14 DAY TRIAL // Arguably, Oscar night is the most important event in the movie industry. The stars are out in force, glamorous dresses are rented, expensive jewelry gets lent, the red carpet is rolled out for the guests at the Kodak Theater, the venue for the awards show. Then, a long and sometimes boring festivity takes place in which the Oscar statues are handed out, theme songs from movies get played and the Oscar night presenter tries to keep everyone awake for the duration of the entire show. And last night, a Wii console along with Wii Sports tennis made a short appearance.
Last night's awards were hosted by Jon Stewart, of The Daily Show fame, and the awards might prove memorable to gamers all around the world. No, neither Hitman nor Doom received any awards. Awkwardly, they didn't even manage to get Razies, awards offered to the worst movies of the year. Why would that be? Mainly because most movie goers aren't really considering movies based on games to be movies. But that is a whole other discussion.
Last night, at the Academy Awards at the Kodiak Theater, a billion people have seen a Wii in action. Host Stewart and a yet unnamed African-American kid were seen by, let me emphasize this, a billion people, while they played, for no less than 25 perfect seconds, a little game of tennis on Nintendo's Wii games console.
What is the importance of this, aside from serving as a wake-up call for Jack Nicholson? Well, such a Wii appearance is still another indicator that playing games is now a mainstream activity, aimed not only at geeks with glasses and white skin, but at the majority of people. The Academy Awards ceremony was a perfect breakthrough moment for the Wii and for games in general.
Watch below for the whole 25 seconds of Wii glory: