Wii Test Drive

Wii is gaming at its most basic form, which is a great thing for an industry that has turned away a lot of potential gamers with complicated controllers and button schemes. Nintendo has proved that there's a huge untapped gaming audience that's open to new interactive opportunities with its Nintendo DS Lite portable and games like "Brain Age" and "Nintendogs." This same philosophy has been implemented into Wii.

Anyone who can hold a TV remote control can get hooked on Wii games. I've seen it happen with friends and non-gamers alike, since I've had a Wii here to play with. Wii is all about the controls, which uses the Wii Remote like a wireless PC mouse to navigate the on-screen options. Once you pop in a game--and Wii is the only console to come packed-in with a full game with "Wii Sports"--the controller can be used in a myriad of ways to connect the gamer to the virtual world. With "Wii Tennis," the remote is used like a tennis racket to hit backhand and forward shots back across the grass. In "Wii Bowling," the controller is used to replicate rolling the ball down the lane. In "Excite Truck," the controller is held like a steering wheel to steer the off-road vehicles at blazing speeds through dirt roads and mountains. In "Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam," the controller is held the same way to control the skateboard as you zoom down crowded city streets.

Wii's graphics don't feature 1080p HD visuals, but they don't need too. They look better than GameCube games (and Wii plays all old GameCube games). But you'll get lost in the game experience. The visuals don't matter. When you look at the greatest games of all time--those that have resonated through the decades--"Pac-Man," "Donkey Kong," "Mario Bros.," "Pong," and "Asteroids"--none of these games had great visuals. But they're great, addictive games. Wii takes gaming back to these days and adds a new physical dimension to gameplay. Gamers are forced to get up off their butts and interact with these worlds in new ways. Wii will be bought for kids, but parents will be sucked into these games. And Nintendo has made almost all of its games multiplayer for up to four players--and you can even share the same Remote controller.

There will be more Wii's around this year than PS3, but don't expect the console to be easily found. Nintendo's spending $200 million to market this awesome new gaming device, and the word-of-mouth is already spreading. This is THE game console to own this Christmas. And there are plenty of great games ready for launch, and more to come next year and beyond.

Like icing on a cake, Wii also offers a Virtual Console that allows you to buy classic Nintendo and Sega games and play them on the new system. It's like an arcade machine in a very small, ergonomically-designed white box. And it's the box that most kids (of all ages) will want under their Christmas trees this year.