For those of you who are fortunate enough to have found a Nintendo Wii, EA Sports is going to make bouts between kids and parents a lot more fair. Beginning this fall with "Madden NFL 08," "NBA Live 08," and "FIFA 08," EA is including Family Play as an option on its sports games. Any parent who's attempted to play a kid at a videogame knows that the younger you are, the better you are at games. It's a hand-eye coordination thing. Unfortunately, this can make playing games a blowout, and that's not fun.
So EA has created Family Play. The way it works is that every game has the option of Advanced or Family Play and each individual player can choose what he or she wants. So a parent can pick Family Play and a kid can pick Advanced in the same contest. What this means on the virtual playing field is that the computer AI will control almost every aspect of the game for the Mom or Dad, while the kid will be controlling everything--as is normal with a game. In fact, the parent can let the AI control everything if he or she wanted, but that's no fun. In a game like "FIFA 08," the Family Play just focuses on passing and shooting the ball, so there's no need to worry about dribbling or kicking down field if you don't want to. While the Advanced player uses both the Wii Remote and Nunchuck controllers, the Family Play gamer uses only the Wii Remote--which is the fun part, since it's the motion-sensor aspect of the console.
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Wii has already revolutionized gaming by bringing in a whole new generation of older and lapsed gamers. With these types of players, complex controls are not fun. EA Sports has really opened up the door for anyone to enjoy these three sports games. It's like playing against someone in golf with a handicap. It levels the playing field and makes it fun for the whole family to enjoy these great sports games.