Easier Than Building Your Own Plinko Board

I'm a pretty big fan of video game adaptations of television game shows. I've played them all...from Hollywood Squares and Remote Control for the NES to Jeopardy! and The Weakest Link on Playstation...I've sampled quite a collection of these game show home versions. I enjoy their simple slow-paced game play based on skills not usually associated with video games. So I was pretty excited when I saw that The Price Is Right was headed for the Wii.

My excitement paid off. Wii's version of The Price is Right is a welcome addition to the world of video games based on game shows. The new game is a faithful reproduction of the classic game show. The Wii's unique controls make a nice match with TPIR's assortment of pricing games. Not to mention, all the sights, sounds, and music of the original show are captured perfectly.

First, you've got Contestant's Row, where you get your first bid in on some fabulous prizes. Right away, this is where TPIR sets itself apart from game show video games before it. Actual footage from the TV show is used to display the various items you'll be bidding on. In previous games, prizes were usually represented with a generic prize but here you get full video and real life prizes to bid on. Everything from specific cars to a snack side pack of Chips Ahoy cookies are all represented here. It's a nice touch. And on Contestant's Row you can even pull that bull crap where you bid one dollar more than someone else's bid. I swear if I was ever on that show for real and someone did that to me I'd knock their block off!

A good number of the pricing games that make up the bulk of an episode of TPIR are represented here as well. Yes, there's Plinko! And yes, the real greatest game of the show Cliffhanger...you know, the little mountain climber guy. That game is the bomb! There's a bunch of other ones too like Hole in One, and the one where you've got to find the front and back end of the car. Oh, and that one where you gotta run around and put the prices on everything and then check the clock to see how many you've got right and then go back and fix the prices. It's a lot less exhausting, I'm sure, playing that on the Wii then doing it for real.

They've got the big wheel in the middle of the show. You spin the wheel by grabbing on to it with the Wii remote and then virtually giving the wheel a spin. Nice Touch! There's also the Showcase Showdown if you can get to it, with two sets of fabulous prizes that you can pass or bid on.

In case you were wondering, you do not actually win real prizes playing this game. Money does not come out of you Wii, nor will a new car be delivered to your home. I know this because of the disclaimer at the beginning of the game that lets you know that the video game version is for "entertainment purposes only" and no real prizes or money will be awarded. Wow! Have we really come to that point in society where such a disclaimer is needed? That means one of two things: either somebody threatened to sue a video game company because money and prizes were not awarded to them, or I'm owed $750,000 from my home version of Deal or No Deal!