Wll LOVE IT
We send non-gamer Miles Fielderto playtest Nintendo’s
new machine ‘for everyone’, the bizarrely titled Nintendo Wii.
intendo says its new Wii console is geared towards gamers and non-gamers alike. In fact. Nintendo is marketing the Wii for use by the whole family. not just for the console-conligured digits of teen and twentysomething terrors but from wee sprogs all the way to old puflins. Well. cracking this non-gaming l.uddite of a journalist was always going to be a serious challenge for the boflins at Nintendo HQ. This hack‘s experience of computer-based entertainment is more in line with the antiquated arcade fair of Pac- Man and Space Invaders than the hi-tech excitements provided by PlayStations and Xboxes. The Wii console. which undercuts its competitors at Sony and
Microsoft with a retail price of
around £180. comes complete with a wireless remote and a second plug-in remote called a nunchuk (when wired together the two look something like Bmcc Lee‘s weapon of choice). Plug the console into your television. assume the position on your couch. and with the remote. access the Wii channel menu to play games. surf the net. download the Nintendo game library or have a look at the weather. It‘s all quite
joystick. operate larger
user-friendly. even for a l.uddite. (iameplay. however. does not encourage one to he a couch potato. The remote and nunchuk. while studded with buttons. trig rs and ' t'ottgh being motion sensitive. Thus. dttring gatneplay there’s less demand on repetitive strain injury-
ge th
inducing thutnb and index linger
hammering to move. shoot. etc and more emphasis on twisting. swinging. slashing and punching the remote and its kttng fu cousin through the air to achieve the desired results on screen. This is the ethos and the selling point of Wii. It‘s also a lot of fun. Motion sensitive computer games might not he a patticularly new invention. but Wii places a new emphasis on this fortn of gameplay and introduces a few innovations of its own. The Wii console comes with a sports game package that includes tennis. golf. baseball. howling and boxing. In order to play the latter. one grasps
IT'S ALL QUITE USER-FRIENDLY, EVEN FOR A LUDDITE
and straps on the remote and nunchuk and punches. parries and dodges in front of the screen and at right angles to one’s opponent. At the end of a shortish three-round light this reviewer had worked tip a sweat. Bowling is a bit less strenuous. bttt. interestingly. it turns out that being a reasonably accomplished ten-pin bowler at your local alley translates into good Wii game play. This suggests two things: one. that the remote's motion sensitivity is very smartly conligured. and two. that Wii games encourage a high level of hand-eye coordination in addition to leaping
Grab your ‘nunchuck’ and get ready for a spot of Wii tennis
Wii Zelda: a more conventional game
about your front room.
This becomes something approaching educational with one of the 30 plus games available to buy for the Wii. Trauma ('t'ntrt': Scrum! ()paratimz. In this somewhat queasily clinical game the idea is to make like Dr Kildare and stitch up wounds and remove unwanted malfunctioning organs from virtual patients. One can imagine little Malcolm slicing open a torso. removing a kidney. sewing the incision tip and. subsequently at the dinner table. proclaiming a desire to go to medical school when he‘s older.
Trauma ('wtm' requires a slow and steady hand. By contrast. 'limv Hawk 's Douala/l Jam demands rapid eye-hand movement. Grasping each end of the oblong remote. turning the handset into a virtual skateboard. tipping it through 360 degrees to perform all manner of acrobatic insanity while slaloming at high speed along the cobbled alleyways of Rome or through the ruins of Machu Picchu and running down tourists en route to oblivion.
Some of the Wii games require tnore conventional button pushing and trigger squeezing use of the remote and nunchuk and these too are enjoyable. But the real beauty of Wii is that it’s user-li‘iendly. though nevertheless. dexterity challenging handsets.
Has Wii converted a non-gamer‘.’
Yes.
The Nintendo Wii is available from Fri 8 Dec from all good electronics retailers.
30 Nov l.1 [Joe f’tltlti THE LIST 103