In honour of of my wonderful different thinking boy I note the passing of the Wii shop channel.
What??!! I hear you think. The Wii for many millions of people was a break out form of social family gaming with quirks and joy and fun and creativity often at the core.
A vast number of current games in social gaming are tilted to preying on nascent addictive behaviour and predatory designs that tap into strongly wired human learning mechanisms and behaviour. Not that any game is free from inducing dopamine or stimulating the nucleus accumbens of our brains but the Wii for me was a part of gentler age of gaming and its quirky interactions with physical movements and its broader appeal to females made it a positive part of social and relationship “capital”.
The Wii was quirky. The Wii shop was a quirky interface. And in terms of design thinking rather than function over form or form and function - I think it embodies the idea of fun for fun sakes and to celebrate the quirky individual of creativity as seen by Miis.
...and that jingle theme tune....
D-du d-du d-du d-doooo
D-du d-du d-du d-doooo
D-DU D-DU d-du d-doooo
D-DU D-DU d-du d-doooo
Du-d-doooo d-d-d-du-du-dooo du
Du-du-du-DU-dooooo du-du-du-dooooo...
I honour the quirks and acknowledge some of us may have lost a tiny part of our souls.