Thank you!!

i think it might drive others a little nuts how much he loves it

he loves to make miis

the wii balance board is his favorite

i wish they would make wii fit for kids though i think it would be more realistic he gets frustrated with some of the strength, balance games because he has 7 yo autitic muscles

Alvin and the chipmunks: =(
Rated E for everyone
Nintendo recommends ages 6+

PROS: Good songs

CONS:Cheesy graphics, Extremely difficult controls to understand & master, too much going on on-screen and there really isn’t “wii interactivity” as there is with some of the other games, this is more of a button-pushing only game.

Summary-I would not recommend this game to anyone

Dance Dance Revolution: Hottest Party 2: =|
Rated E for 10+ due to mild lyrics & Suggestive Themes

PROS: Workout mode=you can set a time limit to the play and even if you miss every note, you continue through to the end of the song/s until your time is up. My son likes to follow along with the dancers onscreen and doesn’t pay much attention to where and when he’s ’supposed’ to step.

CONS: This game requires a “dance pad” (We use one from the nintendo game cube as they are compatible with the wii.) The game requires a lot of coordination as you must step on the dance pad in the correct spot corresponding to indicators on the TV. My son does understand the idea, but the game’s indicators are much to fast (and too many at a time) for him. I believe there is a way to slow the steps down, but I haven’t found it yet. There is only one song my son enjoys in this game “I can’t help falling in love”. Most of the songs are for pre-teens to teenagers or older and are (as the rating reflects) not really appropriate for younger children but not grotesquely so. Some of the dancers wear skimpy outfits, but again not too bad.

Summary- I set the timer for 15 to 30 minutes in workout mode and my son just dances along with his mii. He doesn’t seem aware of or effected by the mildly negative comments directed at his “missed” steps (although I wish I could find a way to turn that off) and he just dances away. I would highly suggest renting this game to try it out first before purchase to make sure the content and in-game remarks are OKAY by you! But it is a fun way for him to get some exercise.

American Idol: Encore 2: =)
Rated E for 10+ due to lyrics

PROS: Sing your heart out with or without the judges commenting on it. “Practice mode” is available (no booing of stage) as well as “Karaoke” mode which is a ‘typical’ karaoke style setup, no score, no judging, just the words changing color to show you where you’re at.

CONS: You need a microphone (The game I purchased came with one.) There are not any ‘kid’ songs in the choices, (my son likes to sing Apologize.) The judges can be quite harsh in thier comments.

Summary- Either Karaoke mode, or “quick play” is usually what I choose to let my son sing to avoid the commentary from the judges (although he’s gotten quite good on the easy setting.) And he LOVES to sing into microphones so this is a great choice for us. There are other singing games out there that may be more appropriate (and have a better selection of kid’s songs) but this is defintley a ‘fun game’ for us to play and he is learning to control the pitch of his voice by watching which way the arrow goes in practice mode.

Wii Fit: =) =) =)
E for Everyone

Pros: We only had our son try this for the first time yesterday and are very impressed. The ‘trainers’ show you the moves and you just follow along with them during the exercises. The dance step (in areobics) and the soccer-head-butt game are his two favorites. However most of the yoga and some of the strength training exercises are easy enough to follow along as well and the game keeps track of how much time he spends on each exercise so it’s easy for us to make sure he gets in enough exercise each day! Even if you don’t make it on the ‘high score’ list, you do get to see YOUR own personal best time on the board! (So everyone ‘wins’)

Cons: Despite the game “knowing” his age, the games & exercises aren’t any different than those available to us. He hasn’t quite grasped how to lean his body on the wii-board yet but as he’s only had it for 1 day, I feel that he’ll figure it out with our help in no-time. Some of the exercises (and dance steps) seem too complicated for his age, but there are plenty to choose from.

Summary- I wish we would have started him on this sooner. He does so well following along with the yoga & strength trainer and as long as I’m there to help ’spot’ him so that he keeps his legs straight & help him with some of the more confusing poses he does amazing and has gotten some pretty high scores. I think some of these exercises will help so much with strengthening his posture & muscle tone. He can do the dance step on his own already with minimal confusion (and has gotten better each time he played it) (and they don’t boo at you if you mess up, it just pauses so you can have a moment to collect yourself.) I really feel this is the best ‘game’ for the whole family! Our son even ‘participates’ when it’s our turn by laughing or saying ‘oh no’ or ‘oops’ if we mess up.

We do have several other games that we haven’t had him try yet (one game at a time until he ‘gets it’ and can choose which he prefers as we slowly add more) so hopefully I’ll have more reviews soon to add!

I wrote about it on my blog here:

http://www.bonbongazette.com/2008/08/im-believer-in-wii-therapy.html