wave of mutilation

just in time for the holidays, a wave of wii-related injuries!

maybe it's the combination of the thrill of being one of the lucky few to purchase a wii and the lack of sleep from waiting in line all night at the local best buy to purchase one but, in any case, people have been knocking themselves out (quite literally) as they have engaged the wii. check out wii have a problem for stories and photos...

i think my personal favorite is this guy. he has this multi-layered expression - kind of smiling through the pain, kind of frowning (perhaps because of the cause of his injury). as it turns out, wii have a problem reports, "He fractured his clavicle playing a Wii homerun derby. That's gotta be a first." i know some people will do a little pete townshend-esque windmilling and scissor kicking while playing guitar hero, but this is pretty radical commitment to the game.

this whole wii phenomenon is pretty post-modern. as our man leonard sweet notes, our digital culture is becoming increasingly "epic"... experiential, participatory, image-rich and connective. by getting gamers to move beyond button-mashing into simulating the game itself (which kind of begs the question, why not just play the actual game? but i digress...) nintendo has certainly upped their epic quotient.

it's just a matter of time before some tech/trend-savvy churches incorporate the wii remote into their services... instead of virtually hitting a baseball, going bowling or using nunchakus faithful congregants can use their wii-motes to take virtual notes (left wii-mote is the note pad, the right one is the pen) or nod along at key points during the sermons.