Game Consoles

Nintendo Wii might have lost its battle with Xbox and Sony’s playstation at the beginning but, now, it has made a re-entry with a bang. To say in one word, it is the most innovative game console ever.

Yes! We know, we are just as tired of playing the age old, killing zombies and driving very fast. The Nintendo Wii  Console has just come for the rescue. Ok, lets now see what makes this Game Console so unique and interesting. The latest games released in 2009 include Don King Boxing, Dance Dance Revolution Disney Grooves, Hannah Montana the movie, Exitebots Trick Racing, Burger Island and Roogoo Twisted Towers.

The WOW! Design:

The Wii from Nintendo is a very attractive product to look at. At the very first look, you will have a familiar feel, this looks much like the Apple’s products, having a shiny white finish, blue glowing front loading disc. It has a very small form factor, making it extremely compact. It has a very superior look compared to the XBox.

Nintendo Wii controllers:

One of the main reasons of Wii’s magic lies in its controller. The wii-remote as Nintendo calls it, is simply fabulous. This controller is motion sensitive and hence it reacts to your twists, turns, jumping and simply everything. It gives you an enthralling experience when you can sense the action on-screen. The “Nunchuck” controller that comes along is even more fun.

The Nintendo Wii remote:

The controls in the remote includes the power button, a large A button, D-pad, +/- and home buttons, 1 and 2 buttons, a speaker and finally 4 lights to indicate the controller currently being used. The B trigger button is placed on the other side which is well shaped to suite your index finger. When the controller is held horizontally, it looks exactly like the NES controller, which makes it perfect for playing the virtual control games.

With the batteries being included, it is rightly weighted to do any actions giving perfect balance for playing. The remote control has an excellent built quality and button mechanisms. The quality of the battery springs is great too. Nintendo has given attention to even the smaller details which makes it a magical device. The recommended range of usage for the pointing device id 3 to 4 feet, but it could be used up to a distance of 15 meters without any issues. The wii remote uses Bluetooth to communicate with the device. The remote control also sports a force feedback and a small amount of flash memory which can be used for storing the miis. The force feedback works great but the issue is in its battery consumption.

The nunchuck:

The nunchuck is similar to the prong from the Gamecube controller. The nunchuck features an analogue control stick, a Z trigger and a C button. It is the control that is more used and is lighter than the remote. Similar to the remote control, it sits in a comfortable fashion in your hand and works in an excellent fashion. Apart from the nunchuck, there are a plenty of other accessories available in the market which are even more interesting such as the classic controller, wii zapper, wii speak, wii wheel and the wii balance board.

Connectivity:

Talking about the connectivity, the Nintendo wii Gaming Console is not overloaded with ports or not having one. There are 4 game cube controller ports along with two memory card slots with the rear sporting an AV Multi out, DC input connector, 2 ports for USB and a Sensor Bar.

A tiny air vent is available in the rear of the console, which is complimented by the air intake which is available in the bottom of the console. This makes it necessary to place the wii on the stand when the console is placed horizontally, allowing sufficient ventilation.

The lack of the component video cable is disappointing for sure, but this is not a big surprise as the wii is of the “low-tech” nature.

Start-up:

While working, the Nintendo Wii console does not let out any unwanted sound. It works quietly and it does not emit any heat too.

During the start up, all that you need to do is, run a few quick and easy settings like the language, sensor bar placement and the date and time settings. That’s all you will ever need to do, and you can start gaming straight away.

The wii interface:

Talking about the menu, the wii has a series of channels that are navigated using the pointer or using the plus or minus symbols. The disc channel is used for just launching the channels, the mii channel is a very interesting one that allows you to create cartoon like characters using a series of menu items like hair, eyes, nose, lips, costume and everything else that you can actually think  of. These funny characters that you have created can be used for playing with too.

The Internet Channel will change the way you surf the net forever. No more hunching over your computer. By just downloading the Opera browser for 500 Wii Points turns you into a professional sofa surfer within minutes, clicking and pointing your way throughout the web using your Wii Remote. As Opera supports JavaScript and Adobe Flash, you get to watch majority of the movies in the video sites of your choice.

The mii parade allows your friends to set their miis to mingle and visit your wii as a part of the parade. As the name indicates, the photo channel allows you to play around with your photos. You can copy them in to your internal flash memory, there is an interesting puzzle mode that allows you to create a puzzle out of your photos and the doodle mode allows you to make funny changes to your snaps. Making and adding of slide shows and MP3 files is also possible.

With “The Everybody Votes Channel” being happening with worldwide/national polls, now you even get to answer some remarkable questions; as much as 6 members of a family are allowed to vote. Just choose an answer and check in later to see the results. Also you get to predict the answer that would procure most votes and even compare your predictions with people across countries.

Wii might be great for games, but it also has a nose for news. With WiiConnect24, it updates the latest news from across the Internet and organizes stories into easy-to-browse categories.

The forecast channel allows you to check the weather forecast for the next five days in any part of the world. This works fine but you cannot expect as much details that you get via internet. Finally, the most important wii shop channel that allows you to access the virtual console games and update of any new games in the market. You can also shop using the wii points system. Every 100 points makes 75pence.

The games that you download while shopping can be stored in the internal memory or if that space is not enough, you can use your SD card. You can delete any re-download anything that you have purchased.

Last but not least is the Wii Message Board that allows for sending messages, adding friends, sending photos, emails and short memos too. This can be done by trading wii codes which is made up of sixteen digits with your pals. For security reasons, it is not possible to send messages and communicate unless you and your friend have exchanged and registered your codes in both of your consoles. This is a great though, but the information provided can be kept only for a day.

Setting the internet:

Setting up for the internet can also be done in a breeze. Unlike its previous version, the Nintendo DS, the wii will be able to hold up to three wireless settings and will be able to detect any network automatically. Since wii supports the recent security protocols like that of the WPA2, it is compatible with any of the standard network configuration. Once a connection has been detected by the wii, all that you will need to do is, enter the password, and you are ready to go.

The wireless abilities of wii are great too. Nintendo has cleverly included two cables, one horizontally and another vertically, which would allow the wii the give equal performance if it is mounted in any of the two ways.

If you do not have any wireless facilities, then have no worries. You can buy a Nintendo Wi-Fi USB connector which would allow you to use the internet connection of your PC wirelessly.

Memory:

Since the Wii game console from Nintendo does not sport any hard drives, it has 512MB of internal flash memory for storing the game saves, virtual console titles and downloaded channels. The SD memory card slot is available under the flap on the top of the device, which is of the capacity 2GB. But the blot is that the game saves and the virtual control games must be transferred to the internal memory that is to be used.

Wii sports kit:

The wii sports kit has a pentathlon of some popular sports. This kit is the one which makes a great use of the motion-sensitive controller. For instance, the kit spots the tennis game, for which the remote acts as the tennis racket. The controller is so sensitive that it can sense your angle and even the power of your shot, which gives you a feel that you are playing for real. The sensor bar  allows you to point at the screen using the remote. This bar is inconspicuous and can be placed above or just below your television. It has a very thin cable and is just over 3.5 meters long, which is not going to be of any help to you, if you are intending to use a projector.

If you are a fan of the wrestlemania or boxing, there is a treat waiting. In case of the boxing game, the nunchuck acts as your gloves. Oh! You can actually feel the frustration and want. Having a bad day at school, uni or office, come home and kick your frustration off by naming your opponent as professor or manager. Its that simple!

One warning that we give to the mothers is that place anything that is breakable out of your lounge as there is going to be a lot of action involved. Each game requires you to take a while to learn how to hold and move the controller.

The Wii fit:

Wii Fit is a blend of fun and fitness for the aged and young alike. Bringing in a little bit of Wii Fit in your everyday routine, is literally a first step towards achieving that long pending personal goals that aide with betterment of fitness and health. The Wii Balance Board a vital accessory created exclusively for the Wii Fit is a pioneering peripheral that is absolute fun, simple to use and sure is the best way to pull you off that couch that you have been slouching for all these years and put some long lost action in your lives.

 

Daily progress can also be monitored with the Wii Fit’s easy-to-understand graphs and charts. The orange line right in the graph’s center is nothing but your BMI when you check it for the first time. From there on, it is easy to monitor your progress since you started using the Wii Fit. You are allowed to monitor your Wii Fit age, set goals, and even chart your exercise routine done outside of the Wii Fit.

Performance:

When it comes to graphics, the Nintendo Wii does suffer a bit when compared to its competitors, the XBox and Sony Playstation3. The graphics lets wii down in some of the traditional and realistic looking games like call of duty 3.

The official clock speeds of neither the CPU nor the GPU are known, but it seems to be twice as high as the ones in game cube, making the console more powerful in the specifications area too.

Nintendo has also included a stand in the package for the wii to sit. The documentation provided is presented in a very clear fashion. It is excellent and we are sure that you will not be having any problem in understanding it. They have also provided you with plenty of illustrations to boot the wii.

One of the great and unique features of Nintendo Wii is WiiConnect24. This feature, when activated would let the console remain in a power saving mode when not in use but maintain a permanent wireless connection to the Internet.

The batteries:

The remote control uses good quality alkaline batteries that Nintendo claims can last for up to 35 hours, but then, it basically depends on what kind of game you are actually playing. For instance, if you are playing a game like Zelda, it consumes a lot of energy which requires you to use a large number of controls at the same time simultaneously, that can reduce the remote considerably and would last for only as little as fifteen hours. If you are really cared about the battery usage, you can reduce the volume of the speaker in the Wii settings and also completely turn off the rumble or popularly known as the vibration settings, and off you go for a longer lasting battery. The rechargeable NiMH batteries can also be used. But, make sure that you use the good quality ones, not allowing the cheap ones to disturb the controls performance.

Verdict:

Playing with wii is going to be absolute pleasure. It is the D generation gaming console. Talking of the gaming consoles alone, this is the best. There are a few minor changes to be made, which Nintendo will be hopefully making in the nearest future like the addition of a rechargeable remote control.

The Nintendo Wii has not everything for everybody. It is just a gaming console and hance if you want to watch movies and a big hard disk, then look out for the PS3. We, game-consoles, certainly recommend the Nintendo wii.

Nintendo Wii Game Console – Technical Specification Details

Manufacturer	Nintendo
Model	Nintendo wii
Type	Gaming console
Dimensions	159 x 44 x 216mm
Weight	1.7 kg
Colour	White
CPU	PowerPC-based “Broadway” processor, made with a 90 nm SOI CMOS process, clocked at 729 MHz
GPU	ATI “Hollywood” GPU made with a 90 nm CMOS process, clocked at 243 MHz
Memory	512 MB built-in flash memory. 88 MB main memory 3 MB embedded GPU texture memory and framebuffer.
Storage	Expanded storage via SD and SDHC card memory
Ports	Two USB 2.0 ports. Support for wireless controllers. 4 Nintendo GameCube controller ports and 2 Nintendo GameCube memory card ports. Optional USB PC-compatible 802.11b (Wi-Fi) wireless attachment.
Media	Slot-loading optical disc drive compatible with both 12 cm Wii optical discs and 8.0 cm GameCube optical discs (1.5 GB) as well as standard DVD discs. 2 Front-loading SD memory card slots.
Display type	4x controller (4-pin USB Type A), composite video output, S-Video output
Audio	Main: Stereo – Dolby Pro Logic II-capable Controller: Built-in speaker
Input device type	Wiimote, Nunchuk
Networking	Wi-Fi by Broadcom
Power consumption	18 watts when switched on 9.6 watts in standby with WiiConnect24 standby connection 1.3 watts in standby
Warranty	12 months