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

Kirby - too difficult for DS2 (5yo), he seemed to get frustrated. I thought it was okay, but DH wasn't horribly keen. (Perhaps a male thing? You could see his eyes glaze over the minute the words "furnish a room" came out... ) DD is back from holiday tonight and hopefully this week we can sit down and play it, and see how it goes then.

Pictionary - DS2 is only interested in drawing what HE wants to draw regardless, and it's often completely unrecognisable anyway. So we'll have to do a pictionary evening with us older peeps and kids. Again, we've been waiting for DD to return from holiday for that.

MarioKart is still one of the firm favourites - DS2 is quite happy to drive all over the place, not bothered at all by the outcome (which is good as he spends more time OFF the track than on!) The rest of us do varying races and get quite competitive. This is definitely one of those games that's fun on your own, but more fun with competition!

The racing blindfolded was a horrible horrible mistake. DS2 spent more time saying "oh look at the flower! Is that a cow? Mummy where's Mario?" than directing us anywhere, and he has some sensory and comprehension problems so therefore cannot be blindfolded and expected to drive. (he got very upset at the thought of putting on the blindfold) And DH for some reason can't remember left from right, which makes it impossible for him to give or follow directions (but then, we all know about men and directions, right? ). DD shrieks and starts laughing, so useless at giving directions (and not so great at listening to them either!), thus reinforcing why we never ever let her drive our car. I think this particular one pointed out why I am the driver in our family.

Kirby's Epic Yarn - Challenges - let us know your overall views on the game DD really enjoyed this (though to be fair she does say every game is her favourite ). Think it might have been a bit difficult for younger children (DD is 8) though.

~ Create a beautifully furnished room as a family, using the soft furnishings picked up throughout the game - Yep, done this. DD rather loves creating rooms generally (budding interior designer?) so this was a popular activity, in fact probably her favourite part of 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 Er, that would be the children then I am No Good at games, its like there is a necessary part of my brain wired wrong for them or something.

Bohica - sorry about that - I'll let Nintendo know and ask them to send you an envelope.

I bought a pre-owned steering wheel from Game last week for £1.99 so that DS1 and DS2 can race together on MarioKart (I know you can race with just the controllers and not the steering wheels, but try telling them that...)

MarioKart is still the most popular game in our house, followed by WiiSports (which I know we aren't reviewing).

It is a Wii fest afternoon in our house! lot's of friends around & I have put the Wii in DD1's room so I can NM in peace, well almost, if I ignore the thumps through the ceiling it's peacfull.

2 of the friends ant to borro the Udraw as they wanted to buy it but theie parents said it as far to expensive for hat it actually is, I tend to agree ith them.

The Wii motion game is being used a lot & our 3 year ld is a pro at sword fighting!!

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

Fun games, some nice and simple for DS3.

~ 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

The kids loved the whack-a-mole type thing, and the ice cream stacking. I was best at the shooting, and DH liked the shooting a ghost thing.

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

Too much impatience and poor communication for this to be possible between a 6yr old and 3 yr old. DS6 did demonstrate the games, but DS3 wouldn't listen to tips etc and just leapt about enjoying himself.

I find what ShatnersBassoon says to be true as well. The littler ones (5 and under) tend to simply go all over and play it how they like. Rules and actual game play are optional.

I'm laughing at my lack of W's in my last post! I didn't notice that the W button only occasionaly works

I sent both cameras back today & I can't wait to see if you manage to filter anything more than one second of usable footage.

Can we review the flip cam?

It's crap & eats batteries like no-ones buisness.

I agree with Bohica about the crapness of the flipcam.

Ate squillions of batteries.

Am sure our footage was useless!

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

Probably the least popular element of the Wii package. Too much effort for little reward. Neither I nor DH are artistic in the slightest, so we haven't attempted to create anything impressive, and the kids (6 & 3) have struggled to master the pen and produce anything noteworthy. It was frustrating and futile for the kids, I think.

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

Fine, but only DH and I did this. The kids won't draw with the pen because they can't hold it and draw in the vertical position required, or they press the button on it by accident and it all ends in tears...

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

More fun for the children than regular drawing.

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

We could only play mixed teams due to lack of ability and willing from the children. Some fun to be had, but the kids are probably a bit young still.

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

Mixed teams again. Limited fun for DH and me, and the kids got bored watching but didn't want to use the Udraw because they don't like getting things wrong and they know they're going to struggle to make it work by not holding it in the exact position needed etc etc.

Kirby's Epic Yarn:

It's so pretty! DD thinks it's great and finds many aspects of it highly amusing - she giggled out loud whenever my character grabbed hers and wore it as a hat for a bit, which was nice to hear! She picked it up very quickly, which surprised me. However, it was interesting to note her surprised that the character didn't respond when she moved the Wii controller, like in all the other games (it does seem like a missed opportunity, doesn't it? It makes it like a game you could play on any old console!).

Initially I thought "oh here we go, this is the kind of game where one person will play and there'll be no family interaction at all" but as we got into it I realised it actually works really well in a team-work sense. When DD and I were playing together there was lots of 'you go and get that jewel and I'll unravel this baddie' and 'hide under there while I get rid of the bees' and sweet little high-fives when we got to the end of a level. (DS was happy enough watching and pointing out that it was raining.)

The first few levels are easy enough for children but still fun enough to be interesting - I like the little 'screens' in the background that show you what buttons to press! When DD went to bed I got a bit obsessed continued with the game and it gets a lot harder - I think she would definitely have got quite frustrated with it. I am currently totally stuck near the beginning of Toy Tracks Land - how do I get over that bloody duck??? Anyone????

I love the variety of actions Kirby can do and the whimsical styling - as I went through the game DH and I seemed to be constantly exclaiming over various cool bits! I played a lot of platform games when I was younger and this is great in comparison. The idea of furnishing his flat is cute, and DD was very excited by it, but I found I couldn't be bothered to go back and do it much!

I just wish it didn't say YARN all the time - it's WOOL!

Yesterday I took the DC to the shops in the rain. As we were walking down the street DD said 'Let's play Ants Go Marching'. (It's their favourite song on Dance Jrs). I had to sing the song and DD (4) and DS who is just 2 walked down the road doing all the moves. It probably shows I'm letting them play it too much but it was priceless! Got some funny looks though

Sorry I haven't reported on the following:

Connecting to the internet, using wifi: Yes, done. Took me straight to the market place which really annoyed me. Anway, it worked. I haven't told dd.

iPlayer. Yes, again. Again, not told dd. We have a tv and computers. DD would be watching reruns of Dr Who all day if she got onto this; as it is, she does this on the computer with headphones on so we don't have to suffer with her!

Wii Play Motion:
This is probably the most popular game - it even beats Mario Kart by a tiny margin. I am queen of the Swords. DD is queen of table tennis and pretty well everything else! DH beats us all at flying. My bro is the king of skydiving, but then he was an instructor in rl at one point in his life (though of course it's completely different really).

DD has taught many of her friends how to play various games on this, some older, some younger. It goes well and I haven't come across one child who hasn't had fun or been able to do something. Cycling seems to be the favourite of our friend's 4yo. He is triffic!

Just realised that's not Wii Play Motion at all ; it's Sports Resort.

Here's the real one then:

Wack a mole v popular iwth the younger kids. Everyone has fun with the ice cream scoops. The most popular game, though, with dd and her similarly aged friends is the ghost buster one. They throw themselves around hte room in the effort to find the ghost and to chuck him in the thingumabob. It's a little hard for our friend's 4yo old, resulting in some frustration, but we let cycle in Sports Resort which always makes him happy.

DD wins the ice cream scoop thing every time. As usual I am hopeless. I'm can kill a mole almost by looking at it though . DH is surprisingly good at that one where you have to get your Mii into the right shape to fit through a hole (mind's gone completely blank!).

Still, Sports Resort wins by a feather, then Mario Kart. The others don't come close.

Ok.. Back from holiday (but am going away again this w/e) and am going to start working my way through the tasks. Here is our initial feedback. Will be back over the next week (or so) with the rest.

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

1. Getting the Wii set up for the first time
DH did this. Took him all of 10 minutes. He said it was 'Easy'.

2. Connecting the Wii to the Internet (using wifi, if you could)
We haven't done this. We're not sure we want the kids to access it unsupervised

3. Creating a Wii Mii for each family member
Easy. My daughters love this. We've probably got about 5 for each of us - and for their friends too. Inc. friends who haven't been around to play on it yet! They almost prefer this to the games

4. Setting up iPlayer (if on wifi)
N/A

1. Adding additional Wii Remotes

Easy. Took less then a minute

OK our first official feedback. We've got other comments to follow but in response to the first section of questions:

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

1. Getting the Wii set up for the first time

This was very straightforward once we'd sussed the 'source' button on our tv remote to switch between TV and Wii.

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

Again, straightforward.

1. Creating a Wii Mii for each family member

This has probably been the source of most activuty in our house! The dds loved making Miis for everyone we know. Dh and I also had a go and it was good fun. It was also fun tampering with dh's other people's Miis when they weren't there. I love the idea that you can see people you 'know' in other games. I don't know what this says about me but it has caused me much hilarity watching MIL and FIL running to escape from alien abductions whilst playing Wii Motion.

1. Setting up iPlayer (if on wifi)

Went through the motions to set this up but haven't used it as we have iplayer on our main TV. Seemed pretty easy though.

1. Adding additional Wii Remotes

I had to look this up and it took a while to find the right booklet with the instructions on but once I worked out where the buttons were, it was fine. All 3 of our remoates are now set up.

This is dd1's Review on Kirby?s Epic Yarn

"Kirby?s Epic Yarn is a very interesting and fun game. I?m nine and my sister is five; we both had a go on it and enjoyed it very much. My sister enjoyed it very much, and so did I. We liked the characters and the way it was well thought-out.

The bad points about it were nothing really, apart from the fact it was a little hard the hang of. It took us a long time to find the objects for our room, but all in all, it was a very good game!"

I liked the way it encouraged them to play together and work as a team helping one another through the levels. The screens and characters are cute. I left them to it to work most things out and it seemed child-friendly enough as long as there was one of them competent enough to read instructions.

Hi Helen,

I've been away all week but still no sign of Dance Jnrs. Hey ho. I've akso returned the camera - easy to use but rubbish with battery eating and a major shame you can't use the USB to recharge from a computer

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

1. Getting the Wii set up for the first time

Found this really easy and have learnt more about the buttons on my Tv remote

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

I did start to do this but we have a password on our Internet account and i can't find the details of it so haven't been able to check this yet

1. Creating a Wii Mii for each family member

Easy and fun.

1. Setting up iPlayer (if on wifi)

Tried but discovered i didn't have the internet access code so gave up but like it as a feature. would be good if they could do this for other channnels like 4OD too.

1. Adding additional Wii Remotes

I don't think this worked the first time i tried but i checked in the easy set up booklet and now have 3 remotes set up. Would liek it if you could easily change the lead/dominant handset. Our black one was the first to come but my dd like s the pink one and you can't use it as a one player handset. Or am I missing a trick here. Do I have to remove all the other handsets to do that? Grrr.

Kirby is now banned in our house! I've never known anything like it, dd2 is addicted, I mean literally addicted. We were out at the Pensthorpe Medieval spectacular, surrounded by storytellers, fire breathers, trebuchets firing cabbages, ravens, wolves and witch hunts. What is dd2 doing? Whinging to go home and play Kirby! dh and I were so worried we've now banned it til she forgets about it.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, it's basically a platform game that could be played on almost any console/format, it's not the family friendly wii experience we were hoping for. While it's great that dd2's enjoyed it so much, it's not exactly revolutionised the way I view gaming.

Mario Kart

This was a firm favourite with everyone (except me ) and is the game that has been played the most - resident teenagers have been found playing on it in pairs late into the night and it seems to be the go-to game for DD as well.

The steering wheel was generally agreed to be not very user-friendly - the sensitivity was an issue for everyone that tried it. Everyone prefers using the remote/nunchuck combination instead.

DD really enjoyed unlocking the different tracks and cars - but she says, why do girls have to have a pink car?! And that you should be able to choose your car colour.

~ An adult (eg Dad, Grandma) and and child race 3 times and record the best of 3 DD against DP was a clear win for D, much to her delight

~ Race a match blindfold: families divide into pairs, and one must race blindfold while the other directs them Due to everyone in our family having severe left/right confusion this was an unmitigated disaster!

uDraw

We all enjoyed this (even me ) and found it easy to use - youngest child here is 8 though so can't comment on how younger children may have managed. This is definitely the thing that has had us all playing together the most (Just Dance a close second though!) - there have been games of Pictionary with 8 players and a bottle of wine for the adults

~ Create a drawing of a designated family member in under one minute Yes, if the cat counts - it was a great likeness...

~ Create a drawing made entirely from the stamps provided in uDraw Studio Yep, DD can do this - she drew a caterpillar. I have to be honest though and say that as a drawing game, I can't see any advantages over good old pen and paper. The other games that used the tablet were good, but if DD feels like drawing a picture she still goes for the art box not the Wii.

~ Play Pictionary in teams - adults vs children, mixed teams..who wins? This was fab, everyone here enjoyed it and it raised loads of laughs. The children's team won - they overtook the adults with two squares to the finishing line! Great pictures were created, notably a chainsaw with just stamps used. We enjoyed seeing the pictures on screen as the game ended too, like a little exhibition

~ Create teams and each team creates a Dood - the team whose Dood gets the highest score wins DD says it was hard to control him. Her favourite thing about this was deciding how to decorate her Dood, and least favourite was when her Dood got blown up and she had to make him float. We thought it was a bit that there were no girls and you couldn't make a girl Dood - though seems to be that all the games we've played had predominantly male characters and we didn't like that much tbh.

Wii Play Motion

This was 'ever so good' . Very user friendly, easy to play, and really good fun.

~ 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 DD was best at the ice cream scooping and managed to get 51 scoops on her ice cream. Resident Teen No.1 was best at the balloon game. DP is definitely the king of the ghost game, and I am best at the umbrella game ('just like Mary Poppins!')

~ One sibling teaches the other how to play a new mini-game (if possible)
Not possible as DS is only 12 months old!

Sorry about my lack of feedback, I put feedback on the original thread and then forgot to add more to this one.

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

1. Getting the Wii set up for the first time - DH did this with kids "helping" he said it was pretty straightforward.

1. Connecting the Wii to the Internet (using wifi, if you could) I set up the Wii to the wifi which went fine, but everytime I go to use the internet I have to repeat the whole process again which is a PITA so I'm not sure if I'm doing something wrong?

1. Creating a Wii Mii for each family member - very popular we have one for every household member (was very funny making teenage DSD's Wii Mii, she didn't see the funny side though ), we also have a Mii for every extended family member and loads of made up characters with some very interesting names. One is called xcbmgjuotlsdjkgldjkm as made by dd2 who can't yet write.

1. Setting up iPlayer (if on wifi) - see No3

1. Adding additional Wii Remotes - was fairly easy but it keeps randomly changing the number of the remotes when it feels like, which is a pain.

Kirby's Epic Yarn - Challenges - let us know your overall views on the game as well as trying these challenges: Honestly it was really complicated and hard to get in to so after several go's we kind of gave up.

Mario Kart - Challenges - let us know your overall views on the game as well as trying these challenges: - this is my favourite game.

~ An adult (eg Dad, Grandma) and and child race 3 times and record the best of 3 - Did this dd1 against me, she won.

~ Race a match blindfold: families divide into pairs, and one must race blindfold while the other directs them - this was scary and we get panicking and shouting at the telly, shouting at each other and DH and I had an argument.

Just Dance Jnrs - Challenges - let us know your overall views on the game as well as trying these challenges: - this is dd2's favourite game, I quite like it, although some of the songs are annoying.

~ 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 - This was fun, we all had a laugh, twas especially funny watching DH do the "ants go marching" song. DD2 won.

~ 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. - This was another fun one, although DH and me being on the same team probably wasn't a good idea, as he wanted to practise about 10 times before we did it, so by the time it came to doing it properly I was knackered.

Wii Play Motion - Challenges - let us know your overall views on the game as well as trying these challenges: - This is the kids favourite, and the game played the most in the house.

~ 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 - DD2 is queen of the ice cream game, and it is the ONLY game she will play on this. DD1 queen of the shapes into slots game, really really good at that. I'm queen of the umbrella game, I'm not to keen on it TBH but it's the only one I seem to be any good at. DH is king of the balloon game and watching his face as he tries to keep the balloons up is bloody hilarious. The ghost game is a favourite by all, but it's bloody hard trying to get those damn ghosts!

Have ordered new sensor and waiting for it to arrive then will get to task!

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

I think this is definitely DH's favourite game, he plays it by himself as a bit of a stress reliever! The dds like it, probably not as much as the Kirby game. They really like choosing which character to be and what vehicle to choose. In fact they have "their" characters which no-one else is allowed to use, and so we all do this now. My character actually does better when I don't race...

I think the graphics are amazing on this game. ~ An adult (eg Dad, Grandma) and and child race 3 times and record the best of 3
We did this as a family with mixed success! DH won easily - but then he has been practising... 9yo came 2nd. I came last - kept driving straight off the road into lakes, lava, abyss etc. I am utterly hopeless! The 6yo could not cope with the competitive thing and stomped off in tears after posting a not very good (but still better than mine) time.

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

Disaster! I can't get all the way round even with the blindfold off. The dds are not 100% on right and left (and neither am I - I have to waggle a hand in the air thinking "this is the one I write with") - it was funny though

Play Pictionary in teams

We played in teams against the in-laws, which was interesting! Overall, we had a great time, despite initial grumpiness doubtfulness by DH.

Good points:

~The actual drawing controls are brilliant - so much more intuitive than UDraw Studio. Having everything on one page makes it quicker, more accessible and much more fun to use. The little noises each tool makes are a nice touch. It all just 'works' really easily. Makes me wonder why UDraw itself is so needlessly complicated.

~ Having the option to choose kids or adults challenges is a good idea. The adults' ones were tricky enough to make the game really interesting.

~It might annoy some people, but I quite liked the cheesy host and the compliments when you get one right! The gameshow sort of style fits well.

~The 'exhibition' of your drawings at the end of a game is great.

~ You don't have to fiddle around with question cards and bits of paper!

Not so good points:

~The old(er) members of the family did find the basic concept of drawing on one surface while looking at the screen really difficult to get to grips with, compounded by the fact that you can't hold the 'pencil' like a pencil.

~ A lot of the processes you have to go through to progress the game take too long - there's just too much clicking. It feels really clunky to have to 'confirm' everything you select and then click on 'done' and interrupts the flow of the game somewhat. With some of the processes it also wasn't clear enough on what you needed to do.

~Again for older members of the family, at times they felt the background music was too loud for them to be able to hear the spoken instructions.

~FIL has instructed me to write that there are too many 'All Play' squares!

A really fun game. FIL and MIL would never have sat down 10 years ago and played CoolBoarders on the PS2 with us, but this felt really inclusive of the whole family.