How Can Wii Learn From Video Games?: Examining Relationships between Technological Affordances and Socio-Cognitive Determinates on Affective and Behavioral Outcomes

When the Nintendo Wii was released to the public in November 2006, video game play was changed. The unique motion sensing technology allowed game players to interact with the game environment using kinesthetic body motions that replicated realworld activities. In essence, the Wii acts as a virtual simulator for many types of games and activities including bowling, tennis and golf. When combined with the ability to customize game avatars, the Nintendo Wii has the potential to be a powerful learning tool. Social Cognitive Theory provides a theoretical model for how these technological affordances may contribute to learning through modeled behavior. A 2x2 fully crossed, between-subjects experiment plus control group was designed to empirically test how the type of controller (motion controller vs. symbolic controller) and avatar customization (customized vs. uncustomized) contribute to cognitive, affective, and behavioral responses when playing the Tiger Woods PGA Tour ’08 video game. Specifically, a path analysis examined how the independent variables contributed to perceptions of presence, golf-efficacy, liking of the game of golf, and golf putting skills. Although the original path model was not supported, a revised path model indicates that using the motion controller leads to better video game performance, in addition to better performance in a real-world putting task. Further, use of the motion controller leads to greater perceptions of golf-efficacy (as mediated by presence), and is positively correlated with liking of the Tiger Woods PGA Tour ‘08 video game, which in turn leads to greater perceptions of liking of the game of golf. Implications of these