Pensieri di un lunatico minore

Wii little thoughts

I’ve now had the Wii for about a week, not including a couple days in transit. I figured now is a good time to examine what it is, what it means, and how it compares with other systems. This isn’t a review, as there are plenty of those out there, but instead the view of one person who plays video games sporadically.

First, the Wii is unlike anything else out there. Not only because the graphics “suck” in comparison to the other new consoles—although they do not suck in the absolute sense—but also because the interaction model is so completely different. It is a more immersive system, requiring a substantially higher level of participation.

The secret, however, is in the Wiimote, and the overall interaction model. You have to play the game, not control it. You have to swing the controller to swing the tennis racket, not press 3 buttons in a certain order. That requires that you develop fine motor skills, more than reflexes. I’ve always found that the traditional console games require fast reflexes, but not necessarily the fine motor control that would be more useful in some cases.

The Wiimote, as it’s called, requires that you be precise in what you want, and reacts well to fine controls as well as it does wild swings of the “bat.” The games make you work for it, and often you can find yourself much more winded and sweaty than you would have ever imagined. That’s not something you get with all the PS3 fanciness in the world.

Overall, the system is unlike anything that’s come before it. Sure it gets marketed as a “game console,” but the possibilities for the future are much bigger and brighter. One interesting thing I found in the downloadable browser is that it supports Flash. That means you can play YouTube videos on your Wii. For free. Very nice. If you want another take, David Pogue has a great one on his blog.