Mii

I recently bought a Korean-text Nintendo Wii, because Andy said the Wii is well worth the money. 270,000 Won was pretty cheap.

It's the first console game system I've played since Nintendo 64/Sega Dreamcast, and the first system I've owned as an adult. It's cutting edge, well-designed, fun, in three words, a great experience.

And guess what game I'm addicted to? It's not the complex, fancy games that have eaten my time. It's "Tanks", a new version of one of the games that I played as a little kid.

Here's a screenshot of the original version, Armour Ambush:


And of the new version that I'm addicted to:

Wii isn't the most popular console in Korea. Nor is the Play Station 2. Both do well, but children in Korea don't bug their parents for them nearly as much as they bug them for Nintendo DSes. They spend too much time at their hagwons to have time to play Wii or Play Station 2 at home.

In case you didn't know hagwons are afterschool tutoring schools that Korean children go to help with their grades. Some kids go to school until 8 or 9pm at night - on a school night -, learning piano, tae kwon doe, and extra math, science, and English. Their breaks between classes are therefore precious. Those five or ten minutes allow them to socialize with their classmates and play games, because when they get home they know that their parents expect them to do their homework ... and then go to bed.

Breaktime usually involves clowning around, running around, or irritating me (the other big toy), but more than not it means crowding around the kid with the Nintendo DS. Sometimes a "no, its my turn" whine-fight break out, but usually there is an orderly circle formed as the other kids watch the lucky student or their close friends play the coveted DS.

And guess what they seem to be addicted to? No, not Tanks. They are addicted to Mario Bros 1, 2, and 3. Why? Because the original Mario Bros games are elegant in their simplicity. They're addictive in the same sense that throwing a ball back and forth is simple fun.