ShareThisBy CHRIS CAMPBELL
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
One thing has always been true about Nintendo: It offers a stark contrast to the big-budget muscle cars of Microsoft and Sony, and chooses instead to be the risk-taker and innovator in gaming, for better or worse.
In the global landscape of gaming, the trend is leaning to the Asian-influenced style of videogames, where quick entertainment and interactivity reign supreme.
Nintendo's Wii captures this in a console format. While Sony and Microsoft tout their "revolution," Nintendo has wisely decided to deliver the next "evolution" in console gaming.
Hardware
There's no denying that Nintendo decided to back away from the alley fight with PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in graphic presentation. There's no HD with the Wii, and for those who love 40-inch HDTVs and want entertainment to match it, the Wii could be a tough sell.
Some insiders talk of Nintendo as being the "cute and cuddly console" because it bucks the trend of overloading the technical side and focuses primarily on flat-out fun entertainment. Wii indeed lives up to such billing, but without the negative connotations. The Wii is about a third the size of the PS3, and its clean design belies how much punch this little guy dishes out.
How relatively inexpensive the Wii is might surprise consumers. Let's face it. After the sticker shock of the Xbox 360 ($399) and PS3 ($499-$599), the Wii's reasonable $250 price tag makes it a next-gen console that is affordable for the masses. And the masses are definitely Nintendo's stated target. Since E3 _ and even earlier _ the execs' mantra has been that they are targeting not just hard-core gamers but actively searching out non-traditional gamers of all ages, too.
Controller
Intuitive and interactive. Those may not be what the two i's in Wii mean, but no one would blame Nintendo if it were true.
This concept starts with the controllers, which are wireless and more motion-sensitive than anything else on the market. Gone are the clunky two-handed controllers with enough buttons to direct a starship through space. Now, each hand gets its own controller (called the Wii Remote and the Nunchuk). The functionality of each is startling at first, but soon you find that they are exactly what controllers should be: an extension of the player.
Take Wii Sports, a multiplayer game that features different sports that scream "Nintendo-fied." Instead of pressing a button, you hold the controller and swing/move/you-name-it to swing a baseball bat, roll a bowling ball or hit a tennis ball.
You might think this sounds silly and childish, but it is genius and, alas, out-and-out addictive. When developers start really honing in on the potential, it's going to be amazing how the landscape of genres like first-person shooters will be changed.
Software
When it comes to the games, it goes part and parcel with the controllers, because what Nintendo has done is focus less on cutting-edge graphics and blockbuster titles and _ in some respects _ gone back to it roots. This means the kind of groundbreaking gaming Nintendo has always been known for, whether it was launching the original console in the '80s or leading the pack in handheld gaming with the DS.
What's interesting is how the Wii will have full backward compatibility with GameCube titles, even though Wii has switched from the mini-CD format to the traditional CD format.
Not only is that cool, but you can even use your old GameCube controllers, which plug directly into the Wii via a hidden compartment. Nintendo also gets high marks for unveiling the Virtual Console, with which you can download and play any title from the Nintendo library, all the way back to games from the original NES.
Overall
The Wii could not be a more stark contrast to the PS3 and Xbox 360 _ and for all the right reasons. At E3 this year, gamers flocked to the Wii in droves. It dominated the convention because of the new brand of gaming it offered. Whether that translates into higher sales, no one knows yet. But gamers and industry "experts" should know that Nintendo has a unique vision of the future. Lucky for us, we can all get our hands on it now.
