Since I took to plunge from being a corporate lackey worker to an entrepreneur/freelancer, my husband and I tightened our financial belts until I succeed in making us independently wealthy (hope he’s not holding his breath). Instead of expensive date nights out, we stay in and rent a lot more movies and most recently, VIDEO GAMES!

Before you stop reading this and dismiss video games as a “boy thing”, hear me out. Not all games involve dragon slaying or scantily clad female characters. Tennis , anyone? How about some good old fashion carnival games like ring toss? And the best part, it’s a fun activity you can do with your spouse! It’s much more interactive than zoning out in front of the tv or staring at a movie.
For the wives out there who haven’t had the nerve to get in touch with their geeky side, I’ll occasionally review games for the Wii that are “couples friendly”. The system itself is about $250 and it comes with one game, Wii Sports. It’s a perfect introduction to the Wii controls, plus in a single evening you can box, play a round of golf, partake in a tennis match, bowl a few games, and go to the batting cages! Instead of spending 100 bucks on dinner and a movie, why not stay home a few times? The system will pay for itself in no time!
The game I’ve chosen to review is Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree. With both solo and multiplayer mode, Big Brain Academy is a series of mini games that can be played in several different brain teasing challenges. In the solo mode, the goal is to keep adding weight to your brain by becoming more accurate and faster.

But this is great for couples (& families) to play! The multiplayer mode has three different ways to play. Of course, you can play against each other (a little competition never hurt anyone), but you can also play cooperatively too by taking turns with the controller and seeing how many mini games you can complete without error in a given amount of time!

Wife Geekification Lesson: In video games, “playing cooperatively” is called “co-op”.

Some of the challenges include:

Taking and recalling orders

Whack-a-Mole

Popping numbered balloons in order from lowest to highest

Seeing how quickly you can identify a picture as it comes into focus

…plus many more!

My husband and I rent it last week and had a blast for hours one night! It was really eye-opening to see how our brains worked. He was like Rain Man with the Birdcage Game (it’s like the Shell Game, but with birds) while I could identify even the blurriest of rhinos in the Picture Game.

Bottom line, the Wii and its games like Big Brain Academy are perfect for couples looking for something different to do than sit in front of the tv!

Technorati Tags: Wii, Nintendo Wii, Video Game Review, Big Brain Academy