Video games are something that are generally played in teenager’s bedrooms. You buy them a games console when they’re ten and then they disappear for hours at a time, emerging infrequently to load up on snacks and fizzy drinks.

However, that all changed when the Nintendo Wii console was released. The Wii was a console for the living room rather than the bedroom. There are a number of reasons for this.

Firstly, the special motion sensitive controllers used by the Wii means that games are played in a much more intuitive manner. So it is easier to learn games – you don’t need to remember that the X button is to punch, the Y button controls your laser and the Z button launches your rockets. As a matter of fact, Wii games are so simple to learn that even adults can pick them up in just a few minutes.

There is also a certain amount of exercise involved in playing Wii games due to the physical element of the game control. It’s not just games like Wii Fit, which are designed to give you exercise of course – almost all Wii games require you to get moving about to a greater or lesser extent. That means that you need space to play them in.

For some reason, which is difficult to quantify precisely, Wii games and the Wii console seem to have a more social element than has been seen up to now with other PC or console games. You can “play the computer” if you want of course, but Wii games tend to be much more fun as part of a group of gamers.

It might be the fact that you need to jump about waving your hands in the air, and generally make yourself look a bit daft. For whatever reason, the Wii gives most enjoyment when performed as a group activity.

Even if it is a bit of a hackneyed expression, the Wii really is fun for children of all ages. Wii games can be a social event, they can help you to exercise and lose weight and they are a lot of fun. Most important of all, the Wii has taken video games out of teenager’s bedrooms and planted them fairly and squarely in the family living room.

Maybe that’s why Nintendo had such great success when they released a black Wii console bundle in Europe just before Christmas. It turned out to be an extremely popular choice with consumers, possibly because a black games console goes better with the TV, the DVD player, the cable box etc. Currently, the black Wii option is unavailable in the States – but it should be arriving soon.

See the black Wii – and have a look at some of the great Wii games available .