I thought I had posted about this days ago, but I did a search and I guess I didn’t. Public libraries in both the US and Europe are embracing the Wii by setting up Wii game rooms (among other game rooms/setups) for guests to enjoy. Check out this bit from The Shifted Librarian below:
A couple of libraries have already been experimenting with Wiis for gaming in the library, albeit more as a novelty since they’re so new and you can’t connect them for multiplayer gaming (at least not yet).
- The Lafayette Public Library System in Louisiana held a tournament using their Gamecube, but Systems Administrator Adam Melancon also brought in his own Wii to let folks play with. He’s already started thinking about best practices (for example, put an “x” on the floor using tape so that people know where to stand or else they tend to move about and run into things!). Flickr pictures here, with a newspaper article about their gaming program here. Adam even has Friends of the Library money to buy two Wiis, four Wiimotes (controllers), and two copies of “Excite Truck” for the Library if he can just get his hands on them.
- It’s not just libraries in the U.S., though. Earlier this month Edwin posted about Wiiplay in his library in the Netherlands and how popular gaming is in general there. The post is in Dutch, but Babelfish gives you the general idea in English (or other languages). He’s also got some other fun Wii links in the post, too.
That’s pretty cool. I’ll admit I haven’t had as much time to visit the library as I used to or would like to. Even though I could sit and browse online on Wikipedia for hours learning new things, there’s still a lot of fun in going to the library and finding a random book that sparks my interest. Now, there may be even more fun incentives to go visit. Check it out at your local library!
