Wii - Are you happy with yours?

The last of my blog posts on the three machines. Perhaps the most controversial of the three machines. The Nintendo Wii. First of all, the name revelation made me think it was a piss poor joke. Pun intended. I mean, seriously, what the hell? But in the end, it worked, with only a tiny voice in your head wanting to make urine jokes every time you hear that name.

Second of all, the revelation that the Wii would in fact have very shit graphics. No high definition and a graphics engine that barely rivals the original Xbox. This will ultimate prove, in my opinion, to be the bane of the Wii's existence. The difference between the Wii and the PS3 is that one has potential longevity, while the other just has potential.

The Wii is a cheap little machine, lacking a hard drive, a dvd player, good graphics, and other staples that the other consoles have. These are all severe cons. By the sounds of it, it may seem I really don't like the Wii. The truth is, it's my most played console. I love it. But even I can see the limitations of this little beauty.

However, on the plus side, the Wii has absolutely opened the floodgates and taken gaming to a new level. The 360 and PS3 are fighting their own little place for what I feel will be leftovers from Nintendo. None of this would be possible without the Wii's unique control system. I never thought it was possible to do what they've done with their little wiimote. I still can't believe it. Now I can't play Tennis on the PS3 or 360 without laughing at how mundane an experience it is. Wii Sports just blew me away more than any game on 360 and PS3. Why? Because when I moved my hand in a swinging motion, the Mii on the screen did too!

The looks on peoples faces when I invited them to play. They'd ask 'what button do I press?' when we played tennis. When I told them they didn't have to, they couldn't believe it. Seeing them move their hands and going wow when they realized they really were playing the game, it was just plain cool. For this reason alone, despite crap graphics, crap media support, a token memory store, I absolutely love this machine. Of all three machines, each of which have their great games, the Wii is still the most fun bar none. The other two might be hardcore, but for a lot of games I just feel 'meh, been there, done that'. With the wii, it has so much potential to even just be fun. Wii Sports is still my favourite game on the system. The Virtual Console, while a rip off, is a load of fun. But the sheer interactivity, motion sensor technology, it all just sells it for me. A year afte rit came out, I'm still playing Tennis and Bowling on Wii Sports. I use the internet channel to watch Youtube on tv. I plug my SD Card in to let a slideshow play when family come over to visit. It's a friendly little machine. It's a fun little machine.

One of my biggest gripes is that there simply aren't enough stellar games on it. The 360 wins that race, with Wii second, and PS3 quite a distant last. Yet still, I love it. It's the little machine that could, and it returned Nintendo to prominence. If I had it my way, I'd lvoe all the machines to do great because that way we all get the games we want. However, if I had to pick a favourite? For me, it's the Wii. It's different. It doesn't have the greatest graphics, but it sure has the greatest little wiimote around. And for me, that means a lot more. I am very happy with mine. Mario Galaxy, here I come!