Nintendo Wii Review Cont..

The Wii also includes one of their Nunchuk add-ons for the Wiimote that attaches to the bottom of the main remote and is connected by a small cord. The Nunchuk, which is required for playing many Wii games, has an analog stick and two more trigger buttons. One other feature of the Wiimote is the wrist strap that is located in the same place as the add-on port and which people are supposed to use to keep the Wii from flying across their room. As you might know, many people have complained that the wrist strip is not strong enough (Nintendo has apparently shipped new Wii consoles with a more sturdy strap) and there have been plenty of YouTube videos showing people who don’t use the wrist strap encountering self-induced problems like seeing the remote fly in the air and hit TV screens and other household items.

One problem with the Wiimote is its default use of 2 AA batteries to power it up. The Xbox 360 wireless controller has the best solution with Microsoft offering rechargeable battery packs that can be charged via the Xbox 360’s USB port. Nintendo doesn’t seem to be interested in offering a similar option for the Wiimote although we know that third party companies will likely offer their own solutions. We think they will be popular.

Because of the Wiimote’s unique nature, an outside addition is needed to make it work. That would be the Wii sensor bar, a long thin rectangular object that connects to the back of the Wii via a long cord. You are supposed to place the sensor bar either on top of your television or beneath it. You get used to the sensor bar's look after a while although at first you might think it's something of an eyesore. It’s a small price to pay, however, for the Wiimote’s unique motion sensing features.

The third-party games

The third party games for the Wii are pretty much like those of any new console launch; a few good titles mixed with lots of mediocre and poor games. It took a little while to get some third party Wii games from the varions Wii launch publishers (apparently shortages are not confined to the console itself) but I have played the Wii launch games from EA, Activision, UbiSoft, Midway, Sega, and Tecmo.

 

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