Its easy to see where video games are currently. They have evolved far beyond what their original creators could have possibly imagined back in Atariland. The original NES blew the roof off the industry and ever since its been all about making things more complex and improving the graphics. This has been the norm, until the Wii. Its a step into the future, a nod to the past, and has brought video games back to basic, easy play, that everyone can enjoy. Everyone has a story about an older person that has purchased one, about a tight assed business type obsessed with his and of course kids will always be on top of anything the industry can throw out. With this bold and highly popular console nintendo has brought into play, video games have once again become about families and friends coming together to have fun rather than exclusively for your intensive die hard gamers.

I'm not a big time gamer anymore, I was when I was a kid and got out of it 15 years ago as they got more complex and less fun, for me anyway. The Wii dragged me back in and I'm loving it. The NES console, (original 8 bit gray shoebox and Duckhunt gun loaded one, it was funny to see every 5 year old weilding a large toy gun the size of his/her forarm back then) started out with that lovable plumber Mario and its great to see that Nintendo has remained true to its roots. Nobody worries about him getting to violent, explicit or out of line. He's as clean as a Disney character, always a favorite in the best and most simple of games, and he looks exactly like my friends Dad except he always wears a shirt and isn't constantly eating. Such games like Donkey Kong, Super Mario Brothers, and Mario Party are as fun to play on the old systems now as they were then and invoke a certain nostalgia for simpler times when we were eating pizza and drinking root beer at our friends rollerskating party. (Yes, I was a child of the 80's, a wild poofy haired child wearing neon).

The great thing is, Mario is back with a nonviolent vengance again to entertain toddlers, grandmas, lawyers, doctors, teachers, and anyone else willing to turn the living room from a tv watching bore into an entertainment plaza with a bit of exercise thrown in for good measure. The excercise comes from the sports games like table tennis, bowling, and boxing that Mario is unfortunately not part of. Instead you can customize characters to look like yourself. The Wii also allows you to play older games from one of the previous Nintendo consoles (The Game Cube) which are anywhere from 10 to 40 bucks. Many of these are Mario laden classics and new releases that not only bring the family back into gaming but also throw us back to where it began when we were kids. A gift of nostalgia wrapped up in a tubby, lovable, Italian plumber. Real plumbers aren't as much fun, they charge a ton and put in a new toilet when all they have to do is remove your Mom's toothbrush she accidentally flushed. (Don't ask my Dad about this, he'll blow a fuse!!!!) Some of my favorite newer Mario games for the family are Super Smash Brothers and Mario Kart.

When my girlfriend and I are hanging out over our friend's house and everyone is bored, the Wii usually gets fired up on the giant tv, and since there is 4 wireless controllers and the option to rotate out players, everyone gets a turn. Fun stuff until the pizza guy finally shows up. Its funny, nobody really saw this coming in the industry. We thought we left Mario back in the 1980's and he was just a placemark in history. Apparently, you can't keep a good man down.