Shooters – love them or hate them every gamer worth their salt will dabble in them sporadically just to see what is now considered to be the bee’s knees. But recently whilst explaining what sort of games I play to someone I found myself labouring the reasons why I definitely prefer third person shooters to first person shooters, so I did what any self-respecting games journalist would do and asked a variety of people I know their opinions on the matter. The interesting thing is that everyone does have an opinion – I am yet to find one person who gives me a reply that favours neither view.

Sure with first person it’s more immersive and makes you feel like you are the character but with third I find you get an easier view and more room to see how you can manoeuvre. Third person shooters to me just feel more natural and I find the gameplay easier yet some people claim the more immersive a game is the easier it becomes to control the character.

It’s a question that will never find a definitive answer but which view is truly better? And how can something so simple make such a difference? Surely the level design, storyline and variety of weapons are all things that a gamer should place high above whether it is an FPS or a TPS yet somehow this issue seems to cause conflict or at least lengthy conversation whenever it is brought up. I know where I stand – Third person shooter for life! OK, not for life, I do still dabble in FPS but you get my point.

Tonight, I’m doing something I haven’t done since the seventh Harry Potter book… I’m off to get Wii Fit at midnight. Ordinarily, I’d pre-order my games online, and usually get them the day before release (as many of us do) but due to poor organisation on my part everywhere I went to pre-order Wii Fit had run out. Through my (allegedly) non-gaming girlfriend’s hard work and dedication, and because she was bored at work, we’ve managed to bag a copy if we go and collect it late tonight.

I’ve seen enough of Wii Fit to know that it’s going to be a good laugh – and I know that there will be rivalry between my and my girlfriend for setting the best times and all that malarky – but I’m still not sure if I’m ready to see my weight and body mass index in shiny nintendo colours. I am, it has to be said, not the slimmest of people. I haven’t eaten all the pies, but I have certainly had more than my fair share over the years. I know that my initial trepidation will vanish once I start playing, just like it did when I used to dance mat myself silly to shed some pounds (before a friend “borrowed” my psOne and dancemat and then ran away!) but the initial weighing will not be a happy experience. And if it says “Get Off Me!” then I won’t be happy!

To be honest, though, I’m really looking forward to the whole package. Exercise is something that both my girlfriend and myself try to do, but then can’t be bothered to move all the clothes off the exercise bike so combining it into a game where we can try and out-do each other is fantastic. We used to do the same with Brain Training – trying to topple each other from the top of the leaderboards, preferably in secret, was brilliant.

Competitive partners rock!

I do wish that I had thought of this idea but alas I overheard it in a shop the other day. Picture this, small independent games shop, Sunday afternoon, two staff and myself no more. In walks a father and his young daughter, approaches the counter and asks,

“Do you sell the wee controllers for the Wii?”

Like myself, on eavesdropping, the staff had assumed that he had meant a “Wii” controller for the Wii.

“Yup, we’ve got third party ones and official ones,” said the helpful assistant. He got them down from the shelf and showed them to the man and child.

“No, they’re too big do you not have any WEE ones?”

The penny finally dropped all round the shop. It turns out that the girl had got a Wii but was finding the Wiimote too big and needed a smaller version. When you think about it it is at the very most a basic request but one that is not fulfilled in the games market. A great many of us have kids, myself included, and if, like me, you encourage the kids to play games it is important in the first point of contact that the kids can hold and use the controllers.

When the Xbox first launched I hated the HUUUUUGE controllers that came with it and was pleased when the controller S launched, it was smaller, more comfortable and made gaming so much better. So I can only imagine how frustrating it must be for a child to want to play a game but not be able to because of the large controllers. With the advent of family gaming through the Wii it seems that this is the one peripheral that the Wii really needs. Not golf club handles or fishing rods or tennis racquets just a kids size Wiimote. Lets get that right first then maybe we can have mini-me controllers for all the consoles.