With less than five weeks remaining till that day of festive days, one wonders exactly what is on the immediate horizon. As with all Christmas lead-ups, the pressure is on for a successful end of year takings. The conglomerates as well as smaller establishments know only too well that this is the last opportunity to make a weak calendar year into a satisfactory one; and a satisfactory one into an excellent one. That, as all manner of purchases and sales mount up for the one-off mass exchange of collateral; in a concatenation of tradition, religion and celebration, there is one final opportunity to make some very-serious-CASH!

Now, I could sit here, munching my stale crisps away, embittered by the cynical ethos that many portray at this time of year and say, ‘what a load of commercialised rubbish,’ that, ‘the glitz and glam of today has washed away the true meaning of Christmas.’ But I don’t. And I can guarantee you that people of the above frame of mind, would not hesitate to buy their friends and family gifts for fear of being dubbed, ‘tight’. Moreover, that they would not refuse the flood (in comparison to the rest of their year) of gifts they are likely to receive in return! These people are well known for their strength of critique and negative philosophy, but when it suits them they can be of another mind altogether. We call them, in a word, hypocrites.

I in turn, (look at this for a moral highroad) respect the fact that our religious roots have somewhat diluted over long years but still, I embrace the opportunity to give and receive and to spend quality time with family and friends and eat and drink to (cliché imminent) my heart’s content in general (cliché imminent) merriment.

To get to the point, (of which I’m sure you are exasperatedly wondering by now) is that many companies at this time of year, try to create something that extra bit more special, so they can make the very most of the very most profitable portion of the retail year. What that means for you and I, the games fans of this world, is that we see arguably (easily arguably) the best games of the year and the best games deals of the year, encapsulating the ‘save the best till last’ motto of western society. Already, we have seen Sony release the lighter version of their next-gen console and Xbox earlier releasing its own ‘Elite’ version of the 360, it is evident that the two are trying to revamp the consoles, and reinvigorate consumer interest as the season to be jolly looms. It is with this shift of marketing dynamic in comparison to Nintendo’s stubborn refusal to alter a successful product that makes me proud to be an owner of a Wii.

This year Nintendo, on the back gigantic success has elected to steer clear of a gimmicking process, knowing it is not needed, nor wanted by its loyal consumers. On the back of unprecedented success the Wii is still somewhat of a scarce commodity in parts of The UK. A few of my friends even insist on spending more time with me than is necessarily companionable for the simple reason that I have the console, and they cannot get their mitts on it. (And that of course I am a really nice guy too of course).

The main reason for this shortage is due to the shattering of the computer game playing demographic. We have seen the demographic stretch a little over the past few years as consumers grew up but not always out of their fascination with console gaming. Naturally new consumers appear as younger kids get older and therefore computer games industry was always bound to expand a little. What was not on the cards was an annihilation of the long held and almost wholly accurate stereotype of the 12 -25 year old male market which kept games companies in business.

The Wii, thanks to its much acclaimed and revolutionary slant on the gaming experience has disestablished the notion of there being a ‘typical’ consumer for such a product of this variety. The Wiimote has brought a new sense of ownership to its user. Whilst gamers of generations past (and on other consoles present) satisfied themselves with the knowledge that pressing this button created this action, and pressing that button has another manifestation. And pressing them in sequence created another altogether different effect, the non-games familiar person, would just see a silly pimply adolescent, mouth hung open, whinge when they walked in front of the television screen.

For one to look from outside the games ethos to within, it seems there was a fundamental break down in understanding. That you could become a character, or become part of a story unfolding, or just plain kick someone’s ass! With the Wiimote, games now require an act to be performed ‘for real’ to see it realised within the game they are playing. I think that this created a valuable connection from the game to the person that would otherwise simply view it as a childish and insubstantial way to spend their time. Now they can see and feel the fruits of their exertions in a way previously not possible. One must agree, that swinging your arm against rather than simply tapping a button in time with an on screen baseball hurtling at you, puts you in a more inclusive way into the path of the ball. No you don’t get hurt if it hits you, but you get the sensation that if that was in real life, you would have smacked it out of the ground! In real life, you can’t step up to the plate with a controller, press ‘b’ and hope that the ball will go anywhere other than behind you for a strike. This is how the Wii has opened up the world to the joy of gaming. For seasoned gamers, it offers a new fresh and exciting dynamic to experience games through, and one extra means to an end can never be a bad thing. For the new gamer or newbie, it is both a way for them to enjoy a form of interactivity that they are unlikely to have chanced before, and a path for them to delve further into the joys that any gamer will have known and loved for years. Lest we forget that the more money going into gaming, the more money companies have to work with and the better end product the gamer gets again. In truth, it is a win-win situation.

So for this Christmas, if you’re sitting at home with your Wii, I hope you know how lucky you all really are!