wii: initial impressions
I picked up a Wii yesterday and got in a few good hours of playing Wii Sports and Zelda. I have to say that I am very impressed. The controller works very well, although takes some getting used to. The graphics might not feel “next-gen”, but they get the job done.
Wii Sports is a great showcase of the controller’s abilities. As a single player game I think it’s a tad shallow and would get boring quickly. As a multiplayer game I think it would be worth hours and hours of fun. I was able to pick up a couple of extra controllers this morning, so I’ll be able to try some multi this evening.
My roommate who is neither a gamer nor a geek was able to pick up and play Wii Sports in moments. All the controls were so intuitive that the learning curve was practically non-existant. There is no explaining “hold the x button to increase the power and release it when you want to swing the bat”, it’s just “swing the controller like it’s a bat”. Everyone knows how to do that.
Prior to the Wii, game controls were the major limiting factor when trying to get the general public into games. Everyone can watch someone ELSE play a game and understand what going on, but when you place the controller in the hands of the non-gamer they have a hard time interacting with the game. The Wii solves half the problem by providing the controller that can be used in an “ohh, that makes sense” manner. The other half of the problem is left up to the game developers who need to program the games take full advantage of the controller. Wii Sports does this almost perfectly.
I haven’t played enough Zelda yet to form a solid opinion of the game.
So far, I give the Wii and 8.5/10.
December 1st, 2006 at 11:00 am
[...] A couple days ago Ben came back to the office after lunch with one of the more desired toys for this Christmas, a Nintendo Wii. Being the geeks that we are, we of course had to crack it open and give it a go. Ben has posted his impressions on his blog. I only spent about an hour playing Wii Sports, but I have to say it was definitely a lot of fun. The new controller, while not perfect, makes a huge difference in the accessibility of the games. The Wii Sports package overall is rather light fare, but the bowling game does show some real potential for the controller. It felt the most real to me, and many of the same techniques you use when really bowling also work within the game. For me my horrible inconsistency with bowling even carried through to the game, that’s not necessarily good for my scores, but it is realistic. That to me is a true advancement. It’s definitely going to be interesting to watch what new games emerge as developers get more experience with the controller. I don’t play games much anymore, but if I were going to buy one of the next generation consoles, it would definitely be the Wii. [...]