Nintendo really nailed it with the Wii. I do have a few complaints so far, but they’re mostly minor. Here are my thoughts after five days with the Wii.
The Good
It’s Like God’s TV Remote ”“ Yes, the controls on most of the games are intuitive and respond wonderfully, but just as important is the feel of the controller. It’s sturdy, but not too heavy, which can be a difficult feat to pull off – just ask the designers of the Xbox’s original Shamu controller. After playing for a few minutes, it melds with my hand.
Lights on a Controller ”“ As simple as they are, the lights on the bottom of the Wiimote that indicate whether you’re player one, two, three, or four are brilliant. Anyone who has ever played multiplayer games with the WaveBird likely experienced the frustration of whose remote is whose when play resumed after breaks. Several of my family members have been prevented from asking, “Which player am I again?”
Just Like You, Only Cuter – I have to admit that I completely underestimated how great the Mii Channel is. Nearly everyone who’s played my Wii has made one, and I’ve lost count of how many times someone has begged another player to hurry up and finish their Mii so they can get back to Wii Sports. Not to mention seeing myself in Weeble form strangely pulls me into the game and convinces me that I absolutely MUST win this round of golf.
Epiphany: I Am a Hermit ”“ Another simple but friggin’ smart idea ”“ keeping track of the hours and games you play. So that’s where all my free time goes.
Elfin Magic ”“ Three points I’d like to make about Twilight Princess. 1.) This game is basically an enhanced GameCube game, it has been criticized for some blurry textures, and launch games almost always fail to use the full power of a console. Yet Twilight Princess looks amazing. Honestly, if you were to tell me this is the best Wii can do graphically, I’m content. As it has been said many times before, it’s art direction, not horsepower. 2.) Remember those concerns we had about the Wii controls? Oh, how I laugh at our past selves. I need to get one of those phones Cartman had in the Wii episode of South Park, call my past self, and tell myself I’m an idiot. 3.) Game of the Year. There, I said it. Spread the word.
My Family, The Ultimate Focus Group ”“ I witnessed something miraculous today. My sister, who rarely plays games, whooped butt in tennis. My mom smiled as she threw a spare in bowling. My dad, a man who I’ve never seen play a game in his life, beat my mom at bowling by getting four strikes in a row. I underestimated Nintendo. I wondered if their whole anyone-can-play strategy was simply marketing hooey. I was wrong, and Nintendo was right. If my family was playing games today after Thanksgiving lunch, Nintendo’s future is brighter than the Wii’s blue light on its brightest setting. Speaking of which”¦
The Bad
No Blue Light Special ”“ Every time you see a promotional shot of a Wii, you see the blue light. Yet since purchasing my Wii, I’ve seen more direct sunlight than I have the blue light. Sad.
The Miis Who Never Were ”“ For every successful replication of a friend, family member, or celebrity, there’s another person whose Mii just doesn’t have the right look. Why couldn’t the Mii Channel have as many options as the create-a-player option we’ve seen in countless sports games? How nice would it be if Nintendo could give us more Mii options available for download or sent directly through WiiConnect24?
Third Parties Didn’t Get the Memo ”“ While I fully expected Nintendo’s first party games to serve as a guide for third parties on how to masterfully implement Wii controls, I never thought I’d experience such mind-numbingly awful controls as the controls featured in nearly half of Super Monkey Ball Banana Blitz’s mini-games. If Nintendo made the Wiimote to remove the barriers that traditional controllers create for non-gamers, why are so many of Banana Blitz’s mini-games requiring you to hold the Wiimote vertical, while holding the Nunchuck on its side, while shaking both of them, while standing on your head, while curing cancer? Wii is supposed to be about simplicity and intuitive design, not convoluted to flat-out broken controls. And I haven’t even played Red Steel yet, but the horror stories are keeping me away from it.
Loitering Online All the Time – Nintendo shouted from the rooftops that Wii would finally see its makers embracing this little Internet fad the kids are into. And sure, there are Virtual Console games, but that’s about it. The News and Weather Channels still aren’t operational, and while I know that’s not the reason most of us got a Wii, I don’t like having features waved in my face only to have them not work. Also, not one of Wii’s launch games has online play. In fact, we won’t see any online games until next year. Psst, Nintendo. Are you sure you’re embracing online features? Or are you merely getting your feet wet?
Wii Sports is the Homeless Game – As much as Nintendo is touting how great it is they’re giving us Wii Sports in the box ”“ and rightfully so ”“ would it have killed them to spring for a real case as opposed to a cardboard, counterfeit case that screams demo disc? I’m proud of Wii Sports, so how about letting me display it proudly alongside the other Nintendo godsends on my game shelf?
Buying a Car with One Tire ”“ I know, tons of you are sick of hearing people gripe about how the Wii only comes with one remote and one Nunchuck. We should be happy that we got a gem of a pack-in like Wii Sports, right? But that’s the whole point ”“ Wii Sports is the perfect example of how the Wii was built for multiplayer. And Wii Sports makes the lack of a second controller seem even more obvious. Okay, Nintendo. You win this round. I went ahead and spent the extra $180 for three extra remotes and nunchucks.
What are your Wii likes and dislikes, no matter how monumental or nitpicky?
hey infendo!so when are you gonna start a master address list for wiis so we can all trade miis and that way everyone has an army of miis around. unless its in the forums already and i just didn't see it
i have to agree with only one controller, sadly i didn't have the foresite to buy 3 wiimote's and 3 nunchucks. just got 1 extra of each. then 2 hours later went looking for more. at least i found some more wiimote's but am missing the nunchucks.small complaint about the sensor bar. i had it on top of my tv and it was too high put it underneath and it is almost too low (but better than it was). would be nice if it was a little more forgiving.love the interface, the vibrating when i move my cursor over buttons, the accuracy of everything and the beauty of zelda. every game i've played/seen so far is amazing. i love what i have and have put together a long christmas list already!! 😀
Positive – Great sports game, free, I love how they handled that and actually suceeded. Kudos on that.Out of the box wifi is great.LoZ:Tp a launch title. Amazing idea. Negative – One Remote and Nunchuck….ouch.-No Wii Play at launch…booo.-Forecast, news and browser not available at launch. UGH.I'd have more to say but … my mmeory sucks.
Great impressions! I read every last word. I hope others did as well.
If there was ever a reason and need for the redesigned Infendo with "read more" links…this is it.
folax: There is a thread on the forums for your Wii code. Somewhere..
Just FYI, the blue light will come on and pulsate when you get e-mail or wii-mail sent to your Wii! Don't believe me? Add me to your address book, and I'll reply to the automatically generated e-mail. Your blue light will come on and stay on until you get the message!E-mail: batmyke@excite.com
Everyone in my family loved the system. Wii Sports will be tough to beat as a party game. Along that line, I avoided putting in Monkey Ball for fear of ruining the magic with wonky controls.As another gripe, there have been a couple moments of abnormally long load times and even the random lock up. Nothing consistent or even frequent. It seems to happen after being unplugged and relocated, maybe each cold boot is a crapshoot (IF BOOT=1 LOAD=CRIPPLED_OS, IF BOOT=2 LOAD=IMPRESS_FAMILY). Anyways…3 of us at work today, Wii in the car, about to bring it in and hook it up to the office projector.
The good…Zelda is the most fun I have had with a console ever. And Wii sports has provided some memorable moments and party opportunities already. Excite truck is fun and Cars is pretty good (had to replaced a PS2 version that I had for my son.)The Bad…The online store has been down or unreachable. A lot. Took be 2 days to get points added and the Legend of Zelda downloaded. This is the only thing that worrks online and it is broken? Ouch.The unknown…What are the plans for online play? I see on the web site that the News is December and the weather in Jan and the INternet channel is "Coming Soon!" But when can we expect some online play from something?And what about my DS? Were there promises about interaction?Chris in TN
Oh, and a quick test tells confirms that the light does glow when you have a message waiting.Bah. Wanted it to glow when loading or when standing by or something. Oh, well.Chris in TN
I can only think of one bad – I need to see more Blue Light! I was disappointed that it didn't stay on during gameplay (as we had all seen in countless videos). But when I got my first message and saw the light not only on, but pulsing, I thought "there is no greater definition of coolness in the universe." Nintendo needs to push through a firmware update. The Blue Light is life!
Red Steel is actually fairly intuitive. This game does need some practice, but after about the second level, I was moving and aiming with ease. Seriously, don't take much stock in the reviews. It's a really good game, and is one of my favorite launch titles.Some of these reviews are annoying me now. Boxing is actually very intuitive. I seriously don't understand how Matt Cassamissina thinks its broken. $50 says he just doesn't play it right, and he should change that part in his review of Wii Sports Baseball.
Might be fun to play, but it doesn't look like a good game by itself. I'd rent it in a heartbeat, though never buy it.Boxing is as broken as Glass Joe's face in the final seconds of his 2nd round in Punchout. You can hardly punch where you want to, changing your position doesn't help, the punches never register right. About the only action that works fine in it is dodging left and right. Let's see someone do the punch-the-mitts training regimen without clocking the trainer 12 times.From my experience, people who like boxing and are good at it tend to not be so good at tennis and golf. Bowling is a wildcard.
The PositiveMy mother who hasn't played a game since SMB2 or Super Mario Land for the gameboy wanted to play tennis today.Grandma who turned 91 in October likes Tennis and Bowling.The NegativeBatteries. I really wish they gave us rechargable wiimotes. I'm just not used to using batteries for video games. Even with my old Gameboy, I used the car cigarette lighter DC charger. The newer portables all work fine on recharges, why couldn't they just give us a DS battery with the Wiimote. The battery on the DS lasts long enough. This should even work longer with the lack of screens. I'm hoping that Nintendo or a third party releases one of these in the next year. I plan wasting my money on games, not the energizer bunny.Also, I'd really like to see the internet channel up.
I agree with cronotrigger913: the Wii Sports boxing worked pretty well for me, and my family enjoyed it too and had no problem with the punches! Oh, and I love bowling AND golf!Matthew: on the graphics comment, if you think they look great now, wait until you view them through a component video cable!