Wii 1st Impressions - Time Magazine

Read the whole story here.(at least until they archive it/make you pay to read it)

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It's a remarkable experience. Instead of passively playing the games, with the new controller you physically perform them. You act them out. It's almost like theater: the fourth wall between game and player dissolves. The sense of immersion--the illusion that you, personally, are projected into the game world--is powerful. And there's an instant party atmosphere in the room. One advantage of the new controller is that it not only is fun, it looks fun. When you play with an old-style controller, you look like a loser, a blank-eyed joystick fondler. But when you're jumping around and shaking your hulamaker, everybody's having a good time.

After Warioware, we play scenes from the upcoming Legend of Zelda title, Twilight Princess, a moody, dark (by Nintendo's Disneyesque standards) fantasy adventure. Now I'm Errol Flynn, sword fighting with the controller, then aiming a bow and arrow, then using it as a fishing rod, reeling in a stubborn virtual fish. The third game, and probably the most fun, is also the simplest: tennis. The controller becomes a racket, and I'm smacking forehands and stroking backhands. The sensors are fine enough that you can scoop under the ball to lob it, or slice it for spin. At the end, I don't so much put the controller down as have it pried from my hands.

John Schappert, a senior vice president at Electronic Arts, is overseeing a version of the venerable Madden football series for Nintendo's new hardware. He sees the controller from the auteur's perspective, as an opportunity but also a huge challenge. "Our engineers now have to decipher what the user is doing," he says. "'Is that a throw gesture? Is it a juke? A stiff arm?' Everyone knows how to make a throwing motion, but we all have our own unique way of throwing." But consider the upside: you're basically playing football in your living room. "To snap the ball, you 'snap' the remote back toward your body, which hikes the ball," Schappert says. "No buttons to press, just gesture a hiking motion, and the ball's in the hands of the QB. To pass the ball, you gesture a throwing motion. Hard, fast gestures result in bullet passes. Slower, less forceful, gestures result in loftier, slower lob passes. It truly plays like nothing you've ever experienced."

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Sounds pretty intriguing to me.

I want that thing so much, out of the big 3 the wii may just be the king. The Call of Duty 3 trailer didn't look any less good on the wii then the xbox360(if it is actual gameplay that is) which is pretty impressive considering the wii's modest hardware.

I expect the wii to RAWK

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we play scenes from the upcoming Legend of Zelda title, Twilight Princess, a moody, dark (by Nintendo's Disneyesque standards) fantasy adventure. Now I'm Errol Flynn, sword fighting with the controller, then aiming a bow and arrow, then using it as a fishing rod, reeling in a stubborn virtual fish.

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I thought Twilight Princess was still a GC title?

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Originally Posted by Big King Sanctaphrax

I thought Twilight Princess was still a GC title?

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My understanding is that it will be released as a GC game, but on the Wii it will have additional features- like those mentioned above.

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Originally Posted by Xiahou

Sounds pretty intriguing to me.

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I dunno, it sounds like hard work to me!

Remember, you can attach a "regular" controller shell to the remote, and play games like that, if you like.

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Originally Posted by Xiahou

My understanding is that it will be released as a GC game, but on the Wii it will have additional features- like those mentioned above.

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2 versions will be released, one for the wii and one for the GC.

Looks promising, especially as the PS3 and Xbox360 aren' t offering anything very special.

The problem is how adeptly will the Wii respond to my wishes? In Madden, what if I want to make a hard count before snapping the ball? What if I want to pump fake? How will the controller read the pump fake for what it is rather than a real throw? How about fighting games? I wonder how the multitude of moves and combos in SCII or Mortal Kombat will pan out.

At this point, the controller seems more like a gimmick than anything else. Unless gesticulating can offer the same precision of control that buttons do, I doubt that the new controller will become the "new" medium for game playing.