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

More reviews:

Firstly my observations:
Wii Motion and Wii Sports Resort have by far been the most popular games, as everyone, whatever age, can compete fairly. I'd say the bowling gets the most outings and dh and the dds have had enormous fun playing this before tea most nights as the Wii is set up in the dining room.

We had brilliant fun last week in an very drunken after-hours tournament between dh and his mate and me and one of my mates. We played bowling, archery and had a go on Wii Dance Juniors. I am proud to announce I won with a near-perfect rendition of 'Mickey' (although I did actually wet myself in a heady mix of jumping-about fun and lack of pelvic floor. So, in all a great night on the Nintendo Wee.

Dd1's latest reviews:

Review on Mario Kart
Mario Kart is very fun and quite hard, too. I like it (I?m 9) but my sister finds it a bit difficult for her (she?s 5). My friends have got a new Wii, and I enjoyed playing it at there house; we found working the controls a bit tricky to master. I prefer playing with the control rather than the wheel but maybe that?s because I haven?t had much practice yet.
It?s a very good game for the family, and it has been fun doing races with my Dad especially. The down side on it is the controls, the good side is every thing else. I have enjoyed playing on special levels like Ghost Valley as the music adds a good atmosphere.

Review on UDraw
The whole family loved UDraw. It?s a very calm game, very relaxing after a tiring game on Wii Sports Resort! I like Pictionary the best, because we can all join in.
It was a bit hard to get the hang of the pen at first, but it gradually became easier. The UDraw Studio was entertaining, as well. Me and my sister enjoyed drawing and colouring; we liked trying different backgrounds, textures, brushes. The colouring was also fun, especially for my sister, who LOVES colouring!

Yes, Dance Jrs has also, erm, inspired me to recommence pelvic floor exercises. Do you think this is useful feedback? Perhaps they'll put it in the advert

Oneofsuesylvesterscheerios your DD's reviews are lovely.

Well, I've finally given up on the red controller. I guess we will have to ring customer services. It was spotty connections with it, but it won't sync anymore at all. Not sure why. No problem with batteries. The thing is just not working correctly. argh.

ah, thank you IHeartThistleKing. I will pass your comments on

(although I will of course be reprimanding her severely over the misuse of the word 'there')

1. Getting the Wii set up for the first time

Really straightforward, had to follow the booklet of course but no problems.

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

again, really easy, found our wifi without a hitch.

1. Creating a Wii Mii for each family member

Top fun! Even if the DDs have had enough of playing the games they ALWAYS want to add more Wii Miis. They make them to look like their friends, then they make crazy ones, then they add another family member!

1. Setting up iPlayer (if on wifi)

really easy and have used it recently as my iplayer on tv box keeps freezing. Actually using the wii for iplayer is much faster than accessing it through Virgin Media [HMM]

1. Adding additional Wii Remotes

This was the one thing that had me stumped for ages so had to get the manual out again and really it is pretty simple

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:
This was fun for me and the DDs but DP wasn't really into it. We took turns at choosing something to add to the room then decided together where it should go. But, some of the items are huge so the room got busy pretty quickly!

~ Mum and Dad (or another adult) play together (as Kirby and Prince Fluff) followed by the children - the pair with the best score wins:
This was a challenge we just got frustrated with. Because the screen doesn't split for each character it was too much for the DDs to work together to try and stay within the same area, one would bang on ahead while the other was trying to meticulously collect all the crystals. Much whining involved.
DP & I played quite a good level together but it is annoying than when you get too close to each other you end up 'yarned' on top of the other player's head!
The other thing we just couldn't do as a team was the wee train where you have to draw train tracks with your wii remote. Found this almost impossible and the kids were going bananas as they just couldn't do it.

Kirby has been a surprise hit as a one player game. It's the one the girls want to play all the time. BUT as a 2 player game it really does not flow well at all.

Mario Kart - Challenges - let us know your overall views on the game as well as trying these challenges (DS 1 is 5 and DS2 is just 3)

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

Racing with Grandma was ok because Grandma has neither sense of direction nor any clue what buttons to press! Anyone else, no competition.

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

My boys are too young for this - DS2 can do it but gets frustrated, DS2 needs an adult to drive for him really. They are too young to describe the route (unless you count DS1 shouting NOT THAT WAY AAAAAGHHH constantly)

This game is second most popular after Kirby. I am surprisngly good at it and find it quite enjoyable, but both DH and I get motion sickness after about 5 minutes. The first time we played it for too long and we both felt terrible all night and dreamed about lurching from one road to another It would be good if there was an incredibly simple circuit for very little ones to do without any falling off cliffs etc. We like to play this with an adult helping the child, though DS1 is getting better at doing it by himself.

Just Dance Jnrs - Challenges - DS1 is 5 and DS2 is just 3

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 game confirms the suspected dancing ability of all family members! This was quite a fun challenge but I took dance lessons for 15 years whereas the children take after their father, shall we say. I enjoyed it but even the simplest dances are hard for them without me bellowing "wave your hands" etc

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.

My eldest quite enjoyed the scoring aspect (DS2 too young but willing to offer random numbers). Would be fun when they are older.

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

Couldn't persuade DH to do this as he is so bad at it himself!

DS2 loves this game and we have put it on a few times in front of relatives as he looks so sweet. DS1 is not so keen but he is ok and getting better. They both get frustrated with how fast the moves are - if there were a couple of incredibly easy dances, just nursery ryhmes with the appropriate actions rather than a stage school style jazzy dance that would be good for DS2 and DH. I like the way this game gets us all moving around a lot and it makes me laugh. The music is absolutely awful though!

I contacted customer service regarding the red controller that will not sync at all now, and the person I spoke to said they needed a receipt (which obviously I don't have) and that they would have me then send it in for repairs with the receipt and possibly charge me to fix it.

Is there any way this can be sorted with less hassle (and expense) please??

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

In answer to all of these it was easy peasy lemon squeezy

The Mii set up for each player is great fun, we especially enjoy changing dh's without him knowing!

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

I had a little play around on this when it first arrived just to test it out and enjoyed it but since then we have never been able to get it to work which is a real shame as I think the children would have enjoyed it too. It just gets frozen when it's loading and nothing we do is changing it.

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

Everyone loves this game! I haven't had the chance to play yet because of my op/stiches etc but just watching people on it is hysterical Everyone seems to struggle a little with the more advanced stages but I think thats what makes it so much fun Very easy to navigate and use once you are used to it but initially the children needed help setting it up.

~ 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

Dance offs occur regularly in the house and dh is always last! DD2 (4) isn't very good at following the moves in time but get A+ for effort.

~ 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 is kind of what the individual dance off turns into as all the dc's gang up against each other! They had there cousins over the the other day and so had full teams and they loved it. Extra points have been given for things such as most wobbly bottom, silliest face and points deducted for DD1 passing wind very, very noisily in the middle of her routine!

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

This always ends up a disaster and we have given up trying as everyone knows better than everyone else and it invariably ends up in an argument!

A really, really good game though and it's nice to have the choice of a dance game with a variation of music, for all the family.

Other 3 will follow, got to put the dinner on now...well I've got to tell DH to put the dinner on anyway

Setting up a Dood. Easy enough, and I enjoyed it, but dd had v little interest and dh retired to his room to play very loud guitar . DD's friend enjoyed it more than the game.

Can't say I'm massively taken by either Dood or Kirby, and no one has come in screaming to play either of them again, always third or fourth choice.

Sorry for the delay in feedback - summer hols and all that!

Setting up wifi and Iplayer was a doddle! Just need SD card to increase memory capacity.

Kirby's Epic Yarn - Challenges - let us know your overall views on the game as well as trying these challenges:
DS and I both really enjoyed playing this, both solo and as a team. Easy for him to follow, and had more challenging bits to keep me entertained as well. Even DD (2) enjoyed watching the game play, and worryingly wanders round the house saying "Aiii Aiii!" We liked the fact that it's not a race against time game, so you could go a bit more slowly to let the little once keep up.
~ Create a beautifully furnished room as a family, using the soft furnishings picked up throughout the game

DS really wasn't in to this at all - he just wanted to complete the stages. Didn't really float my boat either I'm afraid!

~ Mum and Dad (or another adult) play together (as Kirby and Prince Fluff) followed by the children - the pair with the best score wins
DH not really into computer games, but thought it was ok - DS played with a friend but it all got a bit messy when his mate couldn't play as well as he could (they are only 5) Naturally we beat them
Just Dance Jnrs - Challenges - let us know your overall views on the game as well as trying these challenges:
This game is roundly despised in this house - I hate the cheesy music, DS gets so frustrated because the routines are too complicated for him so invairiably it would end up in the controller being chucked! For this reason (and my sanity) we didn't complete the challenges -sorry Nintendo!!

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
DH and DS LOVE this game, and will play it all day if I'd let them. I am really rubbish crashing into everything, despite trying to drive using the wheel/without the wheel/using nunchuck instead. Needless to say I was soundly thrashed every time. DS and DH get quite competitive!

~ Race a match blindfold: families divide into pairs, and one must race blindfold while the other directs them
Tried this once - it was a disaster! DS still learning L from R,can't bear being blindfold and I can't control the car even when I can see the blimmin screen!!

Wii Play Motion - Challenges - let us know your overall views on the game as well as trying these challenges:
Jury is still out on this one, some of the games are quite good (we enjoyed the manipulate your mii to fit through the shapes) but others are rather dull. (Ice cream one)

~ 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
DS king of the beating up moles
I am Queen of manipulating mii through holes
DH King of the Ice cream one

~ One sibling teaches the other how to play a new mini-game (if possible)
DS taught DH how to play the holey one - was funny hearing him come out with the "that's the way daddy, just try twisting a bit this way!"

uDraw - Challenges - let us know your overall views on the game as well as trying these challenges:
Quite enjoyed Spongebob (DS is obsessed with it anyway) DS and I played it as a team, alternating the challenges.

~ Create a drawing of a designated family member in under one minute
DS found it difficult to manipulate the stylus, and found it hard link drawing on the tablet with watching it appear on screen.

~ Create a drawing made entirely from the stamps provided in uDraw Studio
This held DS's attention for about 2 minutes, then just stamped over everything like a maniac!

~ Play Pictionary in teams - adults vs children, mixed teams..who wins?
Too difficult to play with a 5 year old - doesn't know what the majority of the clues were. Also the difficulties in manipulating the stylus meant he ran out of time before completing the drawing - v frustrating and stressful!

~ Create teams and each team creates a Dood - the team whose Dood gets the highest score wins
DS liked making his dood, but found the game quite tricky.

Overall we've really enjoyed having the wii, I was concerned that DS would be slobbed in front of the tv playing it, but bless his heart, he throws himself completely into it and is literally jumping up and down playing the games - we played mariocart tonight and he was sweating by the end of it!!

Ann or someone from Mumsnet? are you there?

triggles...sorry yes - always! how can i help?

I'm wondering whether we've finished the challenge now, or whether they want anything else from us before we can jus relax and play without making mental notes?! Have we discharged our duty?

Jux...you have indeed....relax and enjoy and thanks!

Ann - I called customer service regarding my red (pink?) controller that doesn't sync, and they couldn't help me according to them, as I haven't "purchased" it. When I explained about the Mumsnet thing, they said they weren't familiar with it, and they couldn't really help. Is there any way you can get your Nintendo contacts to replace it please? We haven't been able to use it for ages now, as it won't do anything. (and we've tried everything, believe me!!)

triggles have asked for you but my contact is away til next week
best
Ann

Ann - thank you so much! I was a bit at ends on it, as we don't have the money to buy a replacement. I will wait until I hear further from you.

Finally got our sensor been playing lots - the kids ahve got into Spongebob and Kirby...

1. Setting up iPlayer (if on wifi)

We've done this now - very, very handy! ------ 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
Yes, this was quite fun. Dd got cross though as she couldn't do it easily. Ds foudn it all hilarious.

~ Mum and Dad (or another adult) play together (as Kirby and Prince Fluff) followed by the children - the pair with the best score wins
Didn't do scores but we do like playing this way. Though dd (5) got the wii rage again when dd (3) won't do what she wants, adn just picks her up and puts her on his head!!

---
Spongebob is the big hit in our house. It's very, very well-written. Ds 3 can play on his own and (it seems) it remembers what you can do well to stop frustration-learn as you go along. Big fun with the tablet. And me and dh love it too!

Not sure where Just Dance has gone but we had LOADS of fun (is Mummy's favourite) trying out and giggling lots.

I do like that the whole family can get involved - a lot more interactive than when the kids play cbeebies games....

FYI the lovely video compilation has now been uploaded here - enjoy!

Love it!