Wii Impressions

Got our Wii delivered yesterday afternoon! I was able to play with my five-year-old son, three-year-old daughter, and wife for a couple of hours the past two nights. Also have put in about four hours on my own as well. Outside of making our Miis, we have exclusively played Wii Sports. I haven't even opened Zelda yet. We only have one Wiimote and Nunchuck, so these impressions are based on single-player play.

If you're short on time, this is a one-sentence summary: Wii gameplay is incredibly impressive.

If you have more time, here are some more details:
It's impossible to watch someone play a game with the Wiimote and not want to try. The system is as intuitive as it was made out to be. At one point, when I was loading the tennis game, my wife walked into the living room. I asked her if she wanted to try, she looked at the tv and immediately said yes. I gave her the Wiimote, and she asked me how to play the game.

I paused. This was a classic exchange that we had repeated a couple of dozen times over our five years of marriage, and with rare exception, the ending was bad.

With XBox or PS2 games, I'd explain how to play: "Push the B button to go faster. The A button is your brake. Change gears using the button by your right index finger. You turn using the pad on the left." By that point, her interest in the game in question was starting to wane already. She didn't want to "learn how to play", she just wanted to "play". Invariably, I'd forget to tell her a few things, and then I'd barrage her with more instructions in the first minute of play. After about two or three minutes, she'd hand the controller back to me. "Done." That was it. I'd lost her. Or rather, the interface had lost her.

But with the Wii, this was the extent of our conversation:

Wife: How do I play?
Me: Hit the ball.
Wife: (holds up Wiimote) With this?
Me: Yup.

Done. She was off and running, and had a blast. Lost two games, then won two games, smiling and swinging away the whole time.

Graphically, it's better than I expected it to be. We're playing on an older 36" tube tv hooked up via the composite cables that came with the Wii, and the graphics are clean and functional. It's not high-end beautiful, but the games are visually appealing and clear. Much more playable than I had thought it would be.

I'll post impressions of Wii Sports in a day or so.