I know what you're thinking. You're probably saying, "Hey, this guy's cheating! The console's not out yet, how could he possibly have played it?!"
Well, if you've got the right connections, you or someone you know already has their hands on one. After putting in some time with the console at E3, a couple other shows, and now after seeing the final retail package at my friend's place, here are my opinions on the console:
Package Design
Have you seen the iPod box? Well, just multiply the dimensions of the thing by 5, and you have the Wii box. It's a straight up knock-off down to the grey text, the white box, and the font.
However, the package innards are pretty well laid out. The remote, and the Nunchuk (it's like they decided to lump all the lame names into one package.) all fit easily and snugly into little cardboard dividers.
These aren't the dividers you'd see in say...the box for Guitar Hero. The box innards are divided into 2 halves. This way the retaining pieces of cardboard don't get crushed as you try extract and replace various parts. It's probably one of the few consoles where you can take everything out of the box, and if you so desired, you could actually very easily put everything back inside.
It doesn't use any styrofoam, which is also a plus. So...minus points on the cheap knock off branding, but big plusses for the internal utility of the box.
Setup
So, the guy we had setting this up is an IT guy, and despite his preference for Apple products, even he was able to set up the parts for the Wii without any difficulty.
Secondary controllers don't autodetect, they have to be made aware of each others' existence, a process that takes about 5 seconds, if you read the manual.
The one thing that does seem bad about the setup for the Wii, say compared to the 360, is that while the Wii console takes up far less real estate, the sensor bar also causes takes up space.
The thing has to be unobstructed (a fact repeatedly reinforced by the owner's dog wandering back and forth in front of the sensor bar throughout the night.) so, that might cause problems for people with TVs that doesn' have ideal top surfaces, a TV stand that's obstructed by the wiring of the console and other peripherals attached to the TV.
The remote (or "Telecommande Wii" as it is called in French.) uses 2 standard AA batteries. I don't have any estimation the length you can use the controller before it drains the batteries.
It's probably slightly more annoying to set this up with a standard setup than it will be for any other console, but not enough for anyone to care.
Console "Home"
All of the three systems this generation will have, for lack of a better term, a home section. The Xbox 360 has its "Dashboard" the PS3 has something else, and the Wii has "Wii Home".
Here you can create your avatar used for online areas, and for use in certain Nintendo games called a "Mii". You can have up to 100 of these stored on your console, and making them it more enjoyable than creating your own severely limited profile on the Xbox 360.
My friend's wife spent probably a good 30 minutes obesessing over details of her avatar, and said that she'd probably have the thing filled up by the mext morning.
There are a number of different facial options (though the lack of noses is puzzling. You have basically one that anyone would choose, and 8 really awful ones.) and while it isn't as depth as say character creation in City of Heroes or WoW, making an avatar is usually a pretty good time. (EA Games being a notable exception to this rule.)
We didn't take the console online, as we figured the Virtual Console stuff probably wasn't set up yet anyway, but, at least this part of the Wii functionality blows away what the 360 has to offer.
Controller
The controller's light, but I guess because Nintendo wanted to make sure that you realized that their controller had vibration while Sony's would not, they make it vibrate during a lot of menu selections when it's totally gratuitous, if not annoying.
It feels comfortable enough, and a lot of the problems I was noticing at E3 didn't seem to be occuring, although one of the people playing was having a really difficult time with Bowling, and another cound never get the hang of Golf.
It's accurate enough, but I do have a lot of concerns with it in high action situations. I have enough problems throwing wired controllers around because of the game not detecting simple button presses and combinations. Judging from my experiences at E3 and from my friends' experiences with the system yesterday, you're going to get a lot of "That's totally NOT what I did!" situations. Only now you're going to be left wondering whether you're just not replicating the motion correctly, or whether the console's just not picking it up correctly.
The Nunchuk is basically unused in Wii Sports (aside from boxing, the game won't actually let you start up your sport of choice unless you detach the Nunchuk, which is irksome.) so it didn't really get put through its paces last night, but in other situations, it actually seems to be utilized as the preference for movement, aiming, etc.
This is a tad bit of a problem, considering that Nintendo's selling extra controllers for $40 and the Nunchuk adapter for an additional $20. You're basically going to have to factor in an additional $60 + tax to get any real use out of this system, because it's not fun 1 player with just Wii Sports, and it's not a good as a group experience if you're always passing a single controller around.
For the time being, there are no real major mishaps with the controller...but it is "quirky". I can neither embrace or denounce the controller at this stage, because there are inclinations that I should do both.
Wii Sports
This game is packed in with the system, and effectively raises the price of the system $50. (The Japanese system is not getting this game bundled in, and it runs close to $200 after the exchange rate.) At that point, it's not really a pack-in, it's really you mandatorily having to pay $50 extra and purchase the game. I'm not sure if there's a law against this (I'm sure there must be...Microsoft got sued and had to offer refunds for their copies of pre-insalled Windows on some PCs, so maybe something similar will happen here. Who knows.) but I'm always in favor of the customer having a choice of whether or not to have software bundled in with the package if it increases costs.
I have to say the game's a neat gimmick, but it really isn't worth $50. I'm playing a 4-player tennis game on the Playstation 2 right now, and I can say that without a doubt it is a much, much better game than Wii tennis. The majority of the experiences the game seems to offer derive enjoyment from people being excited by their new toy, but I honestly see people putting it away after a day or two, and wanting a real game for their system. This isn't the type of game I'd pay $50 for.
To Buy or Not to Buy?
It all depends on the type of gamer you are, and what your living situation is like.
If you're in a dorm, or an apartment where you have a lot of people around, it's a good time, as this seems to be mainly a 2+ player experience, and those games always benefit from the excitment and interest from people who aren't playing.
Also, this system seems to be more oriented towards the gamer who plays a game for maybe an hour or 2 out of the week. If you're a gamer who enjoys sitting down once you get home from work or school, and dedicating an hour or two a night to playing games, then this probably isn't the system for you...at least not right now. Gift buyers, you'll want to keep that in mind, as well.
I don't think there are many games out at launch that will be using 4 players, but the only way to get the maximum enjoyment out of the system is to use 2, and that requires shelling out another $60. (There's really not any online gaming announced for the system until next year.) Just remember that when you're trying to budget for the system ($310 + tax), or you're going to be upset when the retailer tries to convince you to buy "options" for the system, and it's ballooned out of what you had mentally budgeted.
Personally, for me, I will be waiting on the system to see if it offers the type of game experience I'm looking for. I'm content with my Playstation 2 and Xbox 360 right now, and there's nothing compelling enough about either the Wii or the Playstation 3 that merit me lining up for them. I'll be fine knowing that if I do get the urge to use the system, that my friend's got one, and I'd be able to play it multiplayer over there every once in a while.
For you parents out there, I don't see this as a good gift choice for one kid...as a family gift, then yeah, it's perfectly valid. However, if you only have one child that enjoys gaming, and they're a casual enough gamer that they'd be interested in this system, there's in all likelihood something that he'd be much more interested than a game system, and you can just hold off on buying it for them on another occasion. The amount effort you had to put into lining up for the system would likely not translate into an equal amount of enjoyment that your child would get out of this.
Wait 6 months, and there will be a nice supply of software out for the system, and likely a game that they'd be interested in, and you can pick it up at that time.
My advice for any and all launches has always been to wait, unless there was something specific that you really, really wanted to play, and the Wii and PS3 launches are no different. Don't fall for the hype.
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