A few weeks before Christmas, our family got a Wii. We bought it specifically because we had heard that the Wii Sports Resort Table Tennis game (all links go to the product pages on Amazon) was the most realistic table tennis video game on the market.

I’ll write the good followed by the bad followed by a little more opinion and observation about the game and Wii Resort as a whole. Some of the good and bad come together as you’ll see.

The good:

• As soon as kids can get the ball timing down, they can play the game with some success. My 3 year old can do it OK, but my 5 year old can actually play a game.
• With practice, you can put a little spin on the ball.
• My wife, who is the best player in the family also does best on the Wii. I think this is a sign that the play is relatively realistic.
• The Mii characters are cute, and one of my opponent was playing with a slipper instead of a racket. Reminiscent of being at an onsen (hot spring) resort.
• It comes with one Wii MotionPlus although you will need to buy another if you want to play two player.
• It’s also a great motivator for kids. Having a little success in this game while getting a feel for the rules, sounds, and movements is definitely a big plus… especially if you are a parent that wants to give kids a very fun, positive initial experience with table tennis.

The bad:

• The character automatically does the footwork for you. There doesn’t seem to be any way around this problem, but it would also be a great advance in the technology if there were a way to move at your own pace.
• Sometimes when I switch from forehand to backhand or vice-versa, the Wii seems to think I’m trying to make a shot and as a result,  I lose a point.
• I haven’t figured out a good way to control the direction of the shots… it could be something in the timing, but this is one part of the game that is actually harder on the Wii (if it’s indeed possible) than in real life. I will update this post if I figure out how to do it.
• The same things that make it easy for kids to play also make the shots a little unrealistically good sometimes… it’s a video game so, again, that’s to be expected, but you definitely would not want to rely on this as your primary training method. You still need to get out there (if you, like me, don’t yet have a table tennis table in your home) and get some real life playing experience.

Overall, Wii Sports Resort is a great game to have. There are lots of games that kids as young as 3 can do fairly well at after mastering some simple controls. The sword fighting game, Frisbee games, and bowling games are very easy to master. The Wii MotionPlus improves the game sensitivity and brings Resort to a level above Wii Sports.

Another great game for kids is the skydiving one because it’s just a matter of how you hold it. Kids as young as two could probably enjoy holding the Wii Remote Control at various angles and watching the character skydive safely down to Wuhu Island.

It’s good for the family, good for getting in shape, and has a wide variety of games for all members of the family. I highly recommend Wii Sports Resort not just for the table tennis game, but for all the games and family fun.

Truth be told, the bowling and swordfighting games are almost as popular as the table tennis game in our household.

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Still not living in a place where having a table tennis is an option, we have turned to our faithful iPod for our table tennis fix. There are a few table tennis games for iPod, but our favorite is World Ping-Pong Champion by Skyworks. Despite the name, it provides a pretty fun and “as-realistic-as-can-be-expected” table tennis experience.

You can play in several modes including tournament, arcade, practice, or tournament mode against 8 different opponents. One very interesting mode however is head to head mode which allows you to compete against another live person on the same iPhone or iPod Touch! It is surpisingly easy to do, even with the limited screen space. It’s also a lot of fun, and feels somewhat real.

You hit the ball sliding your finger (the racket) along the screen. It allows you to put spin on the ball, smash, and do a lot the things you’d normally do when playing. You can even choose among three different tennis rackets allowing different styles of play.

When you play, you can choose between two different background tracks, and even choose which country you want to represent! The USA, the UK, Finland, Sweden, Canada, China, Germany, and Russia are all represented. Needless to say, we wish Japan were in there, but let’s hope an update introduces some more countries.

We really enjoy it. It will never replace an actual game on an actual table tennis table with a real opponent, but if you need a quick fix, it suffices. The full version is $.99, but there is a lite version as well which is free and will give you a taste of the game. It may even be enough for people who just want to break out the iPod Touch or iPhone and play a few rounds of video table tennis.

Personally, I enjoyed it enough to buy the full version, and it was worth it just for the head-to-head feature which is fun and simple enough that even kids can play.

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