Making Historwii: James Temperton

On The Nintendo Wii two months on

The Wii has now been out for a few months and it is time to sit back and evaluate how it has performed. Thanks to an impressive marketing campaign, good in-store presence and a good product to sell, Nintendo have managed to shift just about every Wii unit all over the world and have backed it up with some pretty solid software. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess is, in my opinion, one of the finest games ever created, and titles like Wii Sports, WarioWare: Smooth Moves and even Rayman Raving Rabbids from Ubisoft have aided the Wii along nicely. I got my unit a week before it launched here in Europe and I’m still enjoying it and playing it nearly every day. This isn’t just some ‘novelty’ product. I’ve downloaded Mario Kart 64 from the Virtual Console, I’m always checking the News Channel and there is nothing more relaxing and pointless to do than spin the globe on the Weather Channel and see if it is raining in Tokyo. The Wii came with a lot of hype and Nintendo certainly encouraged people to hype it even more. For me, the Wii has lived up to these big expectations in a number of ways. First up, all the stock has sold out and contin-ues to sell out. Secondly, it hasn’t been getting any bad reviews. People are really buying into the Wii experience and Nintendo are reaping the rewards in terms of profits. Just like they did with the DS before it, the Wii is becoming a must-have item for people of all ages. Everyone I know who has had a crack at Wii Sports or WarioWare has instantly fallen in love with it. Wide smiles, laughs and people throwing themselves about like idiots; what could be better? The Wii is all about social gaming and about getting loads of people playing and enjoying gaming. This all-inclusive approach is one that I personally love. With 2007 promising some top titles, the Wii experience is only set to get even better.