Nintendo Wii: One Ferocious Underdog

news via businessweek

The graphics leave something to be desired, but the motion-sensitive remote makes this next-gen game system a tough competitor

For a sense of how the underdog Nintendo Wii fares against Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3, this scene from my home one recent night says it all.

On a rainy Monday, three friends stopped over for drinks before we were supposed to head out for dinner. Nearly five hours later, at 12:30 in the morning, they were finally shoved out the door, exhausted from the workout they gave the Wii and wondering where they could go to grab one of their own. The whole time they were there, the PS3 and Xbox 360 sat forlorn and ignored.

The Wii has the stuff to replicate that scenario in homes far and wide. Despite graphics that are far inferior to those of competitors and a design that looks more like an external hard drive than a next-gen game system, the Wii is just plain fun to play.
Virtual Reality in Your Living Room

What makes it so outstanding? It boils down to Nintendo's (NTDOY) decision to focus on how games are played, rather than the glitz and glitter of the games themselves. The company's innovative motion-sensitive Wii Remote controller truly creates the closest thing you'll get on a home system to virtual reality. Always thought you could be the next Andy Roddick? Playing even the simplest game of tennis with the Wii controller and rudimentary Wii Sports game package might show you how wrong you were.

Nintendo set about making the gaming experience itself something even a grandmother might look forward to, and it does a great job right out of the box.

Setup was fairly simple and intuitive. From the start, you put the Wii on its stand, connect the sensor pickup to the unit, and figure out where to place it near your TV for best pickup of your movements with the remote. I was concerned the sensor, placed below a giant-screen Sharp Aquos HDTV set would not pick up the signal, but it worked just fine.
It's All About Mii

After adjusting the clock and other settings, I set up a wireless connection to my home network in just a few minutes, without incident. Once you're Web-connected, as with the PlayStation 3, the system immediately downloads a software update. The next step is gaining access to the too-cutely-named Mii Channel, where you create your own Mii-simplistic but fun digital avatars that represent you in the Wii Sports games that are included with the console. Other online menu features like news and weather were not yet active.

But as I hinted before, the Wii Remote is the true hero of the system, and makes all the console's other features, or lack thereof, seem almost inconsequential. Nintendo wisely continues to license the force feedback technology that produces satisfying tactile cues through the controller. The same goes for Microsoft's (MSFT) Xbox 360. Sony leaves that feature out of the PlayStation 3, a decision that may come back to haunt the manufacturer as game developers make the most of the feature in the other consoles. The remote also provides great audio, such as the whooshing sound when you swing it like a tennis racket.

The true value of the Wii is its ability to reconvey that sense of child-like wonder that has been lost over the years as games like Electronic Arts' (ERTS) Madden NFL and Activision's (ATVI) Tony Hawk become familiar even as they get more technically complex. Anyone familiar with Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz will recognize the challenge of rolling monkeys through maze-like levels, or fans of Zelda know well they have to solve a raft of challenges and puzzles to win the game. But when you're using this controller to stab and slash, bob and weave, you'll experience even the most familiar games in a whole new way.

The Good: Wii controller creates an entirely novel playing experience

The Bad: Online features not fully enabled; graphics don't match rival consoles