Having pre-ordered my Wii back in October, I was fortunate enough to not have to wait in ridiculous lines for hours and hours in cold rain, unlike many other Oregonians who purchased their Wiis upon its midnight launch last Saturday. I got home from my Wii adventure around 12:45am, where I began to carefully unpack the new Nintendo system. I lived this moment in slow motion, unwrapping each component with the care and respect it deserves to be afforded. My experience could be likened to the N64 kid on several elephant tranquilzers.

Sensor Bar

After carefully analyzing the equipment, I hooked it all up and started familiarizing myself with the controller. I must admit - for as “pick up and play” Nintendo made the Wii seem, it sure took me a while (2 days, actually) to configure the motion-sensing remote to a comfortable level. See, the sensor bar is designed to sit parallel to the ground, on either the top of the TV or the same level as the base of the TV; unfortunately, my TV doesn’t have such a spot because of it’s curvy nature. I tried several positions - even with the bar attached to the side of the TV, perpendicular to the ground - before finally settling on keeping the bar above the TV. This is an akward position because the bar points at around 45 degrees towards the ground, but it’s actually working out pretty well.

Though the Wii has two options for setting the sensored remote depending on whether it’s above or below the TV, I really wish the Wii had more options to calibrate the pointer with the screen so it makes the experience feel more natural. If I want to see the on-screen pointer in the bottom right corner of the screen, I want to be able to point at the bottom right corner of the TV - not the bottom right corner of an invisible sensor box. (Perhaps the big N should come up with a way to have two sensor bars work simultaneously?) However, the current setup is actually doing very well for me so I’m not really concerned about it anymore.

Wii Menu

Upon turning the system on, a health and safety message is shown. At this point, all controllers are disconnected and off; the first controller to press a button will activate and become Player 1. Much easier than switching plugs and cords around � la Gamecube. Pressing (A) takes us to the main screen and shows us Wii Channels. These channels are very friendly and, though the News and Weather channels aren’t working yet, the Mii Channel is up and it’s fun.

Designing Miis is like playing with dolls action figures, but way easier and less frustrating. (I always had a hard time getting my dolls action figures’ shirts to go around their arms.) I hope Nintendo releases more options for these Miis - I’d like to see more types of mouths, hair, and shirts in particular. There’s a bulletin board feature in the Mii Channel, but I don’t see myself using it much (if at all).

I could see the Wii Shop Channel being pretty cool, especially if they start putting demos and trailers on it like Xbox Marketplace, but it’s still relatively empty for now. More and more Virtual Console games will be released soon enough, though I’ll probably only buy a handful. I’m also looking forward to the Wii Browser, mostly to see what my site looks like on a 52″ screen. I can’t really see myself using the Photo Channel since Wii only uses SD cards and our camera uses an xD card. (Stupid formats…)

For those who already have a Wii, here’s a tip from Nick at 4cr: hold down (A) and (B) to rearrange Channels around the main screen.

The Controllers

The Wii remote controller is the perfect weight and size. It’s like the total opposite of the original Xbox controller, which was way too heavy and bulky. The Wii remote’s ergonomic design is complimented by the placement of the buttons - everything’s within thumb’s reach. I wasn’t sure how I’d take to the lack of buttons (for example, the Gamecube controller has 12 buttons and two analog sticks), but I then realized that the remote actually has 10 game-useable buttons in addition to a Home button that allows you to reset the game, return to the main Wii menu, and adjust controller settings like the speaker.

Oh yes, there’s a built-in speaker in this remote. I love it. I think it’s such a cool idea. It’s funny, the PS3’s controller lost rumble while gaining some motion sensing technology; not only does the Wii remote have both rumble and full featured motion sensing, but it also has a speaker. It’s a subtle feature but, when well executed as in Zelda: Twilight Princess, it brings a third dimension to the gaming experience.

While the remote is the main controller, many games wouldn’t work at all without the remote’s trusty sidekick - the nunchuck, which has an analog stick, and (C) and (Z) buttons. I think the seperation of controller pieces is such a smart idea. From an ergonomic perspective, it’s much more comfortable to hold the dynamic duo of the remote and nunchuck seperately, wherever I please, as opposed to being confined to the space of a single unit. For Nintendo, an ergonomic controller translates to longer gameplaying, thus equating to customer loyalty and retention. Also, from a slacker’s perspective, I could lay on the couch with one arm hanging off the side and the other up above my head and still (theoretically) play the game. I can’t say it any other way - the controls are, in a word, comfy.

(In case you were counting, the Wii remote + nunchuck have a total of 12 buttons, an analog stick, and full spacial motion sensing - so yeah, it’s got plenty of buttons.)

Conclusion

My first impressions with the Wii have been extremely positive. A unknown side effect of the Wii is exercise - for Sierra, anyway. She really gets into Boxing on Wii Sports, like this girl but cuter (because she’s Sierra). Aside from my initial sensor bar issues, I’m really impressed with the system for both its style and innovation.