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The first 24 hours with a Wii

After a bit of struggle, a few failures, and a lot of waiting, I found myself yesterday morning standing in a store with a Wii in my hand. I've been reading about the system and looking forward to the innovate controller for months, so I was happy that I became one of the lucky few to score one. Now, it's not a video recorder by any means, but they are going to end up in a lot of home theater setups this xmas, so I figured I might as well post a review here.

The packaging and setup are top-notch, right up there with buying a new iPod. The instructions are pretty simple and most of the behavior of menus is intuitive. Unfortunately, the device only ships with RCA cables for hookup, with component video cables going to stores in a few weeks. It tops out at 480p, but that's ok because most games aren't photorealistic, where HD could really shine.

I'm a casual gamer in that the only current system I have is the DS lite, and that's mostly for playing tetris on plane flights or before I go to bed. I have an old xbox I use more for movie streaming than games but I used to spend hours on playstation 1 and 2s before I got rid of them years ago. The Wii is obviously light-hearted fun and has games and an aesthetic to match. It isn't aimed at hardcore gamers (the xbox360 and ps3 have you covered), but more towards casual and non-gamers.

I bought a few games for it but so far I've had the most fun with the sports game that came with the system. Playing tennis, boxing, and golfing using a virtual controller is a blast. My wife, who rarely plays games loved boxing.  Even though the sports games have an obvious unfinished look (characters don't have legs or arms), the games use the motion-sensing remote in the most interesting ways. I can't wait until proper golf, boxing, and other sports titles come out.

Among the other games, the motion controller isn't used as extensively for play. Excite Truck is a lot of fun, mixing semi-realistic looks with simple gameplay that even kids could control by tilting left and right, forwards and back. The Tony Hawk title is similar, using the controller to steer and go faster, along with a lot of button combos to do tricks. I also bought Zelda, but I've barely scratched the surface of it.

One cool aspect of the Wii is that it ships with built in WiFi. Once on my network it downloaded updates and I could buy old school nintendo games from its online store. I tried it out by picking up Donkey Kong and Mario Brothers (NES) and it worked great, with each game about $5. Games downloaded in just a minute or so and are playable indefinitely.

Another thing I'm looking forward to is the multiplayer aspects of the Wii. Extra controllers are in short supply now, but I'll pick up a few extras when they're easily available. As much fun a Wii game can be, four people in your living room driving cars, hitting tennis rackets, or fighting with swords is infinitely more enjoyable. Nintendo's Gamecube was famous for multiplayer abilities so I suspect once I get more controllers and more games get released, it'll be a fun thing for parties.

Overall, I'm happy with it and can see it being interesting long after the newness wears off. It's fairly cheap ($250) compared with most game systems and is great for kids and casual gamers. That games that shipped on launch day are enough to blow minds and I'm looking forward to all the games that will use the motion controller in the future. While the xbox360 and ps3 have much more realistic games and audio/visual capabilities, the Wii is just plain fun.

by Matt Haughey November 20, 2006 in Product Reviews

Comments

It's neat to read this review here. I spent a cold 11 hours in line at Target for one, and am absolutely overjoyed with the thing. It was well worth it.

Posted by: Brian Arnold at Nov 20, 2006 3:51:53 PM

You should pick up Trauma Center: Second Opinion. It's a surgery game, and I know it sounds stupid, but out of all the games I bought for the Wii so far (Zelda, Red Steel, Avatar, Excite Truck, GT Pro Series, and Marvel Ultimate Alliance), it's by far my favorite. I can't seem to put it down, it's all I ever think about.

I'm a casual gamer, too, so maybe that's why.

Posted by: Lester at Nov 21, 2006 1:26:18 AM

The guy on Fark who broke his friend's HDTV makes me nervous about the thing.

Posted by: Tom Clancy at Nov 21, 2006 5:34:00 AM

"I found myself yesterday morning standing in a store with a Wii in my hand. "
-heheheheeeeeee.....

Posted by: brodie at Nov 21, 2006 12:40:01 PM

I saw the person that broke their TV set, and after playing with it for a couple days, I have to conclude that the person was a total spazz. I don't even use the little leash, and I've never had the controller come anywhere close to slipping out after hours of tennis and boxing (which feature fast hand motions).

I'd have to think someone that broke the leash and still had enough force to crack a set was trying to do it, or totally overdoing it.

Posted by: Matt Haughey at Nov 21, 2006 3:30:23 PM

well, count me in the spaz column then ;). I nearly clocked my wife in the side of the head while we were playing baseball. I took a swing and the remote went flying out of my hand, I wasn't wearing the strap and I barely caught it by the end of the wrist strap. That being said, I still have a hard time believing that the wrist strap can simply snap like that. It seems pretty sturdy, even though it's thin.

Posted by: joshua at Nov 21, 2006 7:21:19 PM

You know, as I started reading this review, I had planned to leave some sort of off-topic gripe in the comments section, but by the second paragraph I was intrigued! Great review of the system - I guess I need to get one to proudly display next to my 360!

Posted by: Drew at Nov 23, 2006 10:46:31 AM

I saw the person that broke their TV set, and after playing with it for a couple days
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http://www.dl4all.com

Posted by: Michael at Dec 11, 2006 1:24:30 PM

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