Happy New Year! Favorite Posts of 2008

I can’t believe 2008 is already over! It was another crazy, but great, year. Work has been as busy as ever for us. Family and friends were getting married left and right and having babies. Our apartment almost burnt to the ground (well, sort of). I got ambushed and made over on a moving train (still waiting for it to air on TLC!). Then, of course, there were all the extracurricular activities (a trip to Texas, 2 seasons of kickball, etc.).

All of this and so much more sometimes made it difficult to find time to blog, but I’m so glad we did and, to wrap up 2008, I wanted to highlight a few of my favorite posts from the year. It was quite difficult to narrow a list down, but here it is:

• Video game related post: Nintendo Wii - Cha Ching! (Fit Launches, Calls UK Girl Fat?)
• Photography related post: Famous Photos (of the LEGO Variety)
• YouTube/ online video post: Christian the Lion = YouTube Star
• Work related post: Gamers Bill of Rights – PR to Buzz About
• Personal stories: Eaves Dropping on the Train – Boston Marathon Stories
• “List” post (you know I love lists!): Webby Awards – Buzz’ Best Bets 
• Dan Buzz post: Critter (with Au Bon Pain in the Ass finishing a close second) Editor’s Note: Booooo to Dan Buzz posts about the economy and politics! We (meaning I, Elicia, and the Dan Buzz fan club) encourage more posts in 2009 about sports, food, music, and humorous stories.

Again, hard to pick out just a few, but it is New Year’s Eve and, honestly, I’m eager to get off this damn computer, so think it is best to wrap it up for the night We’ll have to wait to see what is in store for us in 2009 – and I’m looking forward to blogging about it.

New Year's Eve Ball, 1978, New York Times

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Nintendo Wii – Cha Ching! (Fit Launches, Calls UK Girl Fat?)

For anyone even slightly connected to current events or pop culture, you’ve heard of the “Wii.” A video game console controlled by a wireless remote, the Nintendo Wii is a video game marvel recently outselling all other non-portable consoles including Microsoft’s Xbox 360, Sony PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 3. According to NPD, Nintendo has sold 714.2 thousand systems in April 2008 – cha ching!

The Wii is unique in that it appeals to an overwhelmingly broad, mainstream audience – kids, teens, men, women, and even the elderly. In fact, the Wii has become quite popular in retirement homes because it is a great way for residents to get up and moving.

Nintendo has taken the “get up and move” concept a step further with last week’s launch of the Wii Fit - a $90 pressure-sensitive “balance board” and game bundle that players can use to do yoga, aerobics, strength training, etc.

Nintendo kicked off the US launch with an event in Central Park, where they set up 38 Wii Fit systems for the public to enjoy and donated $5 to the American Heart Association with every person that tried the game. The event got a lot of attention with gaming/tech bloggers. Being in PR, this “launch event” tactic is very common. And I can tell you from experience, it is no easy feat getting the permits squared away to have an event in Central Park!

Although the game launched in the US last week, it actually had been in the UK for awhile, where Wii Fit has been making some big waves. The game measures your Body Mass Index (BMI) after you enter your age and height. According to a recent story by Mail Online, a ten year old girl was playing the game and it told her she was fat. Her parents were horrified and some experts have been dissing the Wii Fit as a result. I can see both sides of the argument – you don’t want a young girl thinking she is fat if she is not, but IT IS JUST A GAME!!!

Another amusing angle of this story is that the same week the Wii Fit launched, Nintento also released Major League Eating: The Game, which is based off of the concept of competitive speed eating – mmmmm, hot dogs.

All-in-all, the Wii has been a huge success for Nintendo and, although it’s been a year and a half since the Wii hit shelves, it is still hard to come by the console in stores, even with a $200+ price tag!

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