Nintendo Wii reviews

Nintendo Wii review

Nintendo Wii - or I should say consoles, are something i have tried to avoid for some time - I was fortunate enough to try a friend's earlier in the year and was so immediately addicted it worried me. I must point out this is coming from a complete non-'gamer';

'computer games' in general have never really done it for me and having lived in student digs the notion always puts me in mind of someone wasting their life away in a dark room gripping a controller limply and staring blankly into a flashing screen whilst listening to the clicking of the their own fingers on the buttons interspersed with the odd explosion, as their creative mind melts into the couch.

It's kind of unfair to label the Wii as a console due to that exact association - this is a much more interactive experience and even when you play something sitting down such as Mario Kart you are on the edge of your seat twisting the controller around frantically in mid-air like a demeted sumo wrestler.

Obviously the result here is that you unavoidably end up jumping up and down, waving limbs around, and in the case of the Wii Fit, you are willingly moving around - they have achieved a console for sporty people!

One of the by-products of all this is that the usability is off the scale. Set up is fantastically quick and I think it took me about 5 minutes from opening the box to playing a game. Both my parents are in their sixties - Mum - a vehement opposer of computer games and Dad, a man who usually needs things to be explained clearly 3 times before starting anything - both loved this machine (my mum also now owns one). The remote resembles... well, a remote, and you don't need to know 6 different command buttons - to play tennis you wave the remote like a tennis racquet. To drive a kart you treat the remote as a steering wheel. Etc.

All the leads and batteries i required were in the box and they even supply a few spare bits such as spare sticky pads for the Wii sensor bar.

Wii Sports

If you have a Wii this probably came with it, and the Tennis in particular is brilliantly done. I was amazed that you could achieve topspin, backspin, lobs and with a bit of practice almost anything is possible. Very clever. Worth purchasing some extra controllers so you can play doubles using the 4 player split screen option.

Mario Kart

Good fun take on a classic game and even comes with a plastic steering wheel to house your remote, to make it that little bit more fun. Also great with 4 players but you may want to buy some extra steering wheels (see left). Once you get the Wii online you can play your mates remotely across the internet.

Wii Fit review

This can act as your controller for skiing and snowboarding games etc. and also as a measurement tool to help you track fitness - the built in sensors will weigh you, and if you input your height it will tell you your bmi.

The package will then take you through some training exercises to improve your performance. Great fun way to keep fit or lose weight.

I couldn't help noticing my gym has now installed a Wii with large screen TV and Wii fit board ,which speaks volumes. They have embraced it - you should too!