Exclusive Wii first long play session
Hailed as the largest innovation in gaming history by some and as the biggest gimmick ever to strike the realm of console gaming by others, the Nintendo Wii is sure to top many gamers Christmas lists. The sexy, minimalist white box with its soft, blue glow around the disc port deserves a spot on any lounge TV unit, surely?
What we’ve been lacking up until now though has been lengthy play times on the Wii itself. Ten minutes at E3 2006 just doesn’t cut it. Will you get tired too quickly? Do you have to stand around or is it feasible to sit? Is waving the remote a fine art or is it just like waving a stick in a goldfish bowl and hoping to strike lucky? Finally Kim Kaze is able to answer these and other pressing, REAL questions; after an extended, lengthy play test of four Wii launch titles at the UK offices of Nintendo themselves. No interruptions, no que, no noise and advice from one of the QA Team to assist with game play questions. Also, this time there were controllers without wires of any kind. Who could ask for more?
We also got to hold a Wii unit in our hands and gain real perspective of how it’s going to feel to handle the unit itself and the literal size as it will be when we slot it into our lounge TV units at home.
First of all, it’s important to remind you that the Wii is selling on two very important and unique points:
1) It’s for everyone; the hardcore gaming nut through to grannies, girls and irregular gamers.
2) The remote which acts as the primary control device is utterly wireless and more than just a tilt sensor; every movement of the remote is detected in any fashion and relates to game play.
No other console either out now or set to launch this side of 2010 offers this. Coming close, Nintendo’s DS handheld has been used as inspiration for many of the Wii features relating to the casual gamer, but that’s where the similarities end.
Some gamers have shown concern that the activity level required to play Wii games, especially the sporty titles, may be too high. There are concerns that you have to stand for long periods of time and use body actions such as swinging your arm above your head or at the side of your body. After playing non stop for two hours, did this happen to me?
No. I’m not exactly Wonder woman in terms of fitness and I can assure you, as a regular player there was enough action to warrant perhaps making sure one has access to a tap before playing (you’re going to want a drink if you play for as long as we did!) and possibly ensuring plenty of moving around space in your living room. The key to the Wii control is that even the most active title on the launch line up, Wii Sports, doesn’t require you to make large body motions unless you want to. You can play it moving very little if you want, and some of the games can be played sitting down. I wouldn’t recommend trying golf sitting down, as this is a little tricky.
To test this, in terms of fitness we took along two regular gamers with average to low fitness and one gamer with ME/CFS. He was able to play for the two hour slot with only a fractional tiredness issue and was if anything, making the largest motions with the remote controller out of all three of us and owned at Wii tennis! If you have health related concerns that you or your friends and family suffer from a tiredness health problem, it’s not going to bar you from enjoying the Nintendo Wii. We’ve tested it now and after two hours, it’s safe to say that it’s possible to play on the Wii launch line up for two hours and not be dripping with sweat afterwards. Just remember that large body motions are not a requirement – they’re what players do to have fun with the game. Playing with smaller movements or sitting down is largely possible, doable and healthy.
The biggest shock we got on arrival was that not only is the Wii remote controller a truly remarkable tool, but the nunchuck controller also has a sensor inside, enabling it to be used in exactly the same way! When introduced to Wii Boxing, all a player has to do is hold a nunchuck in one hand and the Wii remote in the other and then move exactly as you would a boxer – lean back or side to side, blocking, jabbing, upper cutting etc. The Wii detects the movement of the nunchuck exactly the same way as it does your main remote. There’s no need to press buttons in this game, you simply move. This is truly an awesome innovation in gaming and not an experience you’d expect outside of the arcades. The QA guy on hand to talk us through the launch line up also informed us that there may be plans to invent shin remotes of some form to enable kicking in games in the future. As far as I am aware, this would definitely be a first in home entertainment, if not any entertainment!
During play in The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, waving the nunchuck side to side quickly will perform a special sword attack which gets a crowd of enemies off your back. When you go fishing within the game, you use the nunchuck to ‘reel in’ your catch with a real, reeling motion. You don’t need a nunchuck for all the games though; on Wii Sports Boxing was the only title we needed it for and Excite Truck and Wario Ware didn’t require the use of it either.
The nunchuck itself is very light indeed, a lot smaller than it looks in the pictures and you almost forget at times that it’s in your hand at all! Giving you the thumbstick control as well as two buttons at the front of the nunchuck, the added factor that the nunchuck has a sensor inside and also acts like the main remote will is a massive bonus. We suggest that if you enjoy playing games with your friends, you purchase a nunchuck or two when you get your Wii.
Nintendo’s main Wii remote controller is the central feature of the Wii. The most talked about device quite possibly in the history of home console gaming, what did we make of using this thing to control all these different sorts of games for two hours straight? Practical or a gimmick?
It’s every independent journalist’s nightmare to sound like a hype generating machine; the very sight of hype sends us screaming for the hills. However, just sometimes there is hype well deserved. This is one such time. This controller, my friends, is to gaming what remote controllers were to TV sets. You have to play with this thing, and we’re convinced you’re going to love it. Really.
More than just a tilt sensor, if the entire beast makes one movement in any direction, or bends, twitches or turns then it will relate to the game you’re playing. All the games we played proved one thing to us over and over – the Wii is as versatile as a Swiss penknife. Holding a baseball bat is … well … like holding a real bat. If you pull it further back the angle of the bat on screen adjusts to suit. Swing it fast or at an angle and it will take this into account. Throwing the ball is similarly precise; though with ball throwing there are buttons to press which control the type of shot you do. In Wii Golf, you’ll discover that the remote picks up very accurately the power, angle and style of your swing. You are able to adjust whether you’re left or right handed in games so that left and right handed players can play together without one getting an advantage, or everyone having to use the same setting.
The Wii remote so far has been a tiltable steering wheel/handlebar (in Excite Truck), a balancing pole (Wario Ware), a fishing rod which you can pull up on and cast off with (Zelda), a bottle of champagne (Wario Ware), a boxing glove (Wii Sports), a golf club (Wii Sports), a baseball bat (Wii Sports), your hand (Wii Sports – Bowling & Wario Ware), a pen (Wario Ware), a sword (Zelda)….the list goes on and on, and these aren’t even all the games the Wii will launch with!
Whether you’re shaking a bottle of bubbly and taking your finger off the top at the right time to squirt people or you’re teeing up on the green, the Nintendo Wii remote is sensitive, versatile and feels natural after only a minute or so of gaming. Why would you ever go back to merely pressing buttons which are on or off, when the proportional and truly analogue element of your own body brings so much more satisfaction?
In terms of further details and a better breakdown of the games themselves, see our following articles, ‘The Wii according to Mat’ and ‘Jazz wants a Wii!’. Two of gaming’s most critical followers test the Wii for two hours and tell you what they think of the games and the experience.
The Wii unit itself has a very cool, flip-down side that covers the Game Cube four joy pad ports as well as the two Game Cube memory card slots. If you don’t ever want to use these ‘archaic’ devices, you need never seen them and the flip-down panels are not noticeable at all. If you do need them however, flip one or both of them down and access is yours. Discreet and sexy, it’s another thing about the physical Wii unit that’ll have gamers smiling.
Smiling. The Wii is about smiling gamers. I have seen the launch of many machines and gadgets, with expressions of surprise and admiration at graphics etc. But nothing comes close to this. No matter who you are and why you play games; you pick it up, you start smiling, even laughing straight away. The joy of gaming should be for everyone, and the Wii has brought joy to the face of every gamer I’ve seen touch it. Thanks, Nintendo. You’re brave enough to make fun once again the king of why we play games. Thank God someone thinks games should be fun before they’re anything else at all.
I’ve only got one question.
NOW do you want a Wii?
What we’ve been lacking up until now though has been lengthy play times on the Wii itself. Ten minutes at E3 2006 just doesn’t cut it. Will you get tired too quickly? Do you have to stand around or is it feasible to sit? Is waving the remote a fine art or is it just like waving a stick in a goldfish bowl and hoping to strike lucky? Finally Kim Kaze is able to answer these and other pressing, REAL questions; after an extended, lengthy play test of four Wii launch titles at the UK offices of Nintendo themselves. No interruptions, no que, no noise and advice from one of the QA Team to assist with game play questions. Also, this time there were controllers without wires of any kind. Who could ask for more?
We also got to hold a Wii unit in our hands and gain real perspective of how it’s going to feel to handle the unit itself and the literal size as it will be when we slot it into our lounge TV units at home.
First of all, it’s important to remind you that the Wii is selling on two very important and unique points:
1) It’s for everyone; the hardcore gaming nut through to grannies, girls and irregular gamers.
2) The remote which acts as the primary control device is utterly wireless and more than just a tilt sensor; every movement of the remote is detected in any fashion and relates to game play.
No other console either out now or set to launch this side of 2010 offers this. Coming close, Nintendo’s DS handheld has been used as inspiration for many of the Wii features relating to the casual gamer, but that’s where the similarities end.
Some gamers have shown concern that the activity level required to play Wii games, especially the sporty titles, may be too high. There are concerns that you have to stand for long periods of time and use body actions such as swinging your arm above your head or at the side of your body. After playing non stop for two hours, did this happen to me?
No. I’m not exactly Wonder woman in terms of fitness and I can assure you, as a regular player there was enough action to warrant perhaps making sure one has access to a tap before playing (you’re going to want a drink if you play for as long as we did!) and possibly ensuring plenty of moving around space in your living room. The key to the Wii control is that even the most active title on the launch line up, Wii Sports, doesn’t require you to make large body motions unless you want to. You can play it moving very little if you want, and some of the games can be played sitting down. I wouldn’t recommend trying golf sitting down, as this is a little tricky.
To test this, in terms of fitness we took along two regular gamers with average to low fitness and one gamer with ME/CFS. He was able to play for the two hour slot with only a fractional tiredness issue and was if anything, making the largest motions with the remote controller out of all three of us and owned at Wii tennis! If you have health related concerns that you or your friends and family suffer from a tiredness health problem, it’s not going to bar you from enjoying the Nintendo Wii. We’ve tested it now and after two hours, it’s safe to say that it’s possible to play on the Wii launch line up for two hours and not be dripping with sweat afterwards. Just remember that large body motions are not a requirement – they’re what players do to have fun with the game. Playing with smaller movements or sitting down is largely possible, doable and healthy.
The biggest shock we got on arrival was that not only is the Wii remote controller a truly remarkable tool, but the nunchuck controller also has a sensor inside, enabling it to be used in exactly the same way! When introduced to Wii Boxing, all a player has to do is hold a nunchuck in one hand and the Wii remote in the other and then move exactly as you would a boxer – lean back or side to side, blocking, jabbing, upper cutting etc. The Wii detects the movement of the nunchuck exactly the same way as it does your main remote. There’s no need to press buttons in this game, you simply move. This is truly an awesome innovation in gaming and not an experience you’d expect outside of the arcades. The QA guy on hand to talk us through the launch line up also informed us that there may be plans to invent shin remotes of some form to enable kicking in games in the future. As far as I am aware, this would definitely be a first in home entertainment, if not any entertainment!
During play in The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, waving the nunchuck side to side quickly will perform a special sword attack which gets a crowd of enemies off your back. When you go fishing within the game, you use the nunchuck to ‘reel in’ your catch with a real, reeling motion. You don’t need a nunchuck for all the games though; on Wii Sports Boxing was the only title we needed it for and Excite Truck and Wario Ware didn’t require the use of it either.
The nunchuck itself is very light indeed, a lot smaller than it looks in the pictures and you almost forget at times that it’s in your hand at all! Giving you the thumbstick control as well as two buttons at the front of the nunchuck, the added factor that the nunchuck has a sensor inside and also acts like the main remote will is a massive bonus. We suggest that if you enjoy playing games with your friends, you purchase a nunchuck or two when you get your Wii.
Nintendo’s main Wii remote controller is the central feature of the Wii. The most talked about device quite possibly in the history of home console gaming, what did we make of using this thing to control all these different sorts of games for two hours straight? Practical or a gimmick?
It’s every independent journalist’s nightmare to sound like a hype generating machine; the very sight of hype sends us screaming for the hills. However, just sometimes there is hype well deserved. This is one such time. This controller, my friends, is to gaming what remote controllers were to TV sets. You have to play with this thing, and we’re convinced you’re going to love it. Really.
More than just a tilt sensor, if the entire beast makes one movement in any direction, or bends, twitches or turns then it will relate to the game you’re playing. All the games we played proved one thing to us over and over – the Wii is as versatile as a Swiss penknife. Holding a baseball bat is … well … like holding a real bat. If you pull it further back the angle of the bat on screen adjusts to suit. Swing it fast or at an angle and it will take this into account. Throwing the ball is similarly precise; though with ball throwing there are buttons to press which control the type of shot you do. In Wii Golf, you’ll discover that the remote picks up very accurately the power, angle and style of your swing. You are able to adjust whether you’re left or right handed in games so that left and right handed players can play together without one getting an advantage, or everyone having to use the same setting.
The Wii remote so far has been a tiltable steering wheel/handlebar (in Excite Truck), a balancing pole (Wario Ware), a fishing rod which you can pull up on and cast off with (Zelda), a bottle of champagne (Wario Ware), a boxing glove (Wii Sports), a golf club (Wii Sports), a baseball bat (Wii Sports), your hand (Wii Sports – Bowling & Wario Ware), a pen (Wario Ware), a sword (Zelda)….the list goes on and on, and these aren’t even all the games the Wii will launch with!
Whether you’re shaking a bottle of bubbly and taking your finger off the top at the right time to squirt people or you’re teeing up on the green, the Nintendo Wii remote is sensitive, versatile and feels natural after only a minute or so of gaming. Why would you ever go back to merely pressing buttons which are on or off, when the proportional and truly analogue element of your own body brings so much more satisfaction?
In terms of further details and a better breakdown of the games themselves, see our following articles, ‘The Wii according to Mat’ and ‘Jazz wants a Wii!’. Two of gaming’s most critical followers test the Wii for two hours and tell you what they think of the games and the experience.
The Wii unit itself has a very cool, flip-down side that covers the Game Cube four joy pad ports as well as the two Game Cube memory card slots. If you don’t ever want to use these ‘archaic’ devices, you need never seen them and the flip-down panels are not noticeable at all. If you do need them however, flip one or both of them down and access is yours. Discreet and sexy, it’s another thing about the physical Wii unit that’ll have gamers smiling.
Smiling. The Wii is about smiling gamers. I have seen the launch of many machines and gadgets, with expressions of surprise and admiration at graphics etc. But nothing comes close to this. No matter who you are and why you play games; you pick it up, you start smiling, even laughing straight away. The joy of gaming should be for everyone, and the Wii has brought joy to the face of every gamer I’ve seen touch it. Thanks, Nintendo. You’re brave enough to make fun once again the king of why we play games. Thank God someone thinks games should be fun before they’re anything else at all.
I’ve only got one question.
NOW do you want a Wii?
posted by -=Kim Kaze=- at
11:06 AM
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