Ryan Mercer

The Nintendo Wii has to be the single greatest thing gaming as seen since Pong.

The revolutionary controller design is just something out of this world. The Wiimote and accessory controllers like the Nunchuk offer you a whole new level of experience in your gaming. The bluetooth controllers allow you to be approximately 30 feet away from your tv, the built in speaker and rumble features on the Wiimote had a whole new level of immersion into the games. The only downside, batteries... with all the features of the remote going, I'm still getting the 30 hours or so that Nintendo quoted for the life of batteries, and while they don't recommend using rechargeables they do hint that using NiMH batteries could be used... which I find to be true and more friendly to my wallet and the environment.

The Wii itself brings us things we've never had in a nintendo before, with exception of the DS... built in wifi. This build in wifi currently allows updates to be downloaded via the internet, email to be sent from console to console, and even console to standard email addresses. The wifi will also soon bring us free online services such as weather and news, as well as online game play eventually.

Like games from older consoles? Well starting most recently with the Gamecube you have 4 controller ports hidden on the side of the Wii as well as 2 Gamecube memory card slots. The wii will play Gamecube games just the same as it will play Wii games. Want to play something older than the Gamecube? Never fear! Virtual Console is here! That is right, a virtual console is equipped on the system which is essentially an emulator. Games from the NES, SNES, N64, Mega Drive/Genesis and TurboGrafx-16 systems are already becoming available through the Virtual Console channel on the Wii with rumors of MSX and Commodore 64 titles becoming available some time in the future.

The Wii comes built in with 512mb of flash storage for game saves, virtual console games, etc. An SD card port allows you to add up to another 2GB of storage. SD cards are getting cheaper and cheaper as more and more consumer products stat using them, which is a wonderful change to every system having a different, console specific, form of storage media as in the past.

Is the Wii worth buying? ABSOLUTELY! Everyone I know who has picked up the Wii, including my mother, has found it entertaining. As more and more games come out this console is going to be a staple item of every household.

Back to Reviews

Return Home