You only need a wide area to play your game depending on how you play them. Cooking Mama had me and the people who played with me waving our arms around, but we were sitting pretty close together.

Limited experience with Trauma Center but I don't recall it ever having me wave my arms around that much. I watched siblings play Zelda: TP and I could barely tell that it was on the Wii.

But if you say there is a chance that you will smack someone on the face, then I can probably see where you're coming from. Though my playtime on a Wii was very limited, I just don't see myself causing anyone else injury... maybe we already have the space that you're talking of and we don't sit that closely.

Wii might be the cheaper one of the 'next gen' consoles, but it is expensive when compared to getting a brand new PS2