txting on ur wii

Recently, something very interesting was brought to my attention. I was chatting with my friend Jared-- about the Nintendo Wii, of course-- and he asked if I had noticed the TXTing option.

In this first picture, you can see a typing function for the Wii. It can be used for a lot of things, especially with Wii's online capabilities. (I could have posted this blog entry from my Wii, for instance.)

That's not what caught my interest.

What Jared then pointed out was that you can switch the keyboard (a standard QWERTY, of course) to a TXT interface. (See the second picture.) This format allows you to type like you would on your cell phone (and of course by "you" I imply "today's kids"). For instance, on the second picture you can see that "abc" was chosen. For "a" you'd click once, for "b" you'd click twice, and for "c"... you get the picture.

It struck me as absurd... at first. What do you think? Does this method make sense outside of a cell phone-- and where will it crop up next?

While at first it might seem strange, Nintendo seems to be realizing a trend that we've been seeing for years now. Studies from sources such as eMarketer show that while emerging tweens (8-9 years old) are excited by gameplay, transitioning tweens (11-12 years old) start focusing on ways to connect to their peer group (and we start to see the instant messaging boom). While no tween is going to look to the Wii as their sole communication device, Nintendo has helped join two major elements of the tween's life-- communication and entertainment-- whether they're TXTers or typists.

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