Twenty-five years ago, Nintendo released its original game console, and the world has not been the same since. Kids were addicted to their own epic adventures killing dragons, saving princess, and maybe, just maybe, jumping over flagpoles. But for all those hours of hair raising quests, their grandparents sat back and yawned. They could not share the excitement.
Indeed, the elder generation has been slow in general to share in the joys of technology, but the gaming world has been particularly incomprehensible for them. Blame the music, or the controls, or the general kiddish marketing. No matter what the reason, the aging population endured video games, and did not revel in them for more than two decades.
The Nintendo Wii
And then came the Nintendo Wii. Whether the manufacturers knew it or not, the Wii would turn out to be a massive hit for senior citizens all over the country. Assisted Living centers and Nursing Homes from Oregon to Florida were buying them up and installing them in their common rooms. Patients and residents took to it quickly, and have since become almost as absorbed as their children were two decades earlier. What changed? The shift from tiny buttons to motion activation. The Wii allowed users to to control their games by moving naturally with a controller in hand or a balance board under their feet. And after just four years, the entire demographic has changed dramatically. More than 25% of the gaming population is over the age of fifty.
The Xbox Kinect
Today, we are being barraged with advertisements for another system which will only increase this trend. The Xbox Kinect system picks up where the Wii left off. With the Kinect, a user does not have to hold any controllers, or stand on any board. The gamer's own body genstures and voice commands operate the games. So now, seniors will be able to gather in front of a TV, talk to the Kinect, and play a round of virtual golf in a startlingly realistic setting. There are no complicated tiny buttons to navigate with, and nothing they have to hold on to.
Xbox has upped the ante in another way, too. The Kinect, which is connected with the Xbox 360 system, has video conferencing capabilities and a sophisticated online environment. For seniors, this could be a huge draw. Not only can they talk to their ten year old grandson on the television, they can also challenge him to a virtual inter-state grudge match.
The Wii became a way for seniors to embrace technology. The Kinect could do something even more profound. If seniors can get past the price tag (the Kinect will easily cost more than $400 for the full console, game, and add on features) this system could allow kids to embrace their grandparents on terms that they are both comfortable with, no matter where they live.
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