First up was Wii Fit, because I needed to enter in the 30 minutes of running I did with Kim at the 5K we ran in Central Park that morning. I figured since it was already loaded up, she could try the Trial game, which I'd never bothered checking out. She did a Body Test first, and although the BMI was naturally skewed, I was surprised at how low her Wii Fit Age came out to be. Lower than my first try, that's for sure! Then we moved on to some exercises and games. There's a selection of 3 strength training, 3 aerobic, three yoga and 6 balance games to choose from. Not a bad selection. She did quite well with the yoga and strength training, but struggled with getting the Hula Hoop movement down at first. Skiing was a struggle until she realized that she could lean like she was really skiing, but by then she was already mostly down the hill! The tightrope didn't work out well at all, but she thought the Ski Jump was pretty fun. At one point, she even declared that she should totally get this game.

"Wii Fit made me want to buy a Wii" she said. "The moves/challenges were just about as difficult as I thought they'd be. Then it called me fat, and I had to re-think my impulse to buy it."

Next, I had her play through the tutorial level of Strong Bad's Cool Came For Attractive People because she's also a fan of the cartoon. And it helped that Strong Bad basically walks you through the basics of adventure gaming to get you started, since she has never played one in her life. Surprisingly, I noticed that while he tells you how to click on things to examine them, there's no instruction on how to move. Kim got to the part where she's supposed to walk Strong Bad over to Strong Sad's room, and she didn't know what to do. Of course, when I played it, I just sort of instinctively knew how to move around. Interesting what you take for granted.

"I love StrongBad, so I it was awesome to watch him putz about his house and give the other characters grief. The Teen Girl Squad part was the best. Strange to see him in three dimensions, though."

After having Kim create a Mii, we worked our way through Wii Sports, skipping golf because she didn't have any interest, and I find it pretty dull myself. Tennis was fun, and we had a tie baseball game at 0 to 0 (what — I haven't played in ages!), then she did pretty well with bowling. Controls were a little bit of an issue here, and I've noticed that a lot of newbies have trouble with the holding of the B trigger as you pull back and releasing as you swing forward. Not sure why. We finished up with boxing, and she totally kicked my ass.

"Loved Wii Sports baseball, bowling and especially tennis. Skipped the golf, because come on... Kicked Wootini's butt halfway to Tuesday in the boxing, a development that (I think) surprised him."

After the surprising workout that is Wii Sports boxing (and no, I wasn't surprised to get my butt kicked), I thought it would be nice to play something relaxing, so I popped Endless Ocean in for a bit. Again, control was a bit of an issue, something I found surprising, because I'd always thought Nintendo prided itself of making Wii games with relatively instinctive and easy control schemes. I'd never given it much thought, because to a gamer, they're simple controls, but to a non-gamer, they can still be a little tricky. Of course, once she got the hang of swimming around, she marveled at the pretty fish and how relaxing it was to go scuba diving. Especially when the sharks don't eat you.

"Endless Ocean was beautiful, even if I did accidentally keep ramming my diver into coral reefs and near-beaching him on the sand."

One of the few videogames Kim has played in her life before this day was Area 51, so we got things going again with a few rounds of House of the Dead 2 & 3. This, she really got into, although in the beginning, she had a little trouble keeping her reticule on screen. I had to keep reminding her that subtle movements are all that's necessary. This was the same problem she had with Endless Ocean. Since House of the Dead 2 is so awful and cheesy, we only played that once, and then played House of the Dead 3 twice. (She wanted to go back for another round, she was having so much fun!)

"House Of The Dead 2 and 3 ROCKED. I think I was the best at this game. It brought me back to my days of smoking aliens in the arcade version of Area 51 at the pizza place nearest my freshman college dorm."

Then we finished up with a little bit of Wario Ware: Smooth Moves, but the mulitplayer isn't that great. We just played some darts and a couple mini-games, then finished up with the running and jumping game which is very silly and weird. After that came Rayman Raving Rabbids, which has much better multiplayer. Kim found the rabbids very amusing, especially the noises they made when we shot them with plungers. I could see her losing interest with some of the mini-games, so I quickly switched over to the dancing, which she enjoyed, but it also made her want to play Rock Band.

"WarioWare... weird. I felt kind of MEH about this one -- the games were over before they began! -- except for the team game where we had to jump holes together. That was a lot of fun. Rayman Raving Rabbids was almost as fun as House Of The Dead. Almost. Throwing rubber plungers at demented rabbits is sheer genius."

It was too soon for Rock Band, though, but it was the end of the Wii portion of the experience. I fired up the 360 and popped in Beautiful Katamari, to keep the weirdness going for a bit. Kim remembered me talking about this game, and thought it was very colorful and pretty, but she very quickly got nauseous trying to play it. The forward and backward motion was too much for her, and she gave up after just a couple rounds.

"Beautiful Katamari freaked me out. I was afraid of the big king and his psychedelic landscape. Then the motion of the game made me want to yiff, so I didn't get past the second round. Of all, my least favorite."

While she settled, I popped in Grand Theft Auto IV just so she could see how realistic some of New York City was. Kim admitted that it was pretty amazing how realistic it was, so much so that she even winced when I tried to show her some of Central Park by driving through it despite the fact that there were pedestrians in the way. What? They weren't in the way for very long! Unfortunately, even just watching me drive around Liberty City was a little unsettling for her, and I tried to reassure her that lots of people have motion sickness issues with certain videogames. I also admitted that if I ever experienced anything like that I might have to kill myself, but whatever.

"I was mad that I still felt a little nauseous when Grand Theft Auto came up, because I wanted to gun down some hos. (When in Rome, right?) Such a cool-looking game! Unfortunately, it also made me sick, so I could only watch through my fingers as Wootini drove his stolen vehicle into Central Park, mowing over pedestrians in his way. Good times."

In the interest of playing something that wouldn't make Kim dizzy, I popped in Scene It! and we played a short three-round quiz. She seemed a little confused in the beginning, but it's a very casual game and pretty straightforward, so she got the hang of it and started putting up a good fight. Of course, I've got the videogamer reflexes, so it was still in my favor. What? I wasn't about to just let her win to make her feel better! She came close enough!

"Scene It! was a nice palate cleanser after GTA. Unfortunately, I didn't have the facility with the buzzer that my opponent did, so I lost in a big way. I'd really like to play this game with a group."

Finally, it was time for the grand finale: Rock Band. Although I had just picked up Rock Band 2 earlier that morning, I figured it would be best to play the first one since I knew exactly how to navigate it. Since she wasn't willing to sing, I figured drums would be best to start with. In my experience, I find drums are easier for people to pick up and play because it's just hit the color at the same time it hits the bar on-screen. With guitar, you have to hit it and strum at the same time. Sure enough, she was enjoying herself playing drums on a handful of songs, and when I suggested she try the guitar, she struggled. She didn't fail out once, but the drums were clearly easier for her. Still, as soon as a song ended, Kim would give me this look and ask for "one more song."

"I didn't think Rock Band could possibly be as exciting as everyone says it is... but it IS. I started off on drums and later moved to guitar -- was horrible at both, but it didn't matter. I was a rock star! Thank you, Brooklyn, good night "

In the end, we played for nearly five hours before going out to dinner. Quite a marathon stretch. All she's ever played was some Ms. Pac-Man and Area 51, so it was very interesting to me to see what a non-gamer responded to. Nintendo fared pretty well with their non-gamer friendly games like Wii Fit and Wii Sports. House of the Dead 2 & 3 was an easy-to-grasp shooter, but Wario Ware and Rayman Raving Rabbids seemed to be a little too much weirdness to handle. I feel like Scene It! might have fared better if it hadn't come at the four-hour mark or thereabouts, but I also feel like it's more of a quiz show than a videogame, and therefore not nearly as interesting to her. And naturally, Rock Band ruled the day. Everyone loves Rock Band. It's a scientific fact. But what were Kim's final impressions of this massive gameathon?

"Overall, I was less bad than I thought I'd be and had more fun than I thought I'd have. These games are addictive, guys. How do you ever leave the house?"

Answer: We don't if we don't have to!