Pikmin

My son has been playing an interesting game on his Nintendo Wii game system called Pikmin. It has been around since the Nintendo Gamecube (released in 2001) but was updated to work with the Wii's controllers. In case you don't know, Nintendo turned the gaming world upside down when it came out with its wireless motion sensitive game controllers. It lets you get into the game in ways I never imagined. All of a sudden, you felt like you are really bowling or really swinging a bat or, in the case of Pikmin, really telling some little creatures what to do and where to go.

In the picture at the right, you can see Evan and his assistant, Henry the Cat, playing the game. The premise is that Olimar, the captain of a space vessel (in the picture on the left), has his ship damaged by being hit by an asteroid and has to make an emergency landing on the closest planet. His ship breaks apart as he is landing and the pieces are scattered on the planet. The planet has a poisonous atmosphere (of oxygen;-) and that limits how long he has to find all of his parts and repair his ship for the trip home.

He discovers a unique life form that he calls Pikmin (in the picture at the lower right - with Olimar) that start out like plants but once they are plucked, they behave like animals. They seem to like Olimar and follow his commands. The game lets you slowly discover how to control the Pikmin and to discover new things about the planet. There are many hazards to overcome and you have to use your puzzle solving skills to get past the barriers and hostile animals that stand in the way of retrieving all the parts for the ship and getting back home. Evan has me and my wife playing the game. It's very interesting and a real test of patience while you try to figure your way out of problems. There are three different types of Pikmin with different skills, strengths and weaknesses and you have to figure out how the different types can help in different situations.

It's a lot of fun and when I think I've got problems, I just imagine what it would be like to be marooned on a strange planet with a limited time to fix my ship before I can get home. I'm glad I can just jump in the car and get home in fifteen minutes!