Wii Review

We cracked open the Wii box Christmas morning and immediately started to hook it up. Rob noted the very Apple like white iPod color of the device. I was a bit surprised to see how small the unit was. It was a very easy setup. It used composite cables to connect to the TV, one power brick, and a connection on the device for the sensor bar. Since the console is so tiny, I ended up placing it vertically next to my DVR and DVD player. With all the cables tucked in the back it's very inconspicuous.

Unlike other current generation consoles it comes with a free game, Wii Sports. This reminded me of the days when Atari bundled Combat with every 2600 console. Nice, although I heard the Japanese version does not have Wii Sports included. The game itself is very fun. Its the perfect game for my girls, no instruction manual needed
although one is included), as there is online help for the controls. Rob and I had a very spirited boxing match in which I ended up being the victor.

The controllers are out of this world. The Wii Remote is the most impressive device I've seen. It's amazingly sensitive and accurate, basically you point it at the TV (really the sensor bar) and the cursor follows your movements. As your cursor passes over an item (key on virtual keyboard, or item to select in a game) it provides a force feedback response to re-enforce your selection. Take that PS3 fan boys, we have rumble!!! There is a built in speaker on the remote, it's very cheesy sounding but it does enhance the experience on some of the games as well as the menu pages. There is another component called the nunchuck that attaches to the Wii Remote but it's only used on certain games.

Annel ended up getting me The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and Call of Duty 3 for Christmas, but I asked her to return COD since I already have it on the PC. Perhaps it gives a different experience on the Wii but I wanted to keep this a family console that the girls and I can play together. Zelda itself threw me for a loop. Having never played the series I wasn't sure what to expect. Rob and I played for a few minutes on Christmas but because of everybody coming over for breakfast I didn't get much of a chance to get into it. I found some quiet time to play it last night and found it to be a much enjoyable game. It's an adventure title, so the pace is much slower than a first person shooter. Once I learned to take my time and explore I had a great time with it. Currently I'm waiting for a local village boy to make me a fishing rod so I can do some trout fishing!

Now for the real cool stuff. The Wii comes with built in wireless so I was able to connect it to my existing wireless network. With the internet connection you can update your system software (immediately I upgraded to the latest 2.0 version), access Wii Channels like the weather report and coming soon, the news. You can also
download for free the beta version Opera browser designed specifically for the Wii. Within a few minutes I was surfing the web from the comfort of my couch. People have already jumped on the possibilities with this and created the WiiCade site where you can play online games via the browser for free!

Now there is still lots I haven't done yet, there's some sort of social interaction feature with other Wii users and I haven't customized my Mii (Wii avatar) yet. I still have to download and play the old school games like Mario Brothers as well as buy a GameCube controller so I can play classic GC games like Rogue Squadron II and Eternal Darkness. I'll follow up with another Wii update soon.

For those of you keeping score at home, the Nintendo Wii is beating the PlayStation 3 in sales.