3 Must have Nintendo Wii Accessories Reviewed and Explained

By: Aaron Brooks

Gaming is a multi-pronged world with consoles, accessories and more crowding the market. apart from gaming consoles there have developed over the years a great many gaming accessories that take gaming to new never before explored levels.

With Wii Nintendo brings to the fiercely competitive market a product that has family appeal, is affordable, and encompasses great technology. Nintendo intends with the release of Wii to retain its market presence and bring to its consumers new delights in gaming.

The much awaited Nintendo Wii comes with its own batch of must have accessories:

• The Wii remote is slotted for release in the US on November 19th and is priced at USD 39.99. According to pre-release information the Wii remote has a one-handed remote control design and so is more sensitive to pointing, movements, and user friendly. The remote has wireless functions and works using a short-range Bluetooth radio. One can use a maximum of four controllers at a distance of 5 meters from the Wii sensor bar. The Wii remote is multi functional and allows ambidextrous use, can be used horizontally, or like a steering wheel. According to expert gamers the design is such that experienced players will be able to hold a remote in each hand or a Nunchuk in one and a remote in the other. Technically advanced the Wii remote can sense movement and orientation. The remote can identify linear motion along three axes. The optical sensor can determine the direction. According to experts reviewers at CNET the pointer can get jerky or twitchy. And, the tilt control requires a light and subtle touch. The remote controls cannot be calibrated manually and gamers have to make do with Wii’s calibrations.

• The Nunchuk is also slotted for release on Nov 19th and is priced at Us 19.99. This is a device that can be plugged into the Wii remote. It has an analog stick and two buttons and can be used in games like Red Steel and Twilight Princess. Since the nunchuk has motion sensors it permits gamers to perform specific character actions, like a spinning slash attack. According to industry reports this is all set to become the most popular and “must have” accessory.

• The Nintendo Classic Controller will also be released in the US on Nov 19th and is priced at USD 19.99. This is the classic-style expansion controller which can be used with the Wii remote slotted in to play games using a traditional game pad. It is to be used to play existing games, virtual console games, and multiplatform games. It connects to the Wii remote through a cord.
Aimed at gaming being fun the Nintendo Wii will disappoint if graphics and special effects are what are required. The biggest draws are supposed to be the motion-sensing remote , pseudo-reality controls, and internet capabilities. The Wii in its present form will not play CDs or DVDs although this feature is in the offing.

Nintendo Wii Hardware Reviewed and Explained

By: Aaron Brooks

Nintendos seventh generation gaming console was code named Revolution. It sought to becoming futuristic and including all conveniences like a wireless controller and Wii remote which has three dimensional functions. The Nintendo Wii also has Wii Connect 24 which can receive messages from the World Wide Web.

Released in the US in mid Nov 2006, the Ninetendo Wii won the Game Critics Award for Best of Show and Best Hardware at the E3 2006. The hardware of the gaming console is state-of-art with the unit being the smallest measuring just 157 mm in height :

• The loading slot is in the front and accepts 12cm optical discs and 8 cms discs from Nintendo’s older console.

• The console will have two USB ports and one SD card slot.

• In Japan the console will have DVD -Video capabilities. A Sonic Solutions Cine Player CE DVD Navigator software engine will be used in consoles to be released in 2007 with DVD-Video functions.

• The Wii remote has accelerometers and infrared detection that enables positioning in 3D space. This means gamers can participate in the game using hand gestures as well as buttons. The controller connects to the Wii console through Bluetooth technology. There are umpteen functions like connectivity to other devices, 4KB non volatile memory and an accelerometer, analog stick and trigger buttons.

• The Wii has a sensor bar that can be positioned such that the Wii remote can be used as an accurate pointing device from a distance of 5 meters. However the sensor bar is sensitive to halogen lights and sunlight affecting its functions.

• The Wii CPU has a processor known as Broadway with a 90nm SOI CMOS process. The Memory of the Wii is 1T-SRAM.

• The Nintendo Wii has 512 MB built-in flash memory that can be expanded using an SD card.

• The Wii has four remote controller slots; one SD memory slot; two USB ports; one sensor bar port ;four Nintendo game cube controller ports; two Nintendo game cube memory card ports; WiFi 802.11.b/g wireless built in ports.

• The Wii can connect to the World Wide Web through the WiFi and USB to Ethernet adaptor.

The CNET editors have rated the Nintendo Wii as an 8 /10. According to experts at CNET the positive is the futuristic controller design with motion-sensitive gameplay options and the Wi-Fi is all set to extend free online services and game play. The Nintendo Wii is the most affordable of all GenX gaming systems. The negative in the Wii is short battery life, no advanced HD graphics or surround sound and inability to play CDs or DVDs.

What Nintendo Wii brings to gaming is an affordable console with motion sensitive controllers and a focus on fun filled gaming.

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Japan: Sony PS3 outsells combined Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii figures

November 7, 2008

Japan’s sales figures are in for games consoles sold last week. And it seems that the Sony PS3 is finally starting to do very well on their home turf. These latest sales figures of games consoles have been supplied by Media Center, and it looks as though the Sony PlayStation is outselling the Xbox 360 and the Nintendo Wii.

This past week in Japan, the Sony PS3 sold 39,587 units, the Wii sold 23,123 units, and the Xbox shifted just 6,119 units. The biggest sellers were still the handhelds, with the Nintendo being top of the list, shifting 171,925 units.

The PS3 outsold the combined figures of both the Wii and Xbox 360, as sales figures of the PlayStation 3 jumped up by 907% from last week. Is this just a one off, or will this now be an ongoing trend?

Sales figures for the week of October 27th – November 2nd:

* Nintendo DSi: 171,925
* Sony PSP: 50,358
* Sony PS3: 39,587
* Nintendo Wii: 23,123
* Nintendo DS Lite: 16,369
* Sony PS2: 6,714
* Microsoft Xbox 360: 6,119

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Nintendo Wii firmware update makes changes to shop.

There is a new Nintendo Wii firmware update, so if that blue light is flashing best to get it updated. The new firmware makes changes to the Wii Shop, not sure if there are any other changes.

Wii Points will now be called Nintendo Points, but we already knew this as Nintendo had already announced the news when the DSi had been revealed. So what changes have been made to the Nintendo Wii Shop?

The icons have now changed, there are now new prompts, this is for when you confirm that you have the controllers before you purchase something from the store. This is all that seem different with the new firmware.

[Warning: Do not install this update if you have modded your Wii]

Main Menu Revisions

• Clock Display

• The Disc turns 180-degrees on the Disc Channel icon

• News Channel icon displays headlines

• Forecast Channel icon now displays the weather without entering the channel

• Faster loading times when changing channels/leaving channels (Up for debate)

• Move contacts on Address Book

• Calendar no longer displays envelopes for the amount of time you played, only messages

• Light bar goes on when disk is inserted or removed

• Able to navigate Wii Settings with + and – (Man that always pissed us off)

• Scrolling through messages has a new sound, and scrolling with B now displays an arrow similar to the Internet Channel

Wii Shop Channel Revisions

• New Welcome screen detailing 4 Recommended Titles and the points they cost

• Titles You’ve Downloaded was moved to the main shop menu

• New ways to browse

• Popular Titles (not only based on recent info)

• Newest Additions remains the same

• Search for a title which can use partial names

• Search by Category

• System shows the different systems and how many titles have been released under each

• Publisher showing different publishers and amount of titles released

• Genres listed