So what the hell is this "Nintendo Wii", and what's it all about?

by RPG Site Staff on 23 June, 2006

One of my friends asked me this today, and it prompted me to ask myself; how many gamers honestly have no idea? What makes this "Wii" so special? If you honestly have no idea, prepare for the rollercoaster ride of your life.

Well one thing's for sure, the Wii's sexy alright

So, the obvious facts for those of you who have probably been living in a cave for the last few months. The Nintendo Wii is the next-gen console developed by Nintendo, which used to go by the codename of "Revolution". Nintendo are trying to separate themselves from the rest of the market by being so different to Sony's Playstation 3 and Microsoft's Xbox 360 it's almost unreal - first of all, Nintendo aim to retail the Wii at an extremely low price; roughly 222USD / 120GBP / 174 EU / 25,000 yen. At launch, believe it or not. (Nothing's certain though, 150GBP seems more credible)

Nintendo hope that they will be no competition and have no competition - almost everyone can afford the cheap Wii alongside an Xbox 360 or a Sony PS3, but will likely have to choose between the latter two. Win for Nintendo.

Cheap and nasty? Hell no. Nintendo are known to deliver; and believe me, the Wii will deliver. Looking over the Zelda: Twilight Princess screenshots, graphically, the Wii isn't exactly disappointing. Far from it. But what about everything else?

What makes the Wii, or "Revolution" so revolutionary and different, is the way games are controlled. The player is no longer staring into the game world from outside through a steamy window - with the Wii, the player is IN the game. First of all, there are no more conventional controllers like the Xbox, PS2, or Gamecube. Nintendo hopes to aim its console at a much wider audience by making it much more accessible to today's culture - so what better way of doing that than using everyone's favourite little device, the remote control?

But that's not all. This "Wiimote" has a gyroscope built into it; which means it can sense movement when it's swung about, pointed in different directions, and so on. Why push buttons to swing a sword when you can swing it? Why hold a button to power up a golf shot when you can realistically swing the actual golf club? Nintendo asked themselves exactly this, and decided there was no good reason at all. So they changed it, and gave birth to the Wii remote.

Could it possibly get any better? Yes, yes it can. As well as the basic remote, there are also "plug-in" add-ons to the remote, such as the nun-chuck attachment. This attachment also features the gyroscope (or motion sensor) technology, and is used in certain games (such as Zelda: Twilight Princess) to add a whole new level to the Wii controls.

The attachments and controls offer a startling amount of potential

Oh, and did I mention the Wiimote also has a built-in speaker for added effect? Evidently not.

However, there are still four slots for Nintendo Gamecube controllers available, and slots for Gamecube memory cards. The Wii will also feature backwards compatibility.

The Wii can even communicate with the internet when the power is off (or on, for that matter), either through a wireless IEEE 802.11b/g, or with a USB 2.0 LAN adaptor, and wirelessly with the Nintendo DS. This "Wiiconnect24" service (as is named by Nintendo's site) can deliver new surprises and game updates even if the player isn't anywhere near his or her Wii.

Illustration of the Wiimote's main functions

Like the Xbox 360, the Wii will have access to downloadable content through the internet, including the already mentioned game updates, Nintendo 64 games, SNES games, and even NES games. There will even be Sega Genesis titles on offer, and a selection of games from developers (to quote Nintendo) "whose creativity is larger than their budgets"

"Why Wii? Why ON EARTH 'Wii'? Sounds like an average time in the toilet." Is the general feeling that went through the gaming community when Nintendo announced the revolution's true name. Well here's what Nintendo has to say about Wii;
Wii will break down that wall that separates video game players from everybody else.
Wii will put people more in touch with their games...and each other. But you're probably asking: What does the name mean?
Wii sounds like "we," which emphasizes this console is for everyone.
Wii can easily be remembered by people around the world, no matter what language they speak. No confusion. No need to abbreviate. Just Wii.