Gadgetell | Tech News, Reviews, and Interesting Things

Product: Nintendo Wii
Price: $249
Overall: Thanks to the Thanksgiving holiday, it is now clear that the Wii is the most family-friendly of all the game systems. If you are a long-time, hard-core gamer, you likely will not like the WiiMote right away. Give it a good 30 minutes before you completely dismiss it. I promise you will be surprised.

I swear the Wii looks like a Mac Mini. That is, of course, if you lay it horizontally instead of using the dynamically angled stand that comes with it. The WiiMote takes five to 10 minutes to get used to, handling easier than other thumb busting controllers, though I did notice a bit of soreness in my elbow - which I like to call Nintelbo, which may lead to the much more painful Nintendinitis - after a 7-hour Zelda marathon. It is very precise as long as the Sensor Bar (which connects with a long but thin wire) is in plain view and you don’t have weird light reflections throwing off the sensors. If you are a long-time, hard-core gamer, you likely will not like the WiiMote right away. Give it a good 30 minutes before you completely dismiss it. I promise you will be surprised.

The WiiMote looks a lot like the remotes found on many planes that change channels and play games. It has pretty good range, even allowing a pretty wide angle from the sensor. The biggest surprise of the WiiMote is not only how well it handles, but the little extras, such as the tiny mono speaker for extra sound effects and the rumble which is layered on the Wii system buttons so you can feel what you are selecting. Very cool.

Some of the Wii channels are still not operational, such as News and Weather, but the Virtual console is active with about a dozen classic console games - NES, Super NES, N64, Sega and TurboGrfx - to download. You do need a Classic Controller to play these, which plugs into the WiiMote and has a familiar flat design. They also keep taunting me with the promise of a web browser, but I’m still waiting.

There’s been quite a bit of bitching and moaning about the Wii game graphics, in particular, Wii Sport. Yes, the graphics suck, but Wii Sports is only meant as an introduction to the system to demonstrate the Mii avatar interactivity and WiiMote’s abilities, not a play-me-for-days-and-love-me game. (The Bowling and Baseball games, however, are damn addictive.)

After an hour of gaming, you will no longer care about the graphics as compared to the other systems. After all, it’s not like you’re playing several systems at the same time.

There are a few nice features to the system, such as the built-in wireless adapter that quickly finds your network, a way to easily view photos from a memory card, and my favorite, complete compatibility with all GameCube games, memory cards and controllers. There are two memory card ports and four controller ports, which means you can retire your Wii (unless you absolutely love your GameCube’s GBA adapter). And for everyone who has asked - yes, Wii games come on normal-sized discs instead of the GameCube style mini DVDs.

Thanks to the Thanksgiving holiday, it is now clear that the Wii is the most family-friendly of all the game systems. Sure, it’s marketed toward younger gamers, but when your nearly 60-year-old father-in-law who rarely plays video games can pick up the WiiMote and have as much fun fun playing against 18-year-old and 20-something gamers, you know it’s a wii-nner. My in-laws also had other game systems at their disposal to try, and with the exception of a round of wireless Nintendo DS Lite matches, the PS3 and Xbox 360 weren’t even touched. Maybe it was the hype, maybe it was nostalgia, but whatever it was, it was a fun Wii-kend for all.