When a loyal video game enthusiast has a child, one of the first things they think about (apart from all of that important parenting stuff) is how they will go about introducing their new kid to video games. It can be like a science project, because making a mistake and turning them off from gaming is probably the worst scenario a gamer could ever imagine.

I'm no different. I've been slowly and carefully introducing various video games to Emerson since the moment my wife said she was old enough that they wouldn't rot her brain, or hurt her eyes, or whatever it was she said -- she's the one that researches those kind of things. 

I started with a V.Smile Baby console that had been passed down to us by my brother-in-law. The chief concern here was that it was designed more for education, and less for fun; Not exactly the ideal for a gamer. I would have considered continuing her playtime with the games, but she was already learning better with us teaching her, and they didn't exactly entrance her, so I moved on.

What followed was a lot of brief experimenting -- sticking games in front of her just to see what happened. I never really expected much, as most of the games I tried had controls that were well beyond the comprehension of a two year old. Still, I was curious how much she'd like them, and how much she would be able to pick them up. Until the light bulb went off in my head -- Wii Music!

The game was panned by a lot of outlets, and had middling reviews by the rest, but most of them talked about how simple a game it was. Maybe the controls were so basic that a two year old could pick up on them. Maybe Wii Music was actually the perfect gateway game for a toddler, and no one had tried it out on them. I ordered it with the intent of finding out for sure.

Every night for the last week or two, I've stuck a Wii remote in my daughter's hand and watched intently. Wii Music has a variety of different modes and with most of them, once I got her started she did pretty well. I told her whether she had to wave the controller around, or hold it and push the buttons, and she pretty much did it... for awhile. With every single mode, she got bored before the end of the song and handed it off to me.

From there she just watched me play in fascination. Not exactly what I was hoping for, but here's the good part; Every single night when we get ready to go up to bed, she says she wants to play the music game. If she doesn't start brushing her teeth, I threaten her with a night of no music game and she immediately starts brushing. I think it's safe to say my daughter has accepted video games for now, but it's hard to say if it was because of Wii Music or if any game would entrance her. 

Yeah, Wii Music is kind of boring, but I sort of like that she can play it pretty well. It makes me smile watching her bang on imaginary drums, and seeing her make the connection that what she is doing is actually having an effect on the game. I sort of wish more games with very basic controls would come out. Maybe if they were specifically designed for toddlers they would be able to help teach them things as well. If my kid was as taken by the V.Smile Baby as she is by Wii Music, she might be able to actually get something out of it. Perhaps somewhere in the middle would be the perfect first game.