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| CONSOLES: Nintendo Wii versus...?
Is the gameplay on the Wii more important than its competitiors' graphics? |
Nintendo Wii  
Sony Playstation 3
Microsoft XBox 360
Arguably, the Nintendo Wii is the most significant console launch in ages. Why? Because its ethos is different. Sony and Microsoft are happy to go for fast performance, Nintendo though - like with the DS - has gone in the opposite direction and tried something else.
Nintendo tried doing this admittedly with the Game Cube too, with less success. However, the Wii is different from its past, as well as the PlayStation and the XBox360. The first reason is a resurgent, confident Nintendo, whose energy has resulted in the success of the DS, where it was tipped to fail against the superior (technically) Sony PSP. The second reason is that Nintendo has been bolder with the Wii, and it really does deliver good fun. The specs inside the box are fairly modest and well known, easily eclipsed by Sony and Microsoft's latest console juggernauts. But it's the way you interface with the machine that's won the headlines to date, and rightly so. Famously, the main Wii control looks like a remote control but has a speaker and motion sensors built in. It's a wireless device, and a flexible one at that. The tanks game within Wii Play and the boxing segments of Wii Sports require you to plug an extra controller into this remote, and the result is staggeringly intuitive. The ten pin bowling minigame and the air hockey-type game where you wave your controller around, with the movements replicated on-screen by your paddle, are the picks. It's delightfully simple. What's more, when we went along, you could barely wipe the grin off our faces. The software titles that play to the Wii's strengths are tremendous fun, accessible for all levels of gamer and contain plenty to enjoy. Multiplayer enhances the group fun hugely. The box itself is small, lightweight and easily expandable. It'll support old Game Cube games and controllers and it'll also sport the Virtual Console, which we didn't get a chance to play with, where you can buy and download old Nintendo classics for a couple of quid apiece. There are downsides, of course. Much though we enjoyed first person shooter Red Steel - and that works a treat with the Wii controller - the graphical limitations of the machine shone through, against something like Call Of Duty 3 on Xbox 360. We also found that in one or two games the controller can be a little too sensitive, demanding that you point it exactly at the screen. We finished the review with something at the top of our shopping list. And that's when Nintendo really plays its trump card, as the machine is selling for a low price at launch, with the excellent Wii Sports bundled in. The cheap Wii, cheaper only on price, not on quality, really is the gaming bargain of the last couple of years. It isn't the most powerful games console on the planet by any measure. But at this moment in time it's by far the most interesting - the lowest price, but not the lowest fun. Verdict: Complex technology, but good old fashioned fun |
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