***The winners have been chosen by Random.org. They are Poppa2b, Carolee and Julia. ***
So now Nintendo has asked me to be a Brand Ambassador. I’m not totally sure what it means but I do keep getting free stuff, which is nice and they have not yet set fire to my house so I think both of those things must be part of the agreement. As far as I can tell, we come in peace and bearing gifts.
Last weekend, they sponsored a little get-together at my house with some friends. We had a game and movie night with food and games provided by Nintendo. They also sent along a sweet little flip video camera to capture the fun and we did have a great time.
However, I’ll warn you that as I tried to edit this little baby together, I discovered that there’s not much in the world quite as boring as watching video of other people playing video games and watching movies. There is a really cute shot of Wanda in the middle of it all which I think makes it worth watching.
We downloaded Haunted Mansion Party with the free points cards they sent us, kind of a board game with interactive Wii-play arcade-type games along the way, and ended up playing some old favorites, Big Brain Academy and Dr. Mario as well.
Then keeping with the Dr. theme, we streamed Dr. Horrible with our Netflix disc. I think everyone enjoyed themselves. We’d do it again for sure.
Nintendo provided some Nintendo Points Cards to give out to our friends and since I consider you all friends, I’m extending the party and I’ll send cards to a few of you if you’d like. Just leave a comment listing your favorite game for the Wii and I’ll draw 3 winners to receive a couple thousand Nintendo Points each so you can download fun software for your Wii or DS.
The timing was a little funny to be throwing a party celebrating streaming Netflix because we’ve had some issues with it lately. We’d been really enjoying it until a couple of weeks ago. There are a lot of great movies and TV series available and it’s nice to have them on demand.
But two weeks ago, we left Magoo inside playing Lego Batman while Dan put together the play set in the back yard and he got into some trouble with the Netflix. He knows he’s not allowed to use it without me or Dan there but like most 5 year-olds, he thinks he’s smarter than us and he “totally knows what movies are for kids.”
Long story short, he ended up watching some really offensive content. It was animated so he thought it was okay but it was WAY R-rated and honestly I don’t know any adults who would not have been offended by it. It was awful. Luckily Netflix keeps track of what’s been watched so we could go back and see what he’d seen and address it, but it was a wakeup call.
Nintendo products tend to be so family-friendly, a big part of the reason I chose the Wii and the DS over other gaming systems when I had money to spend. However, the Netflix disc does open up a whole new can of worms. We now have the whole Wii on lockdown so I have to enter a passcode for the kids to use any game or the Netflix disc. I’ve also set our Netflix rating max to PG in case I leave it unlocked someday.
So, be wise. Use it for the good but protect your family from the bad.
Leave a comment if you’re interested in the giveaway!
Well, I’m a big fan of the Wii Fit Plus but the game most played on our Wii is Mario Kart racing game. I think my son would play it every hour of every day if we let him!
We like Mario Kart games and Rabid Rabbits.
We have had Netflix for awhile now and recently changed it so we can get the movies thru our Wii. We have not been that impressed. We can’t get any new releases. Kind of a bummer.
can I stream netflix on my wii? I would use it for that!
Yeah, you just need to request one from your Netflix page. It was pretty easy. The disc is included in the cost of your subscription and you just pop it in like a game and have access to your instant queue on your TV.
I originally got the Wii for the sports games but then added the Wii-Fit to the list of games. When I upgraded my internet to wireless I cancelled the cable and ordered the Netflix for Wii.
It’s proven to be not the best decision I’ve made because it took Baby Dumpling 2 days to figure out how to turn it on and start the show she wants to watch. I didn’t set a password for her I just moved all the shows acceptable for her to the top of the queue, but since she likes watching the same shows over and over that hasn’t become an issue, “YET!!!”
Dude. I’d lock it down. What Magoo got into was mind-bogglingly bad. Luckily I think most of it went over his head.
You win! Please send me a private email with your address so I can send the points to you.
-Kathryn
Super Mario Bros. is my favorite game ever ever ever ever!
I go through cycles when it comes to my gaming. I’ve been working on Super Mario 64 (a game my orthodontist had in the waiting room when I was 10) and only have to beat Bowser at the end, but he’s hard, so I haven’t played it for a couple of weeks.
We finally moved our games out of the drawer and out into the open. If I’m gonna pay $50 a pop, we’re gonna play the games! Haha My husband and I have been taking turns (rather long turns on his part, may I add) playing Super Mario Galaxy, and in a month or so, we’ll be needing the second one. 🙂
But the disc that’s in the Wii most often is definitely Netflix. We watch TV shows, mostly. My 2-year-old loves Hannah Montana and Super Why. And we were able to watch Dr Who, up until the most recent season with the new doctor. (No more David Tennant, so sad.) Torchwood and Buffy are up next.
I use the Wii mostly for exercise, with Wii Fit and EA Active (just finished spending some quality sweat time with both of them). Living in Nigeria where my outside exercise is very limited, this has given me needed alternatives to the eliptical in our apartment. I would love to try some other games. I don’t know if Netflix works overseas — probably not and our internet probably doesn’t stream fast enough anyway. I”ll have to wait till I get back to the States to try that out.
Hey Carolee,
You Win! Let me know what address you’d like the points cards sent to.
-Kathryn
I really need to jump on the Netflix bandwagon.
We love our Wii. We won it at the school bingo game two years ago. We play Wii Sports Resort and we’re buying the new Harry Potter Lego game today.
We’ve also been streaming Netflix from our Wii and loving it. Dr. Who (the recent ones with David Tenant) is a favorite.
Super Smash Brothers Brawl is a hit at our house.
Super Mario Brothers is the current favorite – we never got to play old school nintendo games so this has been a lot of fun and a definite learning experience, haha.
Guitar Hero, Wii Sports, Wii Fit (which should be used a lot more now that I’m done having 2 babies in 2 years but I can’t seem to find the time; Go figure), Mario Cart, some of the old school games, it goes on and on. My 10 year old loves to play!
WarioWare: Smooth Moves has been my favorite. But we’re enjoying Dr. Mario wii-style and the wiifit too.
There is no shortage of surprises. Pam and I sat down to watch a PG-rated movie the other evening, and about halfway through there was a scene full of naked women – fumble for remote, turn off the TV, swear to never again watch anything but pre-1960 Disney movies.
Looks like lots of fun!! I love the Mario Party games as well as Guitar Hero!!
I love the World of Goo and Dr Mario games. A really fun game to play with a group is Defend the castle. It is so funny and a bit addictive!
We love Super Mario Bros and Game Party 2, my hubby and I go crazy trying to beat eachother in darts on the Wii…super fuN!
Guitar Hero BABY!!!
My favorite Wii game is Mario Kart, because apparently I was a frustrated (and possibly drunk) race car driver in a former life.
My kids’ favorite game is Lego Indiana Jones, which has led to them doing things like spending 20+ minutes at a time just standing there saying to each other, back and forth, “Hey! Your hat looks just like mine!” “My hat looks just like yours!” They are weird.
Mario Kart Wii is the most popular title around here:)
We have the roku and the wii streaming with netflix. One nice thing about the roku is that you can disable browsing. That means your kids can only see what is in the instant queue.
Hopefully one of the manufacturers will come up with an upgrade where you put in a password to enable/disable browsing.
I’d jump in for some free points!
We have too many games to choose a very favorite. We like the Wii Fit Plus, Wii Sports resort, and we are especially partial to the Lego games. We have Lego Star Wars, Batman and both Indiana Jones games. Harry Potter is next on our list.
Right now, our boys are in the middle of Mario Galaxy 2.
Easily the most used disc in our house is the Netflix, followed in a far second by Mario Kart. But, we sure do love our wii!
I love playing Wii Fit with the family. There are some fun games on there that just leave us laughing so hard!
Boom Blox Bash Party. Any age can play, it’s good for a group (we bought two more wiimotes just for this game) and boys especially love crashing and bashing things.
I love all the Lego Wii games, and can’t wait to try Lego Harry Potter!
Honestly you made playing the video games look fun! Great job editing. Wish I had been able to go!
My favorite thing on the Wii? The off button. But I’m the only one in my family that feels that way! My kids love bowling, all of the Lego games,some car racing stuff and Fifa Soccor. My husband and son have near daily 3 point shoot out battles on Wii Resort. That has had the most play lately in our house.
How fun! Well not so much the R rated thing for kids. I have basic Netflix = 2 discs a month. How great to be able to stream movies. I think I need this.
Love the DDR game. I cant dance. This totally deceives me into thinking I can
I love Mario Kart. When I was pregnant, I spent every evening playing Mario Kart. I was the best in my family. Then the baby was born and I had to say good bye to Mario Kart. Last night I played a little Mario Kart with the 10 yr old and she beat me! Not that winning is important…or at least that’s what I tell her…but I definitely need to work on my Mario Kart driving skills.
First time commenting, but have to say I love your blog. I got hooked on the Parenting Post a while back and am reading through your archives now.You make me laugh out loud and if I lived anywhere near Seattle I’d love to be your friend. I don’t have a Wii, and therefore no favorite game. But, I am buying on for my daughter’s bd this month.
Julia,
I’m glad you like the blog. It’s fun to find out more about who’s out there. You won the Nintendo points. Please send me a private email letting me know where to send them. Thanks!
-Kathryn
We LOVE Wii + Netflix! No cable tv here! Favorite game: Super Mario Bros
I’ve been considering canceling the cable and just doing netflix instead. Streaming it to the wii sounds like an awesome plan. We love Wii fit’s hula hooping.
We are big fans of Just Dance (did not think I was going to like that one, but was pleasantly surprised), Star Wars Lego, and HARRY POTTER lego!
I’m really digging the downloadable Final Fantasy IV: The Afteryears right now. Really, we’ve gotten more Wiiware games than discs, I think.