As I am sure everyone who is registered on Gamespot will know, that there is a new Nintendo console coming out soon. It is called the Nintendo Wii and is quite different to the average console of today. Here is some of the information about the Wii and my personal opinions on the console. I won't be talking about every single feature of it though.
The name may sound a bit strange to you as it did for many people when they first heard of it.The first colour available will be white but other colours including black will eventually be available. It can resting either vertically or horizontally which can be useful for when you are trying to fit it into different area. It will have a stand for vertical standing. It is very small in size and seems like a child compared the big Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. It is around 8.5 long, 6 inches wide and only 2 inches thick so it should be easy to find a place for it. It has a section to put Gamecube discs, Gamecube controllers and memory cards as it is backwards compatible with the Gamecube.
The most interesting feature is the controller. It is shaped like your standard television remote and when gaming, it can be used for a variety of things. It uses motion sensing and for example; if you were using a sword in the game, you would swing the wii-mote as it is called like you were using a sword and the game character should copy you. It would be the same principle when using a gun; you would point the controller at the screen and the cross-air should follow the wii-mote. Nintendo's aim was to make a controller that anyone of any gaming skill could use. It uses Bluetooth technology and the signal is sent to a reciever that you can place anywhere (better if you put it on top of the television).
Other then the obvious button that you can see (and a "B" button in the back) the wii also has other features to the wii-mote). It will have a built in speaker which will make noices that will be heard in the game. Taking Twilight Princess as an example: if you are going to use the bow, you will hear Link (the character you play as) pull back on the bow and release the arrow from the wii-mote. It will then travel to the TV and you will hear it hit the targe on the TV. This is a very good feature in my opinion. It will really help you get into the game. There is also a home button on the wii-mote that will bring you back to the home menu of the wii. I just hope I don't press it when I am going crazy slashing with the wii-mote.
There is also another controller as you can see in the picture. It is called the nunchuk. It has an analog stick which is used in many games today as you probably know which in always useful to have. It uses the motion sensing which is on the wii-mote. The nunchuk will be useful when using a second sword or a second gun. It has two buttons on the back as well. It connects to the wii-mote with an expansion port. The nunchuk won't be used for all game though. It won't be used for Wii Music Orchestra or at least parts of it.
This motion sensing thing won't be for everyone. A lot of people will just be stay with the regular controllers we know today. I think it will get tiring after long outbursts of using it but I certainly think it will be fun. Just be careful where you play when you get crazy with it. Make sure not to knock over anything.
There will also be a classic controller that will have a direction pad, x, y, a and b buttons, two analog sticks and four other buttons along the top. This will be used for playing virtual console games. You may have noticed that it looks similiar to the Snes controller and won't feature motion sensing.
A new great feature that people are getting excited about are the Wii Channels. This is the place on the Wii that will give you a variety of different things to do on the Wii. In this will include the:
Mii Channel
This will let you make you own characters. It doesn't have too many options to use to make the character so far but it just a bit of fun. You will be able to play as these characters in Wii themed games like Wii Sports.
Virtual Console Channel
This will let you download Nintendo 64, SNES, NES, Sega Genesis and Soft TurboGrafix 16 games. This will be great if you ever wanted to play old games that you missed. For what they are though, they are a bit expensive. You will be able to buy these games with points (like the Xbox 360). The Nes games will be 500 points ($5), the SNES games will be 800 points ($8 ) and the N64 games will be 1000 points ($10) according to Gamespot. Al though, I probably won't use this feature unless there is few free samples it's always nice to have the option.
Internet Channel
This one is obvious from the title but it is a very useful feature. You get to go on the internet when you are using the wii. You download Opera with wii points. It is supposed to be free until June of 2007 though. Once again, I probably won't use this feature but it is still cool.
Other Wii channels include a message board, editing digital pictures and getting the latest news and weather reports making the wii a very resourceful product.
This is all well and good but when will it be out, how much will it cost and how many will there be for sale at launch. These questions were in every Nintendo fans minds for a long time and it was also the most well kept and rumoured about secret in the gaming world for a good time. At Nintendo recent press conference this information was released.
The Wii is going to retail $250 and will be released on November 19 in America. It will be white and will have the wii-mote, nunchuk and Wii Sports bundled with it. A lot of people were disappointed with the price even though it is very cheap to the Xbox 360 and the upcoming Playstation 3. Pople shouldn't have listened to the countless rumours that came out about it s there hopes wouldn't have come up. First party games (games made by Nintendo) will be around $50. It will be 25,000 Yen (hope I didn't scare you with the big number) and will be released in Japan on December 2. Australia will get the Wii on December 7 for AU$399.95. You won't have to buy the SD memory cards that the Wii supports at launch (I am not 100% on the price of one of these) since the Wii nas 512 MB built in flash memory that will keep you supported for a while.
Since I am an European gamer (Irish to be specific) I was waiting for the European news that would be released the next day after the American and Japanese news. It will retail for £180 and 250 Euro and will be released December 8. I was very happy with the price and the release date is fine for me. November 19 is the day before my early Christmas tests and it would be quite annoying for it to be out and I wouldn't have been able to get it. The games will be £40 and 60 Euro which is great for me as well.
Nintendo had originally said that they would have 4 million Wiis at launch but they are supposedly ahead of production. They think now that they can get to 9 million. This will give them the lead of the amount available at launch after both the Xbox 360 and PS3 shortages.
Overall, I think the Wii will do better than the Gamecube by a lot. I don't think it will sell the most. I think it will come last again with the PS3 winning again. I hope I am wrong though. I feel it will generally be used as a secondary console but it will be my primary console. The motion sensing will be extremly fun and will take a while to get old since game developers (paticularly Ubisoft) are supporting it due to the fact that it is cheap to develop games for it and it is sparking the imaginations of them thinking up new ideas to utilise the controller. The Wii channels will be rarely used with me as you may have noticed from my previous comments but it will defintely be cool for other gamers.
Thats about it for my editorial. I hope you enjoyed reading it and I wish the Wii the best of luck. I thank Gamespot and Nintendo.com for the information and the pictures that were in the blog post.