Wii love it
Thumbs at the ready, James Fryer tests the latest offering from Nintendo and discovers good things really do come in small packages.
The year 2006 has had gamers perched on the edge of their virtual seats, awaiting the launch of the third generation of super consoles. With releases lined up from Microsoft Xbox 360, Sony PlayStation 3, and Nintendo Wii, who can blame them? Sadly, we’ve all had to wipe away the tears as release dates – and all hopes of splashing our cash on new kit this side of the new year – have been dashed on more than one occasion. But, while the 360 still isn’t officially for sale in the UAE and the PS3’s unveiling has been postponed until next March, December’s release of the Nintendo Wii may be this festive season’s saving grace.
The first thing you’ll notice about this diminutive device is Nintendo have done away with the age-old two-handed controllers, instead opting for a curious combination of a remote control and ‘nunchuk’ – the latter not to be used à la Bruce Lee on your mates. This new freehold control system is designed to give ‘wii-ers’ an intuitive experience. It does everything from making superheroes shoot to steering racing cars around the track. The remote and nunchuk use Bluetooth technology and so react quickly to your actions via a snazzy three-axis motion sensor. And the controller has a built-in speaker and rumble pack – perfect for feeling it when you screech around a corner and into a brick wall.
Looks-wise, the Wii is sleek – and half the size of the 360 and PS3. Under its stylish shell lies half a gigabyte of flash memory and an ATI graphics card so games will run smoothly and you can expect the same high-quality visuals you get from a decent PC. An SD card bay means game data can be stored without a new memory card and integrated Wi-Fi allows you to jump onto the Net in wireless areas.
Our fave feature is full backwards compatibility so it will also take GameCube disks and a host of Nintendo 64, SNES, NES and (oddly) SEGA Mega Drive games – all available for download with an archive dating back 20 nostalgia-filled years. There’ll be new games for your Wii too. The publishing powerhouses have been beavering away, to help the console launch go with a bang.
Before December’s end, expect to see Call of Duty 3, Tournament Fishing and Downhill Jam from Activision, Madden NFL ’07 and Need for Speed Carbon from EA and Far Cry Vengeance, Monster 4X4 and Rayman Ravin Rabbids from Ubisoft. The most anticipated launch of all is from Nintendo themselves with Wii Sports. Wii tennis, baseball and golf will all see gamers swinging the remote control around the lounge. Bowling involves raising the remote in your hand before swinging the ball down the virtual alley and, best of all, Boxing means using the nunchuk as one glove and the remote as the other against virtual Uncle Terry. This is a must for the big kid in you.
The wonderful Wii – with its wonderfully silly name – is a console for the whole family, and anyone seeking third generation action before midnight on December 31.
Wii should set you back around Dhs1,300. For more info, (and videos of people looking rather silly playing on the Wii), visit www.Wii.com.