Are Wii having fun yet?

The Nintendo Wii, easily the most interesting gaming console released in the last decade IMO, has smashed Australian sales records in its category.

I had a go at the Wii the other day, which uses a remote control and motion sensor instead of a normal controller. I played Wii Tennis. To serve, you lift your arm up and smash it down again just like real tennis, instead of hitting a couple of buttons like you would on a PS2.

The Wii is a far more immersive and satisfying gaming experience than any other console on offer. It’s also intuitive and accessible. You don’t need to be ambidextrous to play, unlike other consoles, which make things as hard as possible in deference to hardcore nerds.

What does this all mean? Loads of fun, that’s what.

Despite this, some anti-fun curmudgeons are immune to the power of the Wii. My friend Tim much prefers the PS3, which is yet to be released in this country. “The PS3 has eight processor cores” Tim said, drool accumulating at the corners of his mouth. “It also has a Blu-ray DVD player.” He dismissed the Wii as “a toy”.

Okay Tim, perhaps you need a reality injection. All games consoles are toys. That’s the point.

Now as for the tech specs: focus on such things are what has ruined gaming for the past several years. Rather than creating a fun gaming experience, Sony and Microsoft have spent years doing nothing but improving the graphics. The trouble with this approach is that a car racing game with slightly nicer graphics is still a car racing game. It has also sent the cost of gaming development through the roof, with the result that most big game releases nowadays are sequels.

Nintendo have realised what should have been obvious years ago: to make fun games, it’s not the graphics, it’s the interface that counts.

(Tim doesn’t read this blog, so he’ll never know I’ve been insulting him on it. Heh.)