Wii and folks over 50.

[Iguana Man]

Who says the Wii isn't innovative! It's grabbing a whole new customer base never heard of before, the AARP crowd!

How cool is this!

Snipet:

A look at some other marketers' strategies for courting consumers north of age 50:

Nintendo.

The video game company is not only showing up at AARP conferences the way many marketers show up at college spring breaks, it also has donated Wii game consoles to retirement community recreation rooms across the country. Nintendo's theory is that if it gets potential customers to sample the player and its games, those people are significantly more likely to buy game consoles for their homes — to use themselves and, perhaps, to pull out when the grandchildren visit.

"The percentage of people in that (50-plus) category is going to increase dramatically," says George Harrison, Nintendo senior vice president of marketing and corporate communications. "We had to find ways to appeal to this aging audience."

The Wii's intuitive and active design — the remote is wireless, motion-controlled and not button-heavy — makes it attractive to casual gamers as well as novices of all ages, he says. "Historically, game controllers had multiple buttons to push and were too intimidating."

Stephen Baranowski, 56, from Oxford, Conn., enjoyed a test drive of the game console at the Wii booth where Crawford was playing.

"I've probably never bought a video game in my life," he says. But after time on the $250 system, he says he's likely to splurge on one. "The technology has reached a point of use — you can use your natural ability to play a game."

[Ruined]

It is definitely cool. If only the Wii had more games like Wii sports...

Most of the other games look like typical games with Wii control tacked on (including a lot of the Nintendo ones)

[SilentBob]

They actually just did a news report on the Wii for retirement homes on one of my local channels. Its brilliant and great to see. Its also amazing to see how many of them are also buying the Nintendo DS system because of the Brain age games. I've been in several stores (mostly seen at Wal-Mart) Where i will see older folks asking for the system and suggestion on which Brain Age too get. The clerks ask what the kids like to play and lately i hear "Oh no this is for my friend who is over 50" and older ages mention too. Nintendo isn't the best looking powerful system on the market but it has tapped into the fountain of youth gaming wise.

[plissken99]

Older gamers are going to be more and more common place I feel. Just yesterday I talked to a guy who must have been 55-60 in Best Buy about how to get through a place in Half Life 2 on the PC! And you should have seen how excited he was when I tald him about the existence of Half Life 2 vol. 1-2!

[ganthc]

Our office recently made a move into Northern Virginia from Georgetown, and in our new space, there is a break room where we now have a Wii set up. I think that's pretty cool.

[EM3]

Not to mention with older folks they have disposable income!

[RaceTripper]

Guess I need to buy a Wii. I'll be 50 this year.

(seriously, I am planning to get one when they are available again)