Overview:
Release:
Japan: December 2006
USA: November 2006
Europe: December 2006
Spesifications:
CPU: PowerPC based 729 MHz "Broadway" processor
GPU: ATI 243 MHz "Hollywood" GPU
512 MB built-in flash memory
Resolution: 480i/576i/480p
Peripherals:
-Wii Remote
-Wii Nunchuck
-Classic Controller
Other:
As of March/April 2007 confirmed over 7,37 million units sold
4 controller ports
Top selling game: Wii Sports (pack in)/The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Backwards compatibility with GC games, controllers and memory cards.
The Wii, originally codenamed "Revolution", was just that. Nintendo's revolutionary system which, alledgedly, was to revolutionise gaming completely, following the innovative trend Ninty had started with the Nintendo DS. The system is based on a completely new way of control, where the controller is actually a remote with advanced motion sensoring which can hold a different array of accessories through it's input at the bottom (so far the only ones released are the nunchuck and the classic controller). The Wii has had a generally good response and is far ahead of the Playstation 3 (unlike the 2 previous generations where Nintendo struggled) with over twice as many sales. In addition, it's catching up to the Xbox 360 in terms of sales, despite the 360 launching a whole year earlier.
As the system is relatively new a very wide array of games has yet to be seen. However, Nintendo's first party titles include The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, which has recieved great success (and was also, for the record, released on the GC), Wario Ware: Smooth Moves, Excitetruck, something of a sequel to the NES classic Excitebike and the newly released Mario Strikers Charged Football. Titles like Super Mario Galaxy, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption and Super Smash Bros. Brawl are in the works and rumoured to be scheduled for release late 2007. In addition to these games, one can play GC discs on the system as well as download an impressive amount of games from Ninty's back catalougue, in NES/SNES/N64 games, as well as Turbografx and Sega Mega Drive, among others. The Wii is capable of wireless online connectivity out of the box, as well as DS-Wii wireless connectivity.
The Wii is generally set up very differently from most other consoles, in that the home menu will display a set amount of "channels". These channels are such as weather forecasts, internet access, news bulletins, downloaded virtual console games as well as a Mii channel and a disc drive channel, among others. The Mii channel being something for itself, as you can create an in-game persona resembling yourself or, basically, whoever, and said in-game persona will appear in various games (such as Wii Sports, Wii Play, Wario Ware and the Mario Strikers Charged Football online service).
