Preview: Nintendo Wii games console

What's in a name? Only three little letters, in the case of Nintendo's next-generation games console, but three letters that have been causing equal amounts of consternation and hilarity across the English-speaking world since the system was officially christened back in April.

Presumably, experts at the Japanese video games company did plenty of research before settling on the name 'Wii' (pronounced 'wee'). And perhaps the unfortunate alternative meaning is all part of some clever marketing strategy aimed at getting more people to talk about the console.

Who knows, maybe it will work. And maybe if the Sinclair C5 had been called the Sinclair Pi55 it would have sold like hotcakes.

In any case, the Wii will be available in the UK just in time for Santa's big deadline (8 December to be precise), which gives it a distinct advantage over Sony's more conventionally-named PlayStation 3, the European release of which has been delayed (yet again) until March 2007.

In the meantime, we were privileged enough to receive an invitation to Mario and Co's UK headquarters to get a taste of Nintendo's Wii for ourselves.

Crude double entendre aside, the important thing to bear in mind with the Wii is that Nintendo's strategy is almost the opposite of that adopted by its competitors.

While Sony and Microsoft are pushing their respective consoles forward in terms of sheer power, graphical prowess and multimedia functions, Nintendo is far more concerned with replicating the massive crossover success it has recently experienced in the handheld games market.

For Nintendo this effectively means finding an equivalent gimmick - for want of a better word - to the stylus and touchscreen control system employed by the company's hugely popular portable, the DS.

In technical terms, it's largely unfair to compare the Wii directly with the Xbox 360 or the PlayStation 3, which is probably why Nintendo is being a little cagey about the console's specifications prior to launch.

What we know is that inside the little white box you'll find a tailor-made PowerPC processor (co-developed with IBM), along with 512MB of internal flash memory for storage, built in Wifi, two USB ports, an SD memory card slot and a bespoke ATI graphics chip. We also know that the Wii won't be capable of high-definition video output, unlike the Xbox 360 and the PS3.

In addition to its own 12cm disc format, the Wii is 100 per cent backwards-compatible with Gamecube games and a Virtual Console system will also allow users access to a library of downloadable titles originally released for the NES, SNES, N64 and Sega Megadrive consoles.

The online angle seems important to Nintendo this time around, with a version of the Opera browser in the works and a series of Wii Channels available form launch that will include news and weather feeds.

A low-power, always-on option called WiiConnect24, meanwhile, promises to deliver updates, messages and other downloadable content to the console while it's in standby mode.

Other than a photo browser, there's little in the way of the media centre-type functions found on other next-gen consoles. What looks initially like some kind of TV remote control actually turns out to be not only the console's main controller, but also its unique selling point.

The Wii Remote is completely wireless (using a Bluetooth connection that works within a range of up to 10m) and features both a three-axis motion sensor and an on-screen pointer, the latter communicating with the console via a screen-mounted sensor bar.

This reduces the need for confusing buttons, although a four-way D-pad, a trigger and five other function buttons are present for more conventional menu navigation and gameplay.

A secondary controller, the Nunchuk, can be plugged into the Wii Remote and held in the player's other hand. The Nunchuk also features a motion sensor, as well as an analogue thumbstick and a pair of trigger buttons.

Describing the controllers in this way don't really do them justice, however, since written explanations tend to make them sound more complicated than they actually are. In practice, the control system is amazingly simple to pick up and play, even when the fundamental way that the controllers are employed changes slightly from game to game.

In a golf game, for example, you simply hold the Wii Remote as if it were the handle of a nine iron and either give it a hefty swing for a tee off or a gentle nudge for a short putt. Switch to a tennis game and the Wii Remote becomes your racket, sensing when you perform a forward or backhand without needing to be pointed directly at the screen.

It's incredibly intuitive and, as such, Nintendo hopes that the Wii's control system will appeal to those who haven't traditionally shown much interest in gaming.

That said, the control system will undoubtedly prove a hit with hardened gamers too. The Remote/Nunchuk combination is perfect for first-person shooters, for example, allowing for precision aiming in a way only previously experienced when using a mouse and keyboard.

The Remote can also be held sideways in both hands and used like a steering wheel, slashed like a blade for swordfights, punched (along with the Nunchuk in the other hand) for fighting and boxing games, or aimed using the on-screen pointer for target practice.

The possibilities for the clever control system seem almost limitless. All it takes is a bit of imagination on the software developer's behalf to come up with ingenious and enjoyable ways to implement it. And it's undoubtedly the games themselves that will ultimately decide whether Nintendo's console will succeed or fail.

During our time with the Wii, we played through 10 titles, all of which demonstrated different ways that the controller could be used. Particularly effective were Wii Sports, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and Trauma Centre: Second Opinion.

Visually speaking, the games had more in common with those of the current generation consoles than, say, the Xbox 360 (although, admittedly, nothing we played was finished code). That aside, each title was accessible, well presented and, crucially, fun to play. And, given the potential of the Wii controller, the system's bold batch of launch titles is hopefully just the beginning.

We can only speculate as to the wisdom behind the console's curious nomenclature, but it's clear that Nintendo's boffins have put vast amounts of research and development into the hardware itself and the superb control system in particular.

Both the console and its games are keenly priced, too. And, assuming that first and third-party software developers can successfully exploit the system's innovations, there's no reason why the Wii won't prove to be much more of a big splash than a damp squib.

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