Wii Hardly Knew Ye: Requiem For A Wednesday

There can be something uniquely bond-forming about a video game console. Something that, to me, goes back to the days I'd walk the mile to my local video rental store. My friends and I would talk about games on the way. We'd argue about what to rent when we got there. And we'd inevitably obsess over the game for a weekend that passed all too soon.

While the technology has advanced past my day, when Nintendo cartridges were made of dinosaur bone, the magnetic pull of a multi-player game hasn't changed a bit. I can still remember the way people would cluster arou

nd the big screen TVs in what used to be the pedestrian lounge. A good game of Smash Brothers or Mario Kart was as precious as an iPhone charger, with people almost always jockeying for the next round.

Then why did that big screen welcome gamers of all types while the SAO's Wii Wednesday died a slow, lingering death?

Maybe it was the television screen, as size matters despite what we tell ourselves. Certainly wasn't from a lack of advertising, as every Wednesday's events email mentioned it. Personally, I think the location could have been better as the SAO blocked sight lines to the game system with tables often filled with people studying. While fixed with the recent renovations, that lounge has become even more of a ghost town in the middle of a booming student center. Sadly, the old fogey in me can't help but blame this generation of laptops and smart phones distracting away from this unique form of entertainment .

There was something so inherently social lost with this Wii console's passing. And while little pockets of clique-y gaming have scattered to the four corners of the student center, I will mourn a day when we all could come together to knock video game characters off ledges and have a little fun.

Rest well, Wii Wednesday, you left us too soon.