Why Am I Still Playing Excite Truck?

Right now I'm sitting in my friend's apartment watching him school the computer in Excite Truck. My friend hasn't been a gamer since the days of the Sega Genesis, citing motion sickness caused through the newer onslaught of 3D games as his reason for eventually giving up gaming. I also get the feeling the overwhelming complexity of today's games aren't exactly extending him a warm welcome back either.

Most of my friends would describe me as a hardcore gamer (or a nerd), but I'm not bold enough to declare it about myself. I enjoy games a lot and probably always will, but I've noticed something peculiar after having my Wii for about two months. Normally by now, I'd get tired of most games and let them sit in a box somewhere, unbeaten for several months with the likelihood of regaining interest almost nonexistent. So it surprises me that I'm still playing Excite Truck - your average racing game - after having it for so long.

I thought about how the control elements play a part in truly immersing the gamer into the gaming experience. I've never been a fan of arcade racers with the wheel and pedals, but maybe it's because I don't spend a quality amount of time with them because of my general indifference to most arcades and an even smaller desire to spend tons of quarters just to play a game. Although the game experience for racers in arcades are truer to life than most regularly-controlled racers, the majority of people I know won't spend the amount of time needed to fully grasp the immersive potential of the arcade racer.

What I'm getting at is - in a sense - Nintendo has brought home gameplay either previously unreachable by any means or simply not as accessible as home console gaming. How many people do you know who have arcade-style coin-op machines at home? I know maybe one or two, but it's definitely not as common as finding a Playstation 2 in someone's living room.

The reason I can't stop playing Excite Truck is that it really is a gameplay experience unlike anything I've managed to feel at home before. And that is something I never could've seen while the hype for the Wii was being built up. Sure, developers and publishers talk about immersive gameplay, but you don't realize how important it is until you feel it.