Ever read the saying on a T-Shirt that happened to get your mind turning, pondering its meaning? I’m not talking about something quite profound like the secret of the universe or something as important like asking if I saved a seal today or if I’m aware of [insert malady or distressing situation that has a ribbon emblem here]. No this was geared more toward the game geek, those who had been around the block and those who cut their baby teeth on a Playstation or Nintendo 64. The saying I came across was only two words long, in fact it was
only two syllables long. It was a simple question but enough to make me think about my hobby and Nintendo’s drive for “gaming for the masses”.
The question: “Wii Who?”
This little question was screen-printed in bright yellow letters, positioned in between one’s shoulder blades above a gigantic Atari 2600-style joystick on the back of the 2007 Classic Gaming Expo T-Shirt. I bought this
shirt at the expo while my wife and I were on vacation last year in Las Vegas. I held the T-Shirt up and snickered at the saying but as I traversed the expo, seeing the throngs of people playing the many classic games that were available the question started to become more serious than a classic-gamer inside joke it first seemed to be. The answer came to me when I attended the after-show party that night. In a corner of the lounge room the party was being held in was a TV suspended from the ceiling with an Atari VCS attached to it. The game being played was Warlords and there was a small crowd huddled below the set, necks craned upwards and mouths agape as the players tried to blast each other’s king to oblivion. The group was laughing with players ribbing each other as they pounded on each other’s castle walls and then after all was done controllers were passed around and the game started again.
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