It wii-lly is a wevolution

For the first time in a decade I'm excited about console gaming again. Christmas cooped up in a house full of kids (big and small) has never been such fun. The Nintendo Wii is a wevelation (okay, I've gotta stop that ;-)

In '96 I bought my first and last console - the Nintendo 64. It brought a real leap in capability and the first true step towards visual immersion. I was instantly hooked on the 3D virtual world of GoldenEye 007.

In the intervening years the console wars have been largely fought with polygons. And little else by way of innovation. But Nintendo has come up trumps again and reinvented gaming. 'Wii' is the more marketable brand but the codename - Revolution - was no exaggeration. Another threshold has been crossed - haptic immersion. And ironically it's the most basic games, visually, which best demonstrate that.

Wii Sports employs simplistic doll-like avatars and the most basic gameplay imaginable and yet it's the best digital fun I've had in years. The really interesting thing to note is how the best two mini games - Tennis and Boxing - are those which require nothing more than a wave of the wii-mote. No buttons, joysticks or combos to worry about, just free-air movement. How amazing it was to see my controller-pad-allergic older sister get to immediate grips with the serve and volley game. How hilarious to watch a middle aged relative beat my nephew's Mii to a pulp in the boxing ring.

Golf, Baseball and Bowling were almost as entertaining but let down slightly by the extra button presses required to play. It was fascinating to see Golf players attempting to align their shots by moving their feet. As if they had wii-motes in their shoes. But such is the effect of forgetting that your avatar is something apart from you, to be controlled and instead growing to think of it as an extension of yourself. The haptic immersion becomes so normal that you stop thinking about it and anything unnatural ruins the illusion.

Such is the case with Red Steel, a visually rich shoot-em-up which despite it's superior graphics disappoints with the movement control. Aiming your weapon is fine, as expected, but the spatial navigation of your avatar is executed via traditional joystick twitching, on the nunchuck. Not that the game isn't still enjoyable but compared with Wii Sports the experience is somewhat jarring.

So what will the next jump in gaming immersion be? My money's on stereoscopic 3D. Together with next generation wii-mote gloves that capability would make Wii-Boxing a wiicked experience ;-)

Technorati Tags: nintendo wii, wii sports

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Bummer ... mine is still stuck in the mail. I can't take no more waiting!