When I was home over the weekend, I managed to convert both my Aunt and mother to gaming. My Aunt's eight-year-old daughter is the proud owner of a pink DS lite, which provides her endless opportunities for raising Nintendogs and showing everyone her Pokemans. I started playing DS with her, but to my surprise, my Aunt was much more interested in Elite Beat Agents than she was. "I know this song!" She crowed excitedly when she reached the Highway Star level. After spending a few hours with us playing the game at my parents', she promptly hit the GameStop and bought her own copy-- forecasting hours of fighting for the DS with her kid, no doubt.As for my Mom, she has a long history of uncomprehending, eye-rolling and generally despising games. She's one of those mothers who would be vacuuming the living room between me and the TV when I was playing, often "inadvertently" sucking up the controller cord. So when my parents drove us back to my place, I decided to see whether I could turn my technophobe mother into one of those Baby-Booming Wii gamers that I read about everywhere.
After having a hearty laugh making a freakishly similar Mii of my father, it wasn't long before Mom was whupping Dad's ass at Wii bowling, and feeling quite proud of herself. "I'm really good at it!" She shouted more than once in a revelatory fashion, declaring triumphantly, "I bet you can't believe this! --How much does this thing cost?"
Sexy Videogameland: Converting the uninitiated, one parent at a time.
And speaking of Elite Beat Agents, here's video from Joystiq for the sequel to Ouendan, the Japanese parent of EBA. Ouendan is commonly played Stateside by fans introduced to the rhythm-action genre by EBA, but in a more unusual twist, I hear Japanese gamers actually buy and play EBA, too. For more Ouendan fun, dig this noodle ad Kotaku found, styled after Ouendan's thematics. Osu!
