Wii Poker = Hold\’em Fun for the Whole Family

You may have noticed that Activision stopped making their World Series of Poker game last year, and apparently have no plans for any special 40th Anniversary edition this year. But that doesn\’t mean poker and (video) gaming is dead. The Nintendo Wii now has \”Texas Hold\’em Tournament\” — brought to you by Digital Leisure, the makers of The Incredible Maze and Soduku Challenge! Currently only available only in the EU, with a US release date TBA.

Interestingly enough, the Nintendo Wii played a very important role in the Michalski family Christmas this year. The whole family got really into the super bowling game (where you have up to like 100 pins to knock down) — even my grandmother played — and when I realized four generations were all gathered in the living room competing at once, I realized this Wii thing was something special. Honestly, I hadn\’t seen anything like it since maybe Trivial Pursuit in the mid-\’80s.

Since then, I\’ve gotten requests from my nephews to do some sort of thing where we can trade our Mii characters online so we can compete against each other from afar. I won\’t do it, of course, because I can\’t beat an 8-year-old in tennis and he taunts me as a result, but still … clearly theoretically, Nintendo Wii+Poker=(good for) Poker / Time.

The cost of this game? 500 Wii points. That\’s a whole\’nother story, of course, when you consider exchanging virtual currency for video-fied poker action.