What happened to the Nintendo Wii?

101 million units. The little white box that beat the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360 — despite being weaker than both — by doing something nobody else thought to try. It got people to stand up. For a few years in the late 2000s, the Wii turned tens of millions of living rooms into tennis courts, bowling alleys, and boxing rings. Your grandmother bowled a strike. Your dad threw real punches into the air. Doctors talked about it on the news as a fitness trend. The console was sold out for two straight Christmases. This is the story of how a company that had been making playing cards since 1889 stopped trying to compete on power and built the most universally beloved video game console of its generation — and how Nintendo's own follow-up almost ended the company that made it. It is also the story of why your Wii is still in a drawer somewhere right now, and why it still works when you pull it out. ⏱ Chapters 0:00 Stand up 1:00 Christmas morning, 2007 2:30 The 101 million shareable statistic 4:00 The weakest console that won 5:00 The exercise trend that was a video game 6:30 Wii Sports and the wrist strap 8:00 Nintendo in 1889 9:30 The Wii U mistake 11:00 The smartphone took the audience 12:00 Why your Wii still works 💬 What was the first game you ever played on yours? Did anyone in your family put a controller through the television? And be honest — is your Wii still in a drawer somewhere right now? Leave it in the comments. Every single one gets read. 🔔 Subscribe for more quiet stories about the things we grew up with. #NintendoWii #Wii #WiiSports #Nintendo #2000sNostalgia #VideoGames #GamingHistory #RetroGaming #2000sKids #Nostalgia