Nintendo Wii

Introduction

Nintendo are a well known, well established video games company who’re well over 100 years old. They were at the forefront of video gaming, producing one of the first home entertainment systems, the NES (Nintendo Entertainment System). Since their first console back in 1985 Nintendo have been one of the major leaders in video game development, stretching the boundaries of how video games are played and enjoyed over and over again.

This time, with their latest console, the Nintendo Wii, Nintendo have completely smashed the boundaries, allowing players to actually control video games through physical actions using the specially developed technology contained within the controller of the Wii.

Summary of the product

The Nintendo Wii was first released in UK on December 8^th 2006 (USA November 19^th 2006, Japan December 2^nd 2006) at the price of £179 ($249.99, JP¥25,000). So far the product is only available in pearly white, but hopefully multicoloured Wii’s will be available for future purchase.

The console itself is no bigger than a stack of 3 DVD cases and fitting sleekly among your other home entertainment devices or below your television set. It can operate horizontally or vertically, but includes a silver stand to suggest that it looks best vertical, though it’s orientation does not make any difference to the actual hardware. The console simply has a power cable which plugs directly into the wall socket and a multi AV connection (red, white and yellow cables) but also includes a SCART socket connection. Furthermore, the Wii is also backward compatible and is able to play Gamecube games and other Nintendo past console games via an online download shop.

Features

The Wii has a vast array of features, many of them new to most in the gaming world. First of all it features true backward compatibility. Now you may be wondering what true backward compatibility means; simply put, this simply means that the Nintendo Wii can play any Nintendo game ever released. This is thanks to the Nintendo online service, which features a downloads shop where, for a small sum, users can download a past Nintendo game and play it on the Wii using either a Wii or Gamecube controller. The disc drive of the Wii is also capable of playing Gamecube discs, so you can dig out your old Gamecube classics  and play them on the Wii using a Gamecube controller.

The disc tray is self loading, meaning there are no external moving parts and therefore less likely to break than a conventional disc drive. It also features a tasteful blue light glowing around the disc tray when a disc is inserted, when the console is turned on, and when you receive mail via the online service supplied by Nintendo.

The console also features an SD card slot on the front, so that the internal memory may be upgraded by SD card flash memory. In addition, there are two handy USB ports on the back so USB devices can be plugged into the console, for example a charger for the Wii controllers etc.

On the top of the console are two white, hardly visible flaps that hide the 4 Gamecube controller ports and the 2 Gamecube memory card slots enabling the user to play and save Gamecube games on the Wii.

The controller itself, also known as the ‘Wii Mote’ because of its resemblance to a TV remote rather than a conventional game controller, is by far the biggest selling point of the Wii and the main feature of the console. Contained inside this small hand-held device, which is slightly larger than most modern phones, is motion sensing technology, this means that the controller can understand where you move to in relation to a sensor plugged into the Wii. The ‘Wii Mote’ can sense when you move, either left, right, up or down and can also sense how far/close you are to the sensor. The Sensor Bar is a very small black bar that sits on top of or below your television so that the ‘Wii Mote’ can detect where you are in relation to your screen.

Another feature of the controller is a small speaker which produces sounds in relation to certain features within the game, for example if you fire an arrow in Zelda: Twilight Princess, you can hear the arrow leave your bow (‘Wii Mote’) and arrive at the television speakers.

Furthermore, its optimized for pointing and clicking, and shooting games as it features a trigger-style B button on the bottom of the controller.

The controller is lightweight and runs on 2 AA batteries. Nintendo have not yet released an official battery pack charger for the ‘Wii Mote’ yet but there are many unofficial versions available for purchase.

The ‘Wii Mote’ also features a Home button so the user can return to the main Wii menu any time they want to, even during a game, and an off button so the console can be turned off remotely.

The motion sensing capability of the ‘Wii Mote’ means that it’s a step closer to virtual reality; you control what happens within a game by physical movement – you can fish by casting a line with the ‘Wii Mote’ like you would in real life! Or you can fight an epic sword battle as if the ‘Wii Mote’ is your blade. The possibilities are endless!

There is also a Nunchuk attachment which can be plugged into the bottom of the ‘Wii Mote’ and features a joystick, meaning that the controller can be used for looking with a character while the Nunchuk can be used for moving the character.

The console also has an intuitive operating system, featuring online services, called Nintendo 24/7, which allows users to play Wii games online or to browse the web with the Opera web browser. Nintendo have also created mini applications, called channels, such as Weather and News so the user can check out whether it will be sunny…but then stay inside anyway to play the latest Wii titles!

There is also the feature of the loveable Miis, which are small simplified versions of yourself, the player, which can be used in main games as ID’s or used to interact with other Nintendo users. You can design these in the Mii channel to resemble the users’ own appearance.

Advantages

One of the best points of the system is the new and innovative design of controlling games. You are now actually able to draw out your sword and fight that evil baron in a sword fight to the death! Ok, a little exaggerated, but in the future who knows? Games such as Red Steel already feature the idea of using the ‘Wii Mote’ as a sword and a gun. Other games, such as Link’s Crossbow Training including the ‘Wii Zapper’ (a gun adaptation for the ‘Wii Mote’), take this idea further and the ‘Wii Mote’ can be made into an actual physical gun. This new technology is an amazing advantage that the Wii has over the other next generation consoles and makes gameplay that much more enjoyable.

Another advantage of the Wii is the backward compatibility which means you don’t have to dig that dusty old Nintendo 64 out of the loft every time you want to play classic older games. Instead you can easily go online, pay a small sum and download that Nintendo classic that you want to play and you get to keep that game forever after. It also means you don’t have to have a Gamecube and Wii set up at the same time and if like myself, you’ve got a rather nice collection of Gamecube games, you can play them without the hassle of setting up a Gamecube. Better yet, as Gamecube games are currently on the market relatively cheap, this could be your chance to start a classic collection of Gamecube games to play on the Wii.

A minor advantage is that the Wii is very quiet in operation, as well as being very cool and rarely heating up much – making for a cool, quiet game play session. The Wii also comes with a built in wireless connector (inclusive), which for some other consoles is quite expensive to buy.

As well as that there is the debatable attractiveness of the console. In many people’s opinions it is seen as the most visually appealing console and is, unarguably, the smallest of the three ‘Next Generation’ consoles and fits almost anywhere.

Disadvantages

The largest disadvantage of this console is that, technically speaking, it isn’t ‘Next Generation’ but it can be argued that it is in fact more ‘Next Generation’ than either of the other two. The ‘Next Generation’ of gaming is the best in a gaming experience for the user from the newest consoles out on the market. What I am trying to say is that it isn’t ‘Next Generation’ on the basis of hardware – it cannot compete graphically with the power of either the PS3 or the Xbox 360 (in fact it is only slightly more powerful than an Xbox), but readers, do not let this deter you from it! This leads to my other point: it is more ‘Next Generation’ than any of the other consoles because you physically control the game itself with real life physical movements, taking you that one step closer to actually being in the game in virtual reality.

Another disadvantage is the lack of an Official Nintendo Battery Pack Charger for the ‘Wii Mote’, but as mentioned before unofficial versions are available so this is only as minor fault.

There is also the limited amount of memory available. Although game saves don’t take up much space, memory is needed for game downloads, so if you are planning on heavily downloading games from the online Nintendo game store then you may wish to invest in a large SD flash memory card as the 512MB of internal memory will be sufficient enough to hold games saves and most other things, but if you want a lot of downloaded games from the online store you will need to expand memory. Though this will only be the case if you have a large quantity of downloaded games; the regular user probably shouldn’t see the need to buy an SD unless they’re downloading Nintendo 64 games which take up much more memory space than the older Nintendo consoles games.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I would have to say that the Wii is a fine piece of technology, giving the user a taste of virtual reality. It makes for hours of fun, whether it be bowling your way to a perfect game, defeating your enemy in an epic sword battle, or watching as your friends and relatives flail about, enjoying themselves with the intuitive control system.

The Wii is a great product with very promising prospects for the future, and many useful features that can be developed and manipulated, giving this console fantastic potential versatility for the future.

This is a console which can be enjoyed by anyone of any age, as Nintendo has intended it to be, whether it’s your Grandma or your 10 year old nephew.

With this control system being so new and intuitive there are many developments just waiting out there in the minds of game creators, making the only limit their imagination! I would highly recommend this console, and only the future can tell what wonders it will produce!

Signing Off

Thanks very much for reading my review of the Nintendo Wii. I hope it has both informed and helped you on the subject of the Nintendo Wii, and in deciding whether it is a worthwhile product or something you’re going to pass by for now.