

Mario Kart A big hit with all, including DH. Dh and DD(7) are probably the best at this and will play against each other for ages.
The blindfold challenge was attempted but quickly abandoned due to tears. I seem to have a directionally challenged family.

Wii Play Motion We were surprised how good this was as the box gives little indication of what it entails. The stone skimming was popular with all, as was the mole whacking game. The Dcs are hilarious to watch playing the ghosthunting game as they take it so seriously. Also, the umbrella long jump was popular. DD was keen to teach her little brother all the games so she could then beat him at them. A good all rounder and the games were quick and easy to learn, if not to master.

uDraw This was initially hard to figure out and DH was convinced it was broken. Having to remove the control from the tablet to select language etc. was troublesome. However, when we finally worked out where we went wrong it was ok.

An instruction booklet would be helpful though as onscreen tutorials aren't much use with a frustrated child who won't relinquish the controller but still demands to know how it works.

So, after these initial problems it was a hit, mostly with DD(7), though eventually with the others too. All of them learnt how to navigate the colour palettes etc. by trial and error. I don't think any of them bothered with the tutorials. The replay feature was a nice addition.

The only family member who was recognisable in any drawing done in under a minute was Dh. But he is easy to draw as he is bald with a beard.

Hi Helen, No Just dance received this eekend so I am going to have to send the camera back without a filmed review. Can someone let me know the address to send it back to & I need an envelope too?

Thanks Bohica! It definitely is only happening when ds1 sets it up himself!!