What's the Wii forward? Or how Susi learned to love gaming.

I’m just going to come right out and say it. I don’t like video games. Please don’t panic though – there are plenty of Shiny Shiny writers who are more than happy to sit in a darkened room sword fighting someone in an entirely different time zone who have that area covered.

It’s just that personally, I don’t have the patience to learn what keys do what, or to persevere through various stages in pursuit of an illusive golden coin, or whatever it is I’m supposed to find. It’s telling that the only games I’ve ever played more than once are Tetris and Solitaire. Tetris because I could pick it up in a couple of minutes, and Freecell because I’d rather think about a problem than rely on my digit dexterity to get me out of a bind (that goes for real life too). But this all seems about the change.

Last week, I bought my first handheld games console. And guess what? It wasn’t pink. I went for a DS Lite, partly because they look really nice, and fold up into the kind of thing I’d be happy to whip out on the tube, and partly because I’m genuinely interested in the games.

I’m now the proud owner of Nintendogs and Brain Training. And yes, I’m aware that I couldn’t be more of a stereotype. I can’t deny I love this virtual dog, and all the nurturing that goes with it. And I feel something akin to pride when I manage to get my personal best for mental arithmetic on the way into work. So, could Nintendo be set to work its way into the pocket of the less traditional gamer?

Yep. I can tell you this for certain, because this weekend I played on the Wii. Yep, that would be one of the 3 Wii’s currently in existence, allegedly. There might just be something in this TV stuff – it seems people will fall over themselves to get you the goods! So, thanks to Something for the Weekend, there was one flown over from Japan for me to trial on the show. Or for me to sit there whilst Tim Lovejoy trialled it, to be more exact.

As I’m sure you’ve had drummed into you by now, the Wii features a wand rather than a joypad, which turns into whatever it is you’re using in the game – in this case, a tennis racket. But it could be a sword, a baton or a cricket bat – whatever. It’s the ultimate in multipurpose gadgetry.

After you’ve set up the sensor on the front of the TV, you’re ready to go. Even the menu selection is done through waving the wand about, which is dead easy when you get used to it. And the game is fun. With a capital F. Actually, a capital U and N as well, it’s that good.

Best of all are the reactions it provokes. I saw the most hardened “nah, it’s rubbish”-type people (hello, Mr Lovejoy) reduced to a snatching two-year old at the prospect of getting a go on it. And I almost fainted in surprise when my own mother was telling my grandmother about this amazing gadget that I was playing with this week. This is the same mother who isn’t quite sure what it is I do all day (in her own words “Surely there can’t be that many gadgets out there, can there?”).

Clearly there are some really lucrative market sectors that games manufacturers have previously been all but locked out of – families with young kids, sporty people, older people, women. But if my mother is impressed, it might not be too long til they get their wish. Come Christmas day, it could be out with Monopoly, and in with Orchestra Conducting, the Wii way. I’ve already got my £180 earmarked for December 8th.