Nintendo Wii: First Impressions
Unless you’ve been living in a cave for the last five months, you’ve probably seen or heard about the Nintendo Wii. You’re probably heard about it even if you do live in a cave. Osama bin Laden probably calls it “the Unholy Remote Controlled Box of Western Imperialism.†Since I’m not on dialysis in the mountains of Afghanistan, I actually had a chance to try out the Wii recently.
The thing about the Wii (indeed, its main selling point) is its motion-sensing controller. It’s a remote. Ironically, from the time I spent trying out Wii sports, I discovered that people are pretty lackadaisical about their remote usage. When you have to point directly at the screen to see your cursor, you begin to realize just how much you point your regular remotes in the general direction of your television and just expect them to work. The first thing you have to get used to with the Wii is just how much you need to pay attention to where you’re pointing the remote.
A lot of people are hailing the Wii as the killer of the PS3 and the Xbox 360. I’m not quite so sure. Here are my thoughts, neatly categorized into pluses, minuses, and question marks.
Pluses:
- Okay, I have to admit that it is fun to play. I tried out Wii sports and in general, all of the different games are amusing. I played Tennis, Bowling, Baseball, and Golf, and each one used motion as the primary form of control. I generally don’t care for sports games, but this did make them fun.
- It’s easy for non-gamers to pick up and play. When what you’re doing is essentially mimicking the motion of the sport in question, it’s pretty straightforward. I saw at least one initially reluctant player become very enthusiastic about playing more.
- Having a remote for a controller similarly makes it non-threatening to the average Joe, or the average Josephine.
- Because of the above reasons, it’s a great console for parties – easily accessible and fun to play with multiple people.
- It’s cheap. Really cheap.
- Miis are amusing.
Minuses:
- In a way the controller seems designed for this kind of sports game, and in the long run I want to play non-sports games much more. I’d generally rather sit down with an action-adventure type game a la God of War or Prince of Persia.
- Wii sports shows off what the controller can do but it remains to be seen whether or not that controller will really work well for “regular†games. One of my favorite games has been Prince of Persia: the Sands of Time, and part of the allure of that was how impressive all the acrobatics were. That game really made it feel effortless, giving the player a sense of being, well, really awesome. Do we really want to wave our hands around to do the same thing? I’m thinking no.
- Graphics. While an improvement over the Gamecube, the Wii’s graphics power isn’t too impressive. In the long run the Xbox 360 and the Playstation 3 will have many more options for graphics. I don’t think photorealism is something that’s good in and of itself, but there are games that make very good use of it. Something like Gears of War, or a next generation Okami, need that graphics power and I wonder if the Wii will be able to deliver.
- While it’s fun to make Miis that look like family members (and puffy-cheeked muggers on drugs), I’m not sure how many games I’d want to play featuring such overly cartoony characters.
- Playing bowling and tennis made my shoulder sore.
- No television is safe.
Question Marks:
- Why am I, a healthy guy in his twenties, playing fake tennis or bowling instead of doing the actual thing? It’s like Guitar Hero – when it gets right down to it, I’d rather learn how to play the guitar.
- What is the staying power of the Wii? The console has really sold like hotcakes (which raises the question of what exactly is a hotcake in the first place), so it looks like it’s in a good position. However, given the way it has captivated a “mainstream†audience, I wonder if it will end up being more of a fad. The competition is honestly capable of a lot more in terms of traditional gaming, so the Wii really has all its eggs in the controller basket.
The Wii is definitely a console based around innovation, and with innovation comes risk. While I was reasonably impressed with what I did try out, I’m not quite yet sold on the Wii as an all-around gaming console. Right now I’m pretty much wavering in the middle – I think it could end up being either a great success or another also-ran, like its predecessor, Nintendo’s Gamecube. On that basis, I’d give it a 5 out of ten, but it does deserve a few more points for the possibilities it represents.
Addendum: After writing this review, I had a chance to play a few other Wii games. I’ll post my thoughts about them in my review next week.
May 7th, 2007 at 6:52 pm
Would’ve been good to hear more about problems with where the remote needs to be pointed. Otherwise, good review. It’s nice to see you with content finally. And finally in a position to experience the pain of, “There’s a fucking comment link right there! Why no comments? :(”
May 7th, 2007 at 8:50 pm
Good feedback. I’ll be sure to expand on that in my next Wii feature. Thanks for the comments!
Edit: Okay, fine, that does sound like a form response. But it was good feedback. And I do appreciate it. So there.
May 27th, 2007 at 8:50 pm
[...] A few weeks ago I gave you my first impressions of Nintendo’s Wii video game console. My experience so far with the Wii has been a little iffy — while there’s a lot possibility in the Wii’s controller, it’s also a major gamble and an attempt to shift gaming into a more non-traditional mode. I’m still on the fence about the console in general, as I noted in my previous post. Since then, I’ve had the chance to try out some more Wii games, and I’ve given the console a little more thought. [...]