Earlier this week we got a chance to play with the Nintendo Wii at a special sneak preview for technology and gaming journalists. Far from being weird, it’s actually a welcome change to the way games are played – and won. Of course, with a name like Wii, it makes you want to use as many ‘w’ words as possible when writing, just for fun. And fun is what Wii is!

    
       One of the many Wii’s locked in a see-through box

The Wii’s controls are already well known – a remote control like device that can be physically moved in front of you to directly move ‘your character’ on the screen. In a tennis game, the Wiimote, as it has been dubbed, is a tennis racket. It can be a pool queue, a bowling ball, a baseball bat, a golf club, a sword or other weapon and more. Hold it horizontally between two hands, and it’s a steering wheel.

 
     Holding the Wiimote in both hands like a steering wheel

Attach the ‘nun-chuk’ module, and use your left thumb to get joystick control. The nun-chuk has it’s own internal sensor, so it’s the reel you turn when you’re playing the fishing game. It also becomes your left hand when playing boxing – with your right hand holding the Wiimote. In addition, ‘haptic’ technology is also built-in. Basically this is ‘force-feedback’ technology, so you feel the Wiimote gently vibrating in your hand as you come into contact with something, such as hitting a tennis ball or bumping into something or someone.

    
    The tennis game as seen on screen in full split-screen

If you’re thinking you need to make dramatic moves as you would swinging a real tennis racket – you can. But the games don’t require you to wildly swing anything around – smaller, more gentle movements are more than sufficient. And because of the motion sensing technology, you do feel much more connected into the game itself.

    
 Nick from T3 Mag and me… we’re playing each other in tennis!

One thing’s for sure – the Xbox 360 and the upcoming Playstation 3 have better graphics that the Nintendo Wii. The PS3 is supposed to have even better graphics than the Xbox 360, so the Wii will be ‘last’ in that particular race. That said, Wii’s graphics are definitely better than those of the Nintendo Gamecube, and still look very pretty and capable indeed. Having graphics half an inch away from reality clearly isn’t something that guarantees great gameplay. Fantastic gameplay is at the true heart of any successful gaming title, and with Nintendo’s legacy of highly playable games we can see nothing changing for the Wii other than the games and the gameplay becoming better than they ever have before.

   
   Me trying to return a tricky shot! Nick won the match. :-)

And, judging by the suite of games we were able to sample at the Wii sneak peek we were able to attend, the new gameplay thanks to the motion sensing technology is almost irresistible – you’ll certainly be wanting to have a go when it launches!

  
  The Wiimote looks set to the best thing in gaming for years…

The Wii will also be the most affordable games console this Christmas, and with full compatibility with Gamecube games, and a growing library of paid downloadable games for previous generation consoles, it’s hard to see Nintendo not selling zillions of Wii’s, and opening up gaming to a whole new audience that never really got into games before, as well as appealing to the huge existing audience of games at all levels. As to it’s ultimate success, I guess Wii’ll just have to wait and see!

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Entry was posted on Friday, September 29th, 2006 at 5:52 am under Technology.

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