I don’t often talk about gaming on this site but with all of the buzz surrounding the Nintendo Wii, I couldn’t avoid it. Nintendo’s next-gen Wii gaming console has been the center of attention for everyone from Yahoo!, who made a site dedicated to the Wii, all the way to Comedy Central’s South Park, that had 2 hilarious episodes based around waiting for the Wii to come out.
So why will the Wii succeed? First off you have to analyze the competition’s offerings, starting with price. The Wii has a retail price of $250 USD – much cheaper than the Xbox 360 ($299/$399) or upcoming Sony Playstation 3 ($499/$599). The Wii may not have a Blu-ray optical drive but it has one very unique thing, a revolutionary form of game play with a unique motion sensing controller (which Sony “borrowed” from when designing the 6-axis motion sensing controller in the PS3).
One thing I don’t understand about the Wii is why Nintendo decided to use infrared controllers instead of a form of RF, which doesn’t require the use of a “light bar” atop the user’s TV set. (edit: The Wii uses BOTH IR and Bluetooth. IGN)
The Wii provides immersive game play like no other – these shots are from a Call of Duty 3 game where the player must physically row with the controllers. Another scene depicted the player orienting the controllers at “10 and 2″ when driving a vehicle.
The Wii lets old-school gamers download classic NES, SNES, N64 and even Genesis games via a “Virtual Console.” The Wii utilizes your internet connection for this (WiFi or a Wii LAN add-on) and can also update itself with WiiConnect24, which even works when the Wii is switched off. However, you won’t see me camping out in front of Best Buy next week. I’m the type of person that buys a console, plays it for two weeks and then lets dust pile on it. Although, the prospect of buying a few Wii consoles and selling them on campus has crossed my mind.
Hardware buffs are quick to point out that Nintendo’s Wii features inferior tech specs (PowerPC CPU/ATI GPU) when compared to the Blu-ray toting PS3 and HD-DVD add-on compatible Xbox 360. I think the Yahoo! Wii site got it right when it stated the following on the info page:
Compare the Wii’s technology with the Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3, and it may appear less powerful. Way to miss the point! You’re not going to fire up your Wii to show off your expensive new high-definition TV, but if you’re throwing a party, want something to play with your family, or enjoy classic games from the last 20 years of video games history, this is the machine to turn to first.
Are you considering picking up one of these next-gen consoles? If so, which one? Personally, I have to find a way to play Call of Duty 3, which will not be released for PC. I’ve played the first two and they were great. NFS: Carbon also looks pretty good. If you’ve got a few minutes to burn, check out Ryan Block’s video about setting up the Wii.
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“One thing I don’t understand about the Wii is why Nintendo decided to use infrared controllers instead of a form of RF, which doesn’t require the use of a “light bar†atop the user’s TV set.”
Maybe I’m misunderstanding but the reason for this would be positioning, ie knowing what part of the screen the wiimote is currently pointed at. You wouldnt be able to do this with RF.
“..for this would be positioning” It does that? I know the lightgun attachment bounces IR off of the screen to see where it’s at but I didn’t know about the controller using IR for positioning.
One reason I think the Wii will do great is because it’s Low-D TV friendly. I have an X-box 360, and there’s been some serious issues with trying to read fonts if you aren’t HD.
I’ve been recommending everyone who’s asked to get a Wii if they don’t already have an HD-TV. No matter what it says on the back of the box, all of the new X-box 360 games are intended for HD.
I’m so getting one of these consoles when they come out.
I have a xbox 360 and plan to get both the Wii and PS3. The Wii because I enjoyed my GameCube and looks like Wii will take Nintendo’s version of fun to the next level. The PS3 because I’ll make a killing on ebay. ;)
Nintendo played it right, holding out on HD this round. Besides the fact that HD doesn’t look good unless you have an HDTV (
The html formatting got me there.
To continue, I think less than 20% of homes actually have an HDTV. In contrast, SDTV or 480p (DVDs, Wii), look fine on an HDTV, so you’re not leaving anyone out in the cold
For all people that are old school gamers or new school , there is a fantastic book that shows pixel artists, the evolution of portable gaming including gameboy, Playstation, mobile games since the very beginning in the 80s till now. It has amazing illustrations too and a great story to tell. An ode to gaming it is.
Character Design for Mobile Devices
I am waiting for Wii as well. If i buy Wii, i must buy a new TV with larger size, i don’t watch TV too much, so my current TV is kinda like in stone age. It’s only 14″ :D
I have an Xbox 360 that I am currently in love with, but I don’t know if I’m going to buy in the Wii. I’m an early adopter of HD, so I prefer that if I’m going to invest hundreds of dollars in a new console, that it will be next-gen and take advantage of my HDTVs.
I’ve also hooked up my 360 to a 60-inch SD TV and played Gears of War for several hours without any problems. I’m not sure why people think there are problems with the 360 and SD (maybe I’ll need to try some other games to see if I can find the issues).
Angel, try playing Dead Rising in SD.
I have a 36″ Sony Wega and my friends and I have all had issues with reading text in some of the 360 games. Dead Rising takes the cake, though.
both my brother and i have 360’s from the launch day. Zero problems!
Wii – After seeing the video gallery on the site, I thought this would be a ton of fun for my son and I, and possibly my wife, but after reading some reviews on the included sports games they seem to fall flat after the initial WOW is over.
I saw Red Steel’s commercial last night and at first was jazzed but then it just seemed to drop. Granted its a commercial but it didnt capture the “hype”.
Besides all that I would love to buy a Wii as I love Nintendo but my 360 isn’t seeing as much gameplay as it or I’d like ;)
I would also get the Wii way faster than the PS3
I reserved one and can’t wait.
Only 6 days 11 hours 1 minutes and 54 seconds … thanks to the Wii countdown widget.
“come on, come onnnn.”
Paul, you most definitely have to find a way to get your hands on COD3. Wow, just wow!
I’m still not totally sold on the Wii. There aren’t many games that really appeal to me at this point, and most of them that do are available on other platforms and I’d definitely play a game that’s available across the board on my Xbox 360 over the Wii. I’ve also heard some not-so-great things about the controller. I think the sports pack that comes with it looks wicked lame and what happened to the different coloured consoles? I recall seeing a black Wii early on. Where’d it go? Enough with the white electronics already! :P
My wife and daughter seem pretty interested in the Wii, though. So I might pick one up just for them and have it hooked up to our SD TV in the bedroom.
The virtual console stuff is also pretty cool, but I have (or have access to) every old school game I could think of via emulators on my modded Xbox.
So, yeah, it’s really a toss up for me at this point. In any case, I’ll probably wait until at least Metroid Prime 3 is released and see how it fares.
Oh, and BTW, I wouldn’t recommend picking up a few Wii to try and flip on eBay. Nintendo’s saying there will be enough to go around.
I wish I could get my hands on one of those, but unfortunately my wife said NO!! I have to say that one of the best features is the possibility to play old NES games.
I thought you guys might be interested in checking out the Compete.com blog today. It looks at the popularity of each console by tracking internet traffic for each system at top retailers. There are some interesting trends in there. Here is the link…
http://blog.compete.com/index.php/2006/11/13/sony-playstation-ps3-vs-nintendo-wii-vs-microsoft-xbox360-demand-wars-survey-traffic-stats/
Low-D? Don’t you mean SDTV (Standard Definition Television)?
yup.
Yo Paul! If you want to try it out, come over to my place. Sorry, no Call of Duty though.
I’ll be on my way after I get out of class!
I’m really excited for the wii and should be picking one up soon.
I have to say, ever since the 6th Generation consoles had spent a year on the shelves, I’d been waiting for the Wii (or, back then, what I though would be the ‘Nintendo Revolution’), and its perfect launch and revolutionary way to play has only gotten me more excited. Not to mention its cheap price (compared to the PS3 and Xbox 360, at least), the possibility of downloading old Nintendo games and all the other cool ‘gadgets’.
I made the error, however, of not having it reserved and, after two months, I haven’t been able to find a single Wii, the exception being the ones sold on ebay for almost $1000 (I’m not THAT desperate). Considering I don’t live in the United States, Asia or Europe, it’s a tiny ray of possibly false hope that I’ll be able to find it by February, while the “We would like to play” commercials and the good news of this new console keep poking me in the back and laughing annoyingly.
It’s just a matter of time, I suppose, until the Wii is as available on the stores as the Xbox 360 is. The question that haunts me though, is that of how much time it will take…
I suppose it’s just a matter of time until I find out.