The Public's First Look at Wii

isaacklinger writes "Time Magazine reports how it feels to play with the Wii. Overall it's a very enthusiastic review." From the Gamespot coverage: "Grossman traveled to Nintendo's headquarters in Kyoto, Japan, and was shown the Wii by legendary game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. The reporter was especially impressed with the Wii's controller. 'It's part laser pointer and part motion sensor, so it knows where you're aiming it, when and how fast you move it and how far it is from the TV screen ... There's a strong whiff of voodoo about it.'" Update: 05/08 16:50 GMT by Z : Ran into a registration screen when I tried for the original article, but eldavojohn had more luck than I. The original Time article is available for reading.

Comments

The Article for the Article

[eldavojohn]

I don't really care for coverage of coverage of a device.

For those of you who wish to read the original Time Article I was able to read every page without a log in. Why that wasn't linked in the story, I'm not sure.

Unlike the hollow Gamespot article, this one offers a much more thorough and deeper look into games such as:

Video games are an unusual medium in that they carry a heavy stigma among nongamers. Not everybody likes ballet, but most nonballet fans don't accuse ballet of leading to violent crime and mental backwardness. Video games aren't so lucky. There's a sharp divide between gamers and nongamers, and the result is a market that, while large and devoted--last year video-game software and hardware brought in $27 billion--is also deeply stagnant. Its borders are sharply defined, and they're not expanding.

And:

Of course, hardware is only half the picture. The other half is the games themselves. "We created a task force internally at Nintendo," Iwata says, "whose objective was to come up with games that would attract people who don't play games." Last year they set out to design a game for the elderly. Amazingly, they succeeded. Brain Age is a set of electronic puzzles (including Sudoku) that purports to keep aging minds nimble. It was released for one of Nintendo's portable platforms, the Nintendo DS, last year. So far, it has sold 2 million copies, many of them to people who had never bought a game before.

There's a lot of good original information inside that article that Gamespot doesn't seem to think is interesting.

Frankly, I enjoy the idea of the controller changing. I feel that the industry has been plagued with bad hardware and also the fear to step away from the norm. The name and design of this system both do that ... although it may introduce a risk of failure, it sure is a breath of fresh air.

I feel similarly about the music industry and that's why enjoy bands like the Arcade Fire that introduce instruments like the accordion with straight rock music to escape the guitar + bass + drums = band template. I like to think of myself as open-minded and I'll remain that way until I can experience the Wii first hand.

Furthermore, I'm shocked that Slashdot had the courage to post something that wasn't only making fun of the Wii for it's name! Could it be that we're actually going to get to read about its performance and abilities instead of just griping about its poor name choice? That's outlandish!

Re:The Article for the Article

[apparently]

hand a dualshock to someone who hasn't played a lot of videogames and ask them to play Halo. It's incredibly awkward. You only think it's ok because you're used to it. I'm not an expert, but the awkwardness you speak of might be due to the individual trying to plug a dualshock into their X-Box.

-1 Obvious Joke

[rAiNsT0rm]

"Time Magazine reports how it feels to play with the Wii. Overall it's a very enthusiastic review."

Re:Aerobics

[oahazmatt]

Why break down a barrier with the controller, only to raise another one by making people move around to play a game?

It's called "exercise". If Nintendo creates a really interesting video game that little Bobby exerts himself on, drops a few unnecessary pounds and increases his cardio-vascular system, how is this a bad thing? This is not raising another barrier, but adding another challenge to a game. Instead of finding the blue key, the player has to burn another 5 calories.

Don't get me wrong, I'm sure one or two children will throw fits and go back to their "easier" consoles that don't require more than a flipping of a thumb, but the Dance Dance Revolution crowd alone has proved that there is a following for this time of system, and that children have a natural energy the Wii can assist in depleting before bedtime.

Wii will work..

[saboola]

Just this weekend I introduced my young niece to Mario Kart. The first thing she tried to do was move the controller around in the air to drive. It's the most natural form of control, and I think people will realise that once again when it launches in the fall. I am really looking forward to it.

we've all been there

[dlc3007]

You know you've done it. You've sitting in front of your computer or console, playing a driving sim. Without thinking, you find yourself leaning into a turn as you try to hold your line.
You're playing a FPS when suddenly, a zombie/mutant/demon/something jumps from around the corner. You instinctively duck in your chair as you jerk your char out of the way and unload a few shots.
Potentially, Nintendo has created the most intuitive, natural interface with a video game since the joystick. Well, at least it is the first new video game interface since the joystick.
Personally, I hate console games. I get bored after minutes of play and haven't purchased one since the NES (yes, the first one). Even so, I think I'll likely be getting one of these. I'm not crazy enough to camp for one, but I can see buying one. Interesting interface > same crap with better resolution.

Nintendo gets it

[Vesuvias]

But the name Wii not wii-thstanding, Nintendo has grasped two important notions that have eluded its competitors. The first is, Don't listen to your customers. The hard-core gaming community is extremely vocal--they blog a lot--but if Nintendo kept listening to them, hard-core gamers would be the only audience it ever had. "[Wii] was unimaginable for them," Iwata says. "And because it was unimaginable, they could not say that they wanted it. If you are simply listening to requests from the customer, you can satisfy their needs, but you can never surprise them. Sony and Microsoft make daily-necessity kinds of things. They have to listen to the needs of the customers and try to comply with their requests. That kind of approach has been deeply ingrained in their minds."

Finally a company gets it. Do not listen to the hardcore audience as they have absolutly no basis in reality (they have likely spent more time in virtual reality than actual reality for last couple years). Hardcore gamers spend so much time playing games they really can't think outside of the "these games are too short and too easy for my leet skillz" box. Games do not need to be harder to play or interface with. Games just need to be fun. Swinging a virtual sword, pump faking a virtual football and swating a virtual fly all seem like fun to me. I will gladly trade the hardcore "games are not fun unless you WORK for the accomplishment" attitude for this "new" idea of having fun while I acutally "play" a video game.

Ves