Quantumodo

Hi, welcome to my first ever console review. I’m not an authority on gaming consoles so I’ll keep this pretty general; maybe someone out there who doesn’t already own a Wii will find this article informative.

The console in question: Nintendo’s Wii.

First Impressions

The console itself is small, sleek and white. Really reminds me of Mac branding and style in terms of physical console design, package, and even the Wii operating system, to some extent. The Wii remote is simple and intuitive, as is the Wii menu and the default channels. The only really ugly part about this console is the power adapter; it’s gigantic - however the cord is long enough that you can tuck it away, out of sight.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

The Good

• Great system design.
• Great price.
• Innovative motion controlled games like Wii Sports are something you won’t find anywhere else.
• Ability to play any Nintendo game ever (theoretically) as the system plays GameCube discs and offers a bunch of NES, SNES, and N64 games as Virtual Console downloads (costing about $5 - $10 / game). Virtual console games offer pure nostalgic gaming bliss.
• If you enjoyed the original NES or the Super NES and have missed that classic Nintendo gaming ever since then you will love this system.
• Widescreen support for 16×9 aspect ratio.
• Opera browser for Wii is free and works great for most general surfing needs - best couch/living room web browsing experience yet.
• Built in Wi-Fi is great (though not at all apparent - I had to scan the manual carefully before I realized this.)

The Bad

• Graphics are 480p Max resolution; ie: they’re not much better than the Game Cube and there’s no HD support.
• To play in 480p you’ve gotta pick up an ‘optional’ component video cable that will run you about $30; and, of course, a TV or monitor that can output 480p.
• The sytem only comes with one Wii remote and one Nunchuk. Additional Wii remotes cost about $40 each here in Canada.
• With the rumble and sound features turned on the Wii remote can chew through batteries (2x AA) pretty quickly, even the tough industrial ones they include with it.
• The system can’t play DVDs or CDs and it can’t store music or videos (it can store your pictures though - loaded via SD card).
• Trying to type long messages on the Wii can be pretty tedious; I’ve heard there may be plans to make a keyboard attachment, which would solve this problem but…
• There are too many controllers for this thing already. It isn’t bad if you’re just one person trying to play only one player games, but if you want to be able to play 2 player Wii and Virtual Console titles you’re gonna need to pick up an extra Wii remote, 2 classic controllers and an extra Nunchuk (if you want to Box together); having all this stuff laying around looks pretty chaotic and costs a lot to add. Also, if you want to play Game Cube games you’ll need a game cube controller or two aswell and these you’ll need to connect directly to the game console (ie: not wireless).
• The system is Wi-Fi enabled but it has no ethernet port; if you don’t have a wireless network you’ll need either the ethernet adapter that plugs into the Wii’s USB port or you’ll need a wireless adapter for the Wii that plugs into a nearby PC (or Mac - i’m assuming).
• If you are connecting your Wii to the internet wirelessly be prepared for a bit of troubleshooting. I found, with my network at least, that getting it to connect properly took a bit of tinkering, both with the Wii settings and the settings for wireless security on my router.

The Ugly

• The massive power adapter.
• The mess of controllers required to play 2 player Wii, Virtual Console and GameCube games - I don’t even wanna think about 3 or 4 players.
• The Graphics - I mean, they arn’t exactly ugly, but they arn’t bad or good so I’m putting it here. To be fair, the graphics probably look great on a standard Definition TV, but on HDTV pretty much everything looks pixelated to some degree. There’s nothing ground breaking about the graphics at all so I guess when compared with other new consoles or the PC this thing has ‘ugly’ graphics.

Why Buy a Wii?

The best reason the buy a Wii, in my opinion, is that Nintendo makes great games themselves. Their in house software is top notch but they don’t licence anyone else to use it; so, if you want to play new Nintendo games like Super Paper Mario and such, you’ll need a Wii - these games will never come to Xbox, PS3, or PC… at least not commercially and not anytime soon. The other best reason to get a Wii is that you already have some other game system with great graphics and you’re looking for something different. The motion sensetive controllers work pretty good and Wii Sports is included with the console so this is definitely a good reason to pick it up; it’s different and fun enough that it’s easy to overlook any short comings it might have. Another major reason to pick up this console is the Virtual Console games you can download - the library is still kind of small, but it’s growing and it includes games from NES, SNES, N64, Sega Genesis, and Turbo Graphics 16.

Why Not Buy a Wii?

• If you don’t already own a gaming console or PC and you’re looking for the best in graphics and sound; don’t buy a Wii.
• If you’re looking for a game system that can also manage all your media files or play DVDs or CDs; don’t buy a Wii.
• If you hate Mario and Zelda and other Nintendo software, then it might not be for you.
• The idea of getting exercise while you play video games frightens and annoys you.

Industry Impression

In terms of industry stuff I think the Wii is big news in a couple of ways. First, it proves that savy marketing and ‘fun factor’ can sell more game systems than the bleeding edge technology. Nintendo is making a killing on these systems in comparison to other new consoles - number one reason being (I think) is that the hardware is all inexpensive ‘mature’ technology. The other major reason is the controllers and Virtual Console games; I mean, the virtual console games have gotta be almost pure profit - the only overhead for serving them is the cost for storage and download bandwidth, which for older Classic NES titles is pretty insignicant. The controller thing they’ve got you in when you buy this system is also probably a huge money maker - I see it like this, even if you buy the system intending to play one player mostly, you’re gonna see how cool it is and you’re gonna want to get someone else to play with you. If you and your friends/family are into Wii Sports, you’ll need another Wii remote and nunchuk. If you’re into the Virtual Console titles, you’ll need an extra Wii remote and classic controllers for each player, since none are included with the system; only the Original NES titles can be played without a classic controller. In this sense Nintendo’s ‘cheaper than the rest’ console is actually almost as expensive once you get friends and family members in on the action.

The other BIG news here is ATI. While Nvidia has been dominating the PC graphics card industry as of late, ATI has quietly been merging with AMD. I think a lot of PC gamers out there are wondering whether ATI will survive this but with Wii sales as strong as they are you have to imagine that ATI (AMD) is actually doing pretty well overall. Am I wrong?

Final Words

To be sure, this is a great game console. It doesn’t really go very far beyond that, but it is great. It reminds us that max power and max graphics does not automatically mean max fun; and having fun is pretty much the only real purpose, right? Big kudos to Nintendo for making a game system that appeals to me, my girlfriend, and probably even my mom (will get her impression next time I visit).

Posted in: Consoles, Gaming, Wii.
Monday, April 30th, 2007 at 4:29 pm.

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