Wii

From games that mimic real-life scenarios – Wii Sports and Trauma Center – to games that reinvent and re-imagine or greatest journeys – Twilight Princess, Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam and Metroid Prime 3 – the Nintendo Wii is just as Nintendo stated in 2005: it is a revolution. 

The ability to pick up a controller or some other device and use it to manipulate objects was once an ill-fated dream. I'm reminded of the Power Glove, and the brief push Sega and Nintendo gave to their sub-par lightguns. These peripherals had great promise but didn't deliver anything special. 

Wii Remote: 9.8
Wii Remote Potential: 10+ (limitless) 

I went into E3 not knowing what to expect, not knowing if the Wii was for real, or if this was going to be another dream that couldn't come true. My first experience with Wii Baseball proved that this was no dream. Right then I realized why, for several months leading up to Wii's unveiling, Nintendo was filled with hype and promises but wouldn't confirm or show anything. They said they didn't want the competition to jump on board. They didn't want others to know that when we pick up the Wii remote to swing a golf club, we are literally swinging the Wii remote.  

But it isn't just sports games that are affected by Wii's innovations. The brilliant minds behind Metroid Prime are taking the series to a place I never thought games could go. For the first time ever, you will be able to push, twist, and pull door handles. You'll be able to fish by pulling the remote toward you like a fishing rod. Racing games are controlled by twisting the remote like a steering wheel. Zelda remains true to its Ocarina of Time heritage, but Nintendo found a few cool ways to implement the remote without going overboard. 

The most startling thing about the Wii remote is that it picks up everything. It's inevitable that some games will do this more effectively than others. But you will learn, just by perusing the main menu, that there is no visible limit to how sensitively the remote can be programmed. Red Steel is a good example of this, offering three levels of sensitivity. I play very precisely, so I found the highest sensitivity to be the most effective. The same was true for Metroid Prime 3, but that game has not been completed. 

There are a couple of things that need to be worked out, and this primarily has to do with first-person shooters. I love the idea of using the Wii remote in place of a mouse. But with a mouse, I can set it down and not worry about it. The camera will stay in position. If I'm playing Red Steel, Call of Duty 3, or any other Wii FPS, letting go of the remote can be disastrous. You should pause the game first, otherwise it'll really screw up the camera angle, and getting it back in position is not a fun thing to do. 

Again, Metroid Prime was only a demo, and it was by far the best Wii FPS I've played. If anyone can solve this issue, Prime's developers are the ones to do it. Otherwise, as wonderful as Wii shooters might seem, there could come a point where developers realize the genre isn't as viable on this platform. I really hope that's not the case. 

For Nintendo's other staples, for racing games, golf, hockey, baseball and any other genre that involves a swinging action, Wii will be the greatest source for developer innovation. In survival/horror games like Resident Evil the thumbstick could control your character while the Wii remote controls your flashlight. (This is already being done, though not yet effectively, in Necro-Nesia.) 

Flying games will prove to have entirely new dynamics thanks to a clever idea presented in the tech demo Wii Airplane. The demo asked that you hold the remote like a paper airplane. It sounds weird, but as soon as the game began, I found myself in a world of unprecedented control. The slightest movement could make my plane ascend, spin, dive – whatever I desired. Even SpongeBob presents some new ideas, having you hold the remote with the bottom in the palm of your hand to create a joystick-type control setup.

At the very least, if Nintendo Wii makes developers find ways to add something specific, unique, and exclusive to the motion controls, then the console has already produced more innovation than any machine since the PSone. And if developers treat Nintendo Wii with the same excitement and dedication that they've given to the Nintendo DS, then we are in for more than unique features – we are going to get a lot of new types of games. 

Nunchuck Attachment: 8.5 

A great and necessary device, but its long-term potential is not yet clear. Will it bring innovation to video games, or merely supplement a feature the Wii remote cannot fulfill on its own? Right now, Wii Sports Boxing and the yet-to-be-released Metroid Prime 3 are the only two games I'm aware of that make use of the attachment in a unique way. The other games merely use it as an analog stick, something the Wii remote was supposed to eliminate. 

Graphics: 7
Graphics Potential: 8.5 

Nintendo Wii is not your typical next-gen console. N64 had graphical strengths and weaknesses compared to Saturn and PSone, and GameCube's power fell in between Xbox and PS2. Wii, however, cannot begin to compare to the visuals of Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. It's true that many developers used GameCube with the Wii remote to develop their first-run Wii titles. 
The console is estimated at about 2.5x as powerful as Nintendo's last machine. This means that when Capcom goes all in, we will get a Wii-exclusive Resident Evil that annihilates all other survival/horror games. 

As it is, Resident Evil 4 for GameCube looks almost as good as Dead Rising for 360 (better in some respects – RE4's characters are much more detailed, but there are fewer of them on screen). Therefore we will see beauty on Nintendo Wii. But the average game is not going to come out looking perfect. The average game will look like an upgrade to GameCube, and with the other consoles getting more visually advanced each year, it won't take long for the graphical differences to become very obvious. 

Console Design / Aesthetics: 9 

Sleek, small, quiet, and loads at about the same speed as GameCube. The promise of releasing a console that's about the size of three DVD cases has been fulfilled. Sitting next to my PS3, Wii looks like a midget. But since I plan to take my Wii out of the house (and wouldn't have room for two PS3-sized consoles), the smaller size is welcome. It's also a bit lighter, making it a lot easier to carry. 

Setup: 8 

Wii is the first console I've read the manual for since the NES. It's just not something gamers typically need to do. We know what A/V cables (included) and S-Video (not included) look like. 
Nonetheless, the Wii has a sensor bar that's used to detect the movement of your remote. I didn't want to assume how this worked, and really, I had no clue. 

The manual provided clear and concise descriptions, explaining where the sensor bar should be placed on or below your television. 
Here's a tip: I use my Wii on more than one TV set, and will be taking it to friends and relative's houses in the coming months. If you do the same, you're bound to know someone with an uneven setup. For example, one of my friends has his TV in the corner of the room. The screen is not directly in front of us – the angle is a little off. I can't turn the TV to make it point directly where I'll be standing while playing a game. Instead, I line the sensor bar up with the center of the TV, and then turn it toward us until it's centered with where we are standing. 

This made the remote work fine. I could bowl, golf, and everything else as normal. 

You and Mii 

The simplistically designed characters of Wii Sports won't be alone for long. Under the Wii's Mii Channel, players can create their own character based on several different pre-made options. This character can be saved to your remote and taken to a friend's house. That's minimally interesting. However, Mii characters can also be brought into games like Wii Sports. It's not a spectacular or innovative feature, but it does give players a way to personalize their in-game representative. 

Photo Viewer / News / Weather 

If these features are of no interest to you, don't feel bad – you're a gamer. We don't care about this stuff. If you have an Internet connection to go online with Wii, that must mean you have a computer. Why, tell me, would you need to get the news and weather from your console? 

As for photo viewing, I could see myself, on rare occasions, using this feature to show something to friends or relatives. But for the most part I like good old-fashioned prints. Digital imagery might be the future, but it won't replace the quality or feel of paper. 

Pros: 

• Unbelievable motion-sensing controls

• New gameplay possibilities (Wii Airplane, Wii Sports, Metroid Prime, Zelda, etc.)

• Better launch lineup than N64 and GameCube; more third-party support

• Online functionality out of the box

• Wii Sports included

• Wii Virtual Console gives you access to classic NES, SNES, N64, Turbo Grafix and Sega Genesis games you’ve lost, sold, or never owned

Cons: 

• Not enough buttons (A, B, 1 and 2 on the Wii remote; C and Z on the nunchuck attachment)

• First-person shooters have some issues that need to be worked out

• Graphic limitations prevent developers from creating games that look as good as Gears of War and Resistance: Fall of Man.

Verdict: 9.5 
Pure creative genius. The next evolution in gameplay, not the next evolution in video game graphics. Nintendo Wii has given new life to an industry that bordered on repetition. It has sparked renewed interest in gaming all over the world. It even earned the attention of Sony, who has produced their own motion-sensing controller for PlayStation 3, the SIXAXIS. 

As it stands now, there is no end to how far the Wii can go. The remote’s sensitivity is only limited by how much time, effort, and money developers are willing to invest in the programming of their games. Graphics are important, and they can move units. They also make games more immersive. But if you could play a game with $10 million invested in beauty, or $10 million invested in creativity – which would you choose?