by Sora Jhannoa

Created on: February 03, 2008

The Nintendo Wii was the underdog in the console wars, it was released second in the race for the title of best console, and shook up the industry as it took the world by storm. There is hardly anyone who does not know what the Wii is and what it can do, it was the most wanted present at Christmas and has sold millions of copies, making it the best selling console at present.

Despite being the smallest and cheapest of the console giants, the Nintendo Wii has managed to appeal to thousands of people through the simple controls, diverse and fun games and ease of use. Anyone can pick up the Wii Remote and play Wii Sports Tennis, or grab the Nunchuck and Remote to play through The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. This is mainly due to the simplicity of the controls; movements that are natural to us, such as swinging an imaginary sword or hitting a ball with a golf club are possible using the Wii's motion sensing controls.

This new way of playing games has opened up a whole new market for the Wii and it is flourishing because of it.

The remote is not dissimilar to that of a TV and can be used for a variety of things in a game. The motion sensing bar detects where the player has moved the controllers and helps the games to react accordingly. In the hands of a beginner, the remote becomes indispensable in helping them to learn to play and to have fun. The Nunchuck adds some extra controls with its analogue stick and two extra buttons, which help when playing slightly more serious games such as The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess or Resident Evil 4.

Players can create avatars of themselves called Miis which store saved data in certain games, like Wii Sports, and allow the player to create something they can identify with. The Wii can connect to the internet so that you can browse, shop and send emails from your living room without turning on the computer, and you can even send messages from console to console.

Another nice feature is the full backwards compatibility that the Wii has. All GameCube games run flawlessly on the machine, and games from older consoles can be brought, for a greatly reduced price, on the Nintendo Wii Virtual Console.

The only downsides of the console are its inability to play DVDs or CDs like the other consoles, and its graphics. The focus of the Playstation 3 and the Xbox 360 are fluid graphics and enhanced games engines. The focus of the Wii is ease of use and fun. Nintendo's choice to make the Wii a pure, fun gaming machine have paid off, it is easily accessible to anyone and ensures large grins from anyone who plays it.

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