bamthedoc
King Endymion
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The guys at Computer and Video Games have put together an in-depth preview of the Wii controller, and so far all indications seem to be positive for the new technology. CVG wasn’t able to get their hands on a truly final controller; their version was will wired to the console, but CVG had Nintendo’s assurances that the new controllers would be close to their retail counterparts.
CVG found the controllers to be well designed, and comfortable to hold, much like most of other feedback from people lucky enough to play with the controller. They claim the controller is more weighty and solid than the E3 demo units.
In terms of response time and accuracy, CVG found that controller motion was detected nearly instantaneously; lag reported in games from others may be related to earlier versions of the controller, early versions of the games, or the environment. Accuracy of the pointer was compared to a mouse, and not as much as a light gun. Sensitivity of the controller seemed to vary with the user’s distance from the screen. CVG also gives feedback on the speaker functionality and the nunchuck controller as well. Overall, the CVG’s experience what seems to be the majority opinion on the internet; the controller works well and the games are fun.
According to these guys and CVG, the Wii is shaping up quite well. According to them, the Wiimote is controlling better than it was at E3 or even TGS, which the latter is saying a lot. As with all things, not everything is good news.
Wii motion sensing won’t work in sunlight?
Posted in Rumors, Previews by Chris on October 9th, 2006 at 20:02
Over at the official Nintendo website forums, someone has posted their hands-on preview of the Wii. Their forum user name is OMBRENOIR17, and in the review they claim that the motion sensing bar doesn’t work in natural sunlight.
There’s also a long list of thoughts and feelings on the hardware, and much more info. Here’s some of it:
We know that the sensor bar goes all wonky when halogen lights are in the room. But did you know that natural sunlight messes it up too? That’s right, if you have the sun beaming right onto the sensor bar, it doesn’t work. For about an hour or so, the sun shone right into the store, the two MP3:C kiosks had to have curtains above them, and the Wii Sports Tennis and Shooting Game kiosks were unplayable since they were “shrouded†in sunlight. Later the sun went behind a building, and everything was in working order again. So when you get your Wii, don’t play it in the sunlight. Or keep the sensor bar and TV away from the windows.I’m glad to see the Wiimote doesn’t feel cheap. I was a little worried that it might feel like a piece of plastic with a wire hanging out of it.
[…]
Wii-mote - When I first held it, I couldn’t believe how amazingly comfortable it was. It certainly had some weight to it, which is good. It didn’t feel cheaply made, when compared to the Gamecube controller. It did have rumble, but it wasn’t too intense or soft either; it was JUST right. The buttons were responsive and easy to reach, except the D-Pad was a little hard to reach with my thumb. Also the fact that Plus and Minus buttons are used for actions such as Pause and Maps can get kind of confusing. But with those little exceptions, I have great faith in what we’ll expect this November.
The sensor bar still scares me a little. If you don’t live in a batcave, you might not be able to have fun with your $250 machine. Is the rumor true? I guess Wii’l see as more and more previews come out and for ourselves on November 19.
That means that these guys have a rumor for us to watch out for. Rumor control? We'll have to wait and see. In anycase, I've got plenty of shade in any room in the house (short of the kitchen or dining room), so it's all good.
There are also tons of rumors going around the Internet about an October 29th release date. Let me be the first to put those claims to rest. Even if Nintendo sends out units early to ensure plenty of stock in all stores, they official street date is, indeed, November 19th. Rumor control? Best Buy's shipping labels are probably correct, but I hope their RSS gets worked out so they can't actually sell it ahead of the competition (GameStop, et cetera). It feels kind of cheap to be able to get a heads-up on other gamers by being able to pick up the system at less savvy retailers who get an item and just set it up to sell. It also doesn't help that Target is setting up retail space five weeks in advance.
Let's also look into another interesting fact. Unlike other consoles, the Wii is well ahead of schedule. They promised two million at launch, but it's looking more like four million. That means that the US will get 1.5 million units, Japan will get 1 million, Europe will get 1 million, and Australia will get 0.5 million. At least that's what it looks like will happen. This is good news because it means Nintendo is both on schedule and willing and able to release additional quantities to all regions.
On to some more "not so good" news. The Wii will be region coded on Wii, NGC, and VC games. If a game was released in your region on the [NES, SNES, N64, Sega Genesis, TurboGFX, and other consoles] than it will be available to download. No word yet if games not released in your area will be downloadable. I'll remind everybody just how easy it is to de-code a DVD player. That said; it's only a matter of time before de-coding VC games will come with time (likely in the form of a hack).
Oh. This is news with mixed results. At some point, Nintendo stopped talking about the add-on that would make the Wii DVD-player compadible. Does that mean the add-on has been eliminated? Has it been built-in instead? Either way, a simple hack that can be loaded onto a SD card or downloaded into Nintendo's upgradable OS.
Oh! That's another one right there! According to [seeming] research, Nintendo is loading their Wii console with a Linux-base OS which they can send upgrades for via WiiConnect24. Of course, since the OS [supposedly] takes up only a fraction of the space dedicated to the OS, this seems like a very high, and interesting, likelyhood.
