The Nintendo Wii, virtualisation and gestural analogics

Crogan, Patrick

Abstract

This paper examines the Nintendo Wii from a perspective informed by Martin Heidegger’s existential analysis of equipmental being in order to make some claims about the
signficance of the Wii’s innovative interface. The Wii enhanced the analogical, gestural component of user input in home game consoles which are (or were) based more firmly in digital, finger-based input. The Wii’s redefinition of interactive media engagement heralds a wider transition to a more embodied media technicity of
virtual experience. I will advance some propositions about how to understand the Wii’s popularity, its place in advancing a mainstream program of the application of VR technics, and its potential to open up other programmings of ‘spatio-physicality.’

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2010
• Deposit Date: Apr 9, 2010
• Publicly Available Date: Nov 15, 2016
• Journal: Culture Machine
• Print ISSN: 1465-4121
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 11
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 82-101
• Keywords: home game consoles, virtualisation, gestural analogics
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/982154
• Publisher URL: http://www.culturemachine.net
• Contract Date: Nov 15, 2016