System: Wii
Dev: Nintendo
Release: Nov 2006
Online: Yes
Review by D'Marcus

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Review Rating Legend
1.0 - 1.9 = Avoid
2.0 - 2.4 = Poor
2.5 - 2.9 = Average
3.0 - 3.4 = Fair
3.5 - 3.9 = Good
4.0 - 4.4 = Great
4.5 - 4.9 = Must Buy
5.0 = The Best

The WiiConnect 24 is another interesting feature of the Wii that uses the Wii’s Wi-Fi abilities to make sure that the Wii is connected to the internet constantly, allowing messages to be delivered, Miis to visit your console, or items or other gamers to visit any gameworld saved on your Wii, a la Animal Crossing. There aren’t many uses for this feature now besides receiving emails and wandering Miis at this point, but that should change in the future.

Speaking of the Mii, that is one of Nintendo’s cuter and more fun additions for the Wii. A Mii (another pun off the Wii name) is a virtual cartoon representation of yourself (or whomever you choose) to represent you in certain games or on the console. You can choose your head shape, eye type, hair style, height, body type, and a number of other distinctions to make a virtual doppelganger. Although the Miis are simple and not graphically detailed (and probably add to the image of Nintendo as a kiddy console) they do create a sense of customization and ownership, like Xbox 360’s Gamertag and Gamerscore.

Nintendo’s decision to appeal to non-gamers seems to have paid off as well. People who normally wouldn’t touch a game controller have been intrigued by the Wii, which is one of the biggest innovations to ever grace the gaming community. Commercials showing families playing together and serious adults secretly enjoying the Wii have seemingly captured that demographic, convincing non-gamers that they can enjoy the pick-up-and-play Wii.

One thing that any Nintendo loyalist knows to expect from Nintendo are great first party titles. The long awaited The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess was available at launch and is already being heralded as classic. Wario Ware: Smooth Moves is coming in January, making the leap to the pseudo-next gen to make use of the motion sensing. Some already announced and highly anticipated titles are Super Mario Galaxy, Metroid 3, and Super Smash Bros: Brawl, with the possibility of a long awaited revival of Kid Icarus being rumored as well. Also, because of its great market penetration and innovative uses, third-party developers are taking notice and considering adapting their titles for the Wii, like Far Cry: Vengeance and the upcoming Prince of Persia.

Now for the disadvantages. First, the Wii is the least powerful of all the next-gen systems, placing a distant third behind the powerful PS3 and the slightly less powerful Xbox 360. Because of this, multiplatform titles will either not make it to the Wii or will be revised to work with the Wii’s smaller storage medium and weaker processing power. Also, the much vaunted Virtual console is off to a relatively slow start, with Nintendo seeming to take its time with its powerhouse titles. Finally, once the quaintness wears off, there is still a chance that the Wii could be nothing more than a passing fad. Its longevity is going to depend largely on the ability of gaming developers to incorporate the motion sensors into gameplay without it being too gimmicky.

Nintendo also choose to make the Wii without an Ethernet cable slot, making it only possible to connect through Wi-Fi. This choice prevents numerous gamers from being able to take advantage of all of the Wii features, most notably the Virtual Console and the WiiConnect24. It seems odd that Nintendo, who formerly ignored online gaming and feature completely, chose to jump into online straight to Wi-Fi and skipping over the gamers without wireless internet gaming setups.

Will the Wii make it on innovation? Will it be a serious contender in the Console Wars with the Wii-mote in place of processing power? Despite what analysts would have you believe, there are way too many variables to make an accurate prediction at this point. Regardless of its initial sales figures, the Wii’s continued success will depend largely on its gaming support. Nintendo needs to push the great titles onto its virtual console with haste. Nintendo also needs to push as hard as Sony and Microsoft to secure third party support. Nintendo has always made Triple-A quality first party titles, but the Gamecube began to lose any outside support towards the end of its lifespan.

So is the Wii a safe bet? Nintendo will take care of its loyal fanbase, and they can expect a new and high quality Mario, Zelda, and Metroid as well as all of the former ones through the backwards compatibility with the Gamecube and the Virtual Console support. Companies like Ubisoft are taking notice and pledging to support the Wii with titles, although it may take some time to see the motion sensing achieve its potential. And with its quickly growing installation in homes, more and more companies will notice the potential that the Wii offers. So with all of these factors it’s a fairly safe bet to say that the Wii is here for the long haul.

By D’Marcus Beatty
CCC Assistant Site Director