Firstly. I will acknowledge that I am not really using this blog in the way that is intended. I realise that my, so far, lengthily and bulky posts are not in keeping with the blog format and hope to adapt to the blogging process as my ethnography continues. For now the block posting (originally typed in Word over the weekend) will have to serve as my three previous entries even though older areas of discussion will display first.

I bought the Wii and an extra Nunchuck controller on Saturday, I also borrowed a mini DV camera to record play in progress. I was unsuccessful in my search for Wii Play (with extra controller) in the high street and resorted to buying it online. It should be delivered tomorrow and will allow a greater level of interactivity for multiple player play. Setting up the console and recording devices was rather frustrating, I had hoped that placing the DV camera on top of the television would lead to players being framed appropriately. Unfortunately it is not possible to frame the entire body of a player (bodies of players) by positioning the camera on top of the television and as a temporary measure I have had to put it on a window sill. I hope to get some sketches/photos of the setup online soon.

I had hoped to set up the Wii with the capacity for two people to play, both with their own controller but I am glad that it didn’t work out that way. Sharing a controller was an interesting experience for both of us; we were both raring to have a go on the console but we were forced to share our first experience of the Wii in action. We took turns in navigating the interface and reading the instructions. Becky was the first to play Wii Sports and she selected Wii Bowling as the first game to be played and proceeded to play a few turns, experimenting with the controller; locating particular buttons was the first task but the action seemed to come naturally. We both knew the actions required from our experience of real world bowling and it was interesting that these actions were instantly applied during play. The on-screen instructions were read but mainly to discover which buttons needed to be pressed. Even at this early stage, before I had actually played the device I began t wonder to what extent the physical actions needed to be played out; did you really need to step into the bowl, would jumping on your tip-toes and impersonating the actions of a boxer really help you win the game – was it really necessary.

I knew at this point that I was going to test the console, I wanted to see if you could actually just sit on the sofa whilst playing virtual baseball or whether ‘playing the (imaginary) game’ was really necessary to succeed. After hearing so much about the Wii I was preparing to test its capabilities and felt that I wouldn’t get caught up in unnecessary actions, I would remain grounded in reality whilst participating in play. I didn’t realise that this was not realistically going to happen; I was totally drawn into the game play, the distinction between the real and virtual world and the actions that each required became blurred. I was draw into play and the virtual or imaginary environment that it occurred in. This happened to an even greater extent when we discovered the Wii boxing game that is a currently favourite, well a personal favourite anyway.

The distinction between the real and play world or rather the reality of the play world became even deeper after a few glasses of wine. Forgetting the real world and becoming engrossed in the fantasy world of play became much easier, there was less distraction and the particular world being inhabited at any one time was focussed on to a greater extent. Throughout the evening I would suggest that both of us were engaged in play at times, even though only one of us was controlling the console or ‘playing’ the game at any one time. We were both immersed in the sphere of play at times and on reflection this is quite an interesting event that highlights the specific roles of those engaging in play: the players and the spectators for example and where the boundaries between those roles lie.

I think it has been really important to film as much as possible to. I now need to get a copy of the previous version f the editing software that I am using as the latest version doesn’t work with my DV bridge which is rather frustrating. I need to get this sorted as soon as possible as I will begin to get a backlog of footage if I can’t start transferring it onto my Mac. I have come to realise that it is not feasible to record every instance of play in DV form but the more that I can capture the better. I am going to focus particularly on joint play as well as encouraging Becky to capture recordings of her own play. I have discovered that it may not be necessary to record what is played and when in a play log as this is done automatically by the Wii. The messages section of the OS allows a user to view their achievement for a particular day along with the amount of time that has been spent playing the console. This should prove pretty interesting as there is now a firm record of play that is not debatable, the Wii is now charged with recording play for the purpose of this ethnography.

On the second day of owning the console I investigated whether the Wii could be used to browse the Internet. I was particularly interested to find out whether the browser could access Hotmail, after owning several mobile phones that claimed to have the capacity to browse the Internet I was aware that any access offered may not be ‘full’. I found out that for a one off payment of £3.50 (or 500 points) I could download the latest Opera browser for the Wii which offered pretty much full Internet access. I was, however, disappointed to discover that the BBC iPlayer does not work with the current Wii Opera browser; it appears that the latest Flash plug-in is not available for the system as yet – with the blame appearing to be currently residing with Adobe. I found that there was quite a bit of discussion about the Wii-iPlayer issues which suggests that others can see the benefit of being able to use the iPlayer through the Wii which is usually connected to a television used to view broad/narrowcasts as well as game play. I have used the iPlayer on my computer but it makes a lot more sense to be able to view BBC programs through the iPlayer on a television. It would mean that programs could be watched in the comfort of our living room instead of having to go up to the (cold) office where there is no sofa and a pretty small computer screen to view. Hopefully Nintendo/Opera/Adobe will get their act together and realise the potential of a fully functional iPlayer for the Wii. I would be interested to know if the Xbox-360 or PS3 have the same capabilities.

iPlayer aside I have actually used the Internet browser quite a lot. At certain times I will switch the Wii on to check my Email accounts or college/university VLEs. I have found the navigation a little difficult to get used to but am getting used to it, I really like the way that you can zoom right out of a page to see it in its entirety without having to scroll, although I wouldn’t want to use the system for much more than occasional use. There are a lot of document types that aren’t supported which means that attachments can’t be viewed etc. But ultimately the Internet browsing capabilities of the Wii are an add-on with the primary function being game play.

After the first two days of play I have found that my body physically aches! My forearms are particularly stiff even when I am not playing on the Wii. It seems that the console really does give you a physical workout of sorts. I was surprised that the Wii didn’t take you through some kind of warm up exercises rather than just directing you to the owners manual/a page on the Nintendo website. Warm-up exercises could work really well with the devices used to control the console and could bar players from playing without participating in some preparatory exercise first.

I have started to find the Wii boxing (part of the bundled Wii Sports package) rather frustrating. It had been the game that I played the most, and I had been really enjoying it. It was initially easy to defeat opponents and gain points, moving towards achieving ‘Pro’ status (1000 points). Punching combos seemed to be really easy during the first few matches and I felt like I was in control of my character. I was convinced that there was a good relationship between the movements being made by the player and the reproduction of those movements on screen; a belief which is now wavering a little due to my inability to punch combos when fighting at a pro level. I can’t decide my frustration with the controls stems from the game becoming more difficult as I progress through the difficulty levels or if the first 15-20 matches were being played whilst I was fairly excited about the new console and method of play. Did my initial excitement blur my vision in relation to just how accurate control is. Other games are equally frustrating, especially Baseball and Tennis; I still have no idea where the ball is going to end up in either of these games after I hit it. I think that I can judge how to hit the ball, but I am sure that I have no idea where it will end up in the field of play. Returning to my previous discussion of testing the console I have decided that although it is possible to play the games without as much physical exertion as I had been using it is not nearly as enjoyable and you don’t feel as though you are in as much control of the game.

Becky has been working for the past few days and has not had much free time to play the Wii. She played the console briefly this afternoon and I showed here the sections that I had unlocked through achieving certain amounts of points. It is interesting to think about the Wii Sports game as being multiplayer. Even though we have both created Mii characters, and only use our own characters when engaging in play the areas that I have unlocked are available to both of us. I think that this may be seen as a little disappointing in some respects as the unlocking process has been completed, or is the process of being completed. The game is being played by one of us which could be seen as detracting from the others experience.

I hope to have a few images up by the end of the week to show some comparisons between what is being displayed on screen and what is happening in the real, physical world. This will depend on my ability to get hold of a VHS player (the one I am using is part of the TV which makes it difficult to transport) and an older version of the editing software compatible with my DV bridge. I will certainly attempt to put some of my clips taken using a mobile phone onto the blog soon.