Many families want a Wii under their tree this Christmas. I was lucky enough to obtain one before Christmas. When I went to visit my mother for the holidays, she decided to invite her neighbors over to play Wii Sports.

These neighbors have lived in smaller towns in Arizona for a long time. They have three children, and the teenage son is the main gamer in the family. Their younger daughter plays computer games (her Christmas list included Civilization IV) and the rest of the family is more or less indifferent towards games.

At first, only the son and the younger daughter played the Wii. The son is a quiet high schooler, but he actually got somewhat animated and showed a sign of a smile while playing the Wii. He played tennis with his sister (who managed to beat him a couple of times) and really got into it. The younger daughter really enjoyed playing the Wii and stayed long after everyone else had gone to practice her skills in Wii tennis and golf.

A couple days later, they came back to play again. We had invited the children, but before we knew it, we had all five of our neighbors and two guests who had come over to see what all the commotion was about. The daughter played against her father in Wii Sports boxing. They stood side by side, staring intently at the screen, jabbing and dodging like pros. The father didn’t really play games, and yet he was able to find a technique that allowed him to consistently get strikes and spares in bowling.

It seems that the intuitive design of the motion control in Wii Sports allows people who don’t play games very often to jump right in with the regular gamers. Even people who may not have grown up with games can apply techniques from real life to the games in Wii Sports. However, one of the guests who came along was an engineer. He quickly noticed how the motion control was based more on acceleration than actual swings and arm motions. While it seems that the acceleration-based control was designed to coordinate with regular sports motions, another friend of mine noticed that games such as boxing can be beaten easily with simple wrist flicks.

While Wii Sports’ motion control may not be the most sophisticated in its techniques, it does allow great potential form bringing families and friends together. At its core, the Wii can become a great party console where everyone gets a turn – and a chance to try something really fun.