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Nintendo Wii

The Nintendo Wii is designed to impress, and give out the most unique and fun gameplay around. It's competitors, the Playstation 3, and Xbox 360, are diffrent for they are all "brawn", meaning which, they are only powerful, unlike the Wii, it's completely diffrent gameplay wise, which makes it, its own kind. This makes it all "brain". And you know the old saying "brawn doesn't beat brains". And remember, most people play games not for the graphics, but for extraodinary gameplay, which makes the Wii superior. The Wii brings out the best gameplay with its versitile controller, which takes you in the game. Actually swing the sword, instead of pressing a button! Since these movements are natural to people, the games will be simple to learn, and understand. Here is the console overview:

Controls: Intuitive control for anyone using the physical motion of the main Wii Remote, which resembles a television remote control. Up to four Wii Remotes can be connected at once using wireless Bluetooth technology. The wireless signal can be detected within 10 meters of the console. Both the Wii Remote and Nunchuk controllers include a three-axis motion sensor. The Wii Remote also includes a speaker, rumble feature and expansion port, and can be used as a pointer within 5 meters of the screen. The Wii Remote has a power switch, plus pad, A, B, Minus, Home, 1 and 2 buttons. The Nunchuk controller includes an analog control stick and C and Z buttons.

The Look: Wii features a compact design that will make it a natural addition to any television setup. It can be displayed either vertically or horizontally.

Media: A single self-loading media bay will play single- or double-layered 12-centimeter optical discs for Wii, as well as 8-centimeter Nintendo GameCube discs.

Communication: Wii can communicate with the Internet even when the power is turned off. This WiiConnect24 service delivers a new surprise or game update, even if users do not play with Wii. Users can connect wirelessly using IEEE 802.11b/g, or with a USB 2.0 LAN adaptor. Wii also can communicate wirelessly with Nintendo DS.

Virtual Console: Wii will have downloadable access to 20 years of fan-favorite titles originally released for Nintendo 64, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) and even the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). The Virtual Console also will feature a "best of" selection from Sega Genesis titles and games from the TurboGrafx console (a system jointly developed by NEC and Hudson). It also will be home to new games conceived by indie developers whose creativity is larger than their budgets.

The Specs: Wii boasts 512 megabytes of internal flash memory, two USB 2.0 ports and built-in Wi-Fi capability. A bay for an SD memory card will let players expand the internal flash memory. Design was optimized with state-of-the-art processing technologies that minimize power consumption, keep the console compact and enable the "sleepless" WiiConnect24 mode.

CPU: PowerPC CPU (code-named "Broadway"). Made with a 90 nm SOI CMOS process, jointly developed with and manufactured by IBM.

Graphics Processing Unit: Being developed with ATI.

Other Features: Four ports for classic Nintendo GameCube controllers. Two slots for Nintendo GameCube Memory Cards. An AV Multi-output port for component, composite or S-video.

The Nintendo Wii's controller is a piece of art. The wireless, freehand Wii Remote not only makes games easy to play, it makes them more fun than ever before. Accentuating the sense of touch in the game lets you feel the heat of emotion with each movement. Because up to four players can grab a Wii Remote and play, there's always a party ready to happen with Wii!

The Wii Remote frees you from cords and excessive, complicated buttons without sacrificing gameplay depth. The motion sensors contained within the Wii Remote and the Nunchuk controller add totally new interactions to existing games while opening doors for new genres. Wii makes your senses come alive!

Wireless and motion-sensitive, the Wii Remote offers an intuitive, natural way to play games. The ergonomic controller plays into the conventional motions you make everyday. When you hit a drum, swing a tennis racket or swing a bat: Why should you have to press a button to replicate these things? With the Wii Remote, you can use everyday motions to help make you the center of the game.

Nintendo designed the Wii Remote to be the most multifaceted gaming device ever. It can be a sword in one game and then a steering wheel for racing games. It's your paintbrush, your golf club, your airplane, but most of all, it's your key to unlocking a world of fun you've never imagined.

The Wii-mote features 6KB of "non-volatile" memory, whose exact purpose remains a mystery. Wii Central thinks that this throwaway memory could possibly be used in conjunction with the Wii-mote's recently revealed internal speaker. It's also possible that this memory could enable players to store custom settings for the controller. However, official documentation does not specify one way or the other. In fact, Nintendo is currently offering developers no means to interact with the controller's internal speaker despite showing off games such as The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, which spotlighted the hardware feature at E3 2006 in Los Angeles.

Recent photos of the Wii console's front flap showcase a button called SYNCHRO, whose purpose seems fairly obvious. The SYNCHRO button is, according to documentation, used to identify Wii controllers that can be used with the console. It assigns each controller a wireless ID number. Evidently gamers first press the SYNCHRO button on the console itself and then find and press another SYNCHRO button located inside the battery compartment of the Wii controller. Documentation also suggests that gamers can hold down the 1 and 2 buttons on the Wii-mote to accomplish the same task.

All of the buttons on the Wii controller are digital in nature. This includes (obviously) the D-Pad, as well as A, B, 1, 2, -, +, Power and SYNCHRO. The C and Z buttons on the nunchuk unit are also digital.

The sensor bar that interacts with the Wii-mote must be placed "above or below" the television set. The bar itself is about 20 centimeters in length and features two sensors, one on each end.

The Wii-mote's LEDs serve two roles. The first is to show which player is communicating with the console at a given moment. Player 1 will light up on the far left, Player 2 the next over, and so on. The second purpose is to illustrate battery life. Upon booting up, four LEDs blink when the controller has between 75% and full power. Three LEDs blink to show 50% and 75% power. Two LEDs blink to show 25% and 50% power. And one LED blinks to illustrate anything below that.

The Wii-mote features a built-in rumble motor that can be turned on or off. It does not offer varying degrees of rumble sensitivity. However, according to documentation, more intense vibrations can be simulated if developers rapidly trigger the motor on and off.

Light sources from fluorescent and halogen lamps, plastic, mirrors and more may occasionally interfere with the pointer, based on official documentation. To eliminate this interference, the pointer must identify the sensor bar and mark its two coordinates. When pointing with the Wii-mote, the unit is actually interacting with the sensor bar, which then translates data to the television, in effect simulating a direct aim to the television.

Interestingly, according to documentation the Wii-mote is able to act as something of an eye, measuring coordinates between 0-1023 on the X axis and 0-767 on the Y axis, which means that it is more or less seeing a megapixel image. Whether or not this data can be interpreted into visual information remains unknown, but we're not ruling out the possibility that the pointer could sub as a camera. This is, of course, purely speculative on our part, but stranger things have certainly happened - like, for instance, an internal speaker.

So don't press buttons! Swing the controller! Get the Wii.