the buzz log

Nintendo Wii: Barack Obama approves of this console.

As though the all-time best-selling home video gaming system hasn't received enough attention for restoring family togetherness time, keeping the elderly fit, and being the savior of an otherwise bleak holiday gift-buying season—now Obama has given it his presidential (elect) stamp of approval.

Although the puppies are still pending, the New York Times noted this week that daughters Sasha and Malia got a Wii for Christmas. The gift has sent the Buzz world afire: Joystiq raised the notion of a video game czar. Another wag blogged, "Is it time to make a joke about Wii, the People?" Another punned, "Obama says 'Yes Wii Can.'"

While the Nintendo Wii is helping to improve Obama's bowling game, which had been famously and justly derided during his campaign, GigaOm applies a far more impressive analysis of how the incoming No. 44 embodies the Wii as a dark horse who became popular: "Instantly appealing like the Wii, Obama is popular not because of his library of policies, but because he is changing the way the game is played." (In case you're curious, that post dubs Hillary Clinton as the Xbox 360 and John Edwards as the PlayStation 3.)

The new White House Wii also prompted one Wired reporter, who bought the console for his parents this past Christmas, to suggest that the Obamas hangout with his peeps. The tongue-in-cheek invite does introduce an interesting notion: How about a multiplayer game (a la World of Warcraft or Runescape) led by the First Family? Instead of stimulus checks, maybe watch for a balance board in a mailbox near you.