Catching up on the latest in gaming trends

If you know my kids, please do not share the contents of this column with them.

My wife, Jena, and I have entered the early discussion period which could ultimately end up in our family acquiring a Wii. Or perhaps a DS. Or maybe two DS’s. Or maybe nothing at all. And therein lies the discussion.

The Wii, as well as the DS, are both gaming systems, for those of you not hip on the latest in gaming trends. The Wii is a home-based game that runs off your television. It’s unique in that it features a wireless platform, with a control you use to mimic the actual motion of activities like bowling or baseball, or whatever game you are playing. The DS, apparently short for “dual screen,” is a smaller, handheld, portable gaming system.

We’re just in the beginning stages of talks about entering the world of such things, but there’s a couple of birthdays coming up this summer, and we’re weighing our options.

Part of me is not sure either is such a good idea. Though the Wii does require some actual physical activity, I’m sure there are endeavors that are more healthy physically than video games. Besides that, when I was a kid, my parents never got me gaming systems, so it almost doesn’t seem fair that my children would have them.

Then again, whether it’s at home or at a friend’s house, my kids are going to play video games. And in an era dominated by technological gadgetry, it’s not the worst thing in the world to have children who are accustomed to electronic gadgets in all their various forms. (Besides that, there’s no rule that says parents aren’t allowed to say “turn that off and go outside and play,” when need be.)

As I mentioned above, I never had a gaming system of my own growing up. But I had friends who did. So whether it was the Atari 2600 or the Commodore 64, I spent some time playing video games as a kid. I remember being awed at such games as Space Invaders and Breakout, which seemed brilliant at the time, though now they seem like the video game equivalent of drawings on a cave wall.

By the time I got to college, Nintendo was king of the industry. The NES was as common to the male dormitory as the laundry basket and the backpack, and video games were a great stress reliever and time-killer between classes. In fact, in my first semester of college, I probably learned more about the invisible boxes and hidden warp zones in Super Mario Brothers than I did about English Comp or College Algebra.

But after college, I pretty much lost touch with the gaming world. Sure, I’d hear occasional rumors of things like the “Game Cube,” the “PlayStation” or the “X-Box,” but I couldn’t tell you much about them. I probably even played one or more of them at a friend’s house somewhere along the line, but I couldn’t even tell you which one.

So, a couple of years ago, when my kids started coming home from school with tales of video games, I obviously had some catching up to do. A couple of Christmases ago, my daughter Katie got her heart set on a Gameboy, so we broke down at got one. And it has sure gotten a lot of use. Though, interestingly enough, Katie is probably a distant third as far as the Gameboy’s most frequent user. That honor probably goes to her little brother, Drew, who doesn’t even seem to care that the Gameboy is pink. Same goes for me, and I’ve probably logged the second highest number of hours on the toy. Even Jena has played a couple of times.

But the Gameboy is starting to wear out. A couple of its buttons no longer work well, and, quite frankly, it’s outdated. The arrival of the DS has made it more difficult to buy games for the older Gameboy.

If we do decide to invest in a new gaming system, I hope it’s something that can provide enjoyment for the whole family. The idea of a single kid holed up in their room playing video games all weekend is less appealing than the idea of two or three or four family members having fun together, with an assist from modern technology, if need be. So that will play a role as we continue our discussions.

Just don’t tell the kids.