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Wii Sports Resort

• Nintendo
• Classification: Everyone

The latest game to come out of Nintendo's Wii-volution of interactive entertainment is Wii Sports Resort, a chipper and unassuming all-ages collection of 12 short, sports-themed party games – such as Frisbee, archery and wakeboarding – which is also poised to become the biggest-selling video game of the year.

It arrived on store shelves Sunday, and in each oversized box is not only a copy of the game (a sequel to the original Wii Sports , which comes bundled with all Wii consoles) but also Nintendo's most recent hardware innovation – an attachment for the Wii remote dubbed MotionPlus.

About the size of a large ice cube, the MotionPlus peripheral snaps onto the bottom of Nintendo's controller and enhances the accuracy of motion-based control, creating true one-to-one synchronicity between real-world movements and objects in the digital domain.

For example, one of the game's activities has players fencing with one another on a raised platform with padded swords (think American Gladiators starring cute little Mii characters). The player holds the Wii remote with both hands as though it were the hilt of a sabre. All movements are tracked and recreated perfectly on screen; tilt the remote forward a smidgeon and the virtual rubber blade follows suit in real time, swing up or down or left or right and your avatar does the same. It's very intuitive – and shockingly accurate.

Another good showcase for the sort of precision made possible by the MotionPlus is a game in which players hold the Wii remote like a paper airplane. Pitching it gently forward and back or from side to side causes an airplane on screen to do exactly the same. It makes flight – typically one of the most challenging of video-game activities – simple enough that a preschooler could do it (as evidenced by my four-year-old daughter).

Of course, one-to-one control isn't always a blessing. For one thing, it means players can no longer blame their poor performance on an imprecise interface. It also means some games take a bit longer to master.

For example, table tennis, which has players hitting forehands, backhands and applying spin by subtly tilting the remote, involves much more nuance than the tennis game in the original Wii Sports , which only required players to make rudimentary swiping motions.

That said, the enhanced controls create a level of depth typically absent from party games. Players can progressively and appreciably improve their performance through practice, which makes the experience far more rewarding for avid players.

Some traditional gamers will likely write off Nintendo's latest release as little more than a casual trifle, but it's becoming difficult to discount the impact of titles like Wii Sports Resort on gaming as a whole.

With the original Wii Sports in more than 50 million homes, this relatively new franchise has a massive built-in fan base that can't be matched by any of the other current-generation consoles. That, plus the fact that Nintendo's recent peripheral-based games have been stunningly successful (last year's Wii Fit has sold more than 20 million copies around the world), all but guarantees Wii Sports Resort will be the most popular game of 2009.

And when simple family titles begin doubling sales of better-known blockbuster series such as Halo and Grand Theft Auto , it's time to start questioning just who is playing. The once sharp line that divided geeks and grandmas is getting blurrier all the time.

Special to The Globe and Mail