Wii - post your first impressions here

[Kongster]

I'm finding the Wii great and I'm having great fun on Wii Sports. Like most people here, I'm having to play the Wii via composite and I have to say the picture quality is better than I expected. But having said the that the sooner I get my official RGB cable, the better.

My only gripe is that the strap on the Wiimote is a bit too loose for my liking - after five minutes of playing Wii sports, I find myselfing having to re-adjust the strap because it has come loose.

[Silvergun X]

First impressions are mixed, surprisingly!

One side of me is screaming 'Best Console Ever!', and the other side of me knows that I need to get used to the controls / calibrate them myself in order to fully make a decision on how truly great the console is.

Tennis, Laser Hockey, Shooting, and Table Tennis have fully assured me that the controls are incredibly accurate - However playing Golf and Baseball for instance have sadly drained my confidence slightly due to how difficult I found them to play and judge power, etc. I've only had a few brief goes, so I know I need to spend more time getting into things.

Apart from this however, it's an absolutely mindblowing little machine and i'm damn impressed. Once i've gotten one of my own to fully judge and spend time getting to know, then i'll be able to tell if it's the best thing ever or not.

One thing's for certain though - After playing on the Wii, I don't feel motivated to play any other games at all! I just want one!

[bignige]

Bloody brilliant. Has all the potential of being the best console ever, no doubt.

I'm not too sure of this. For me the 360 has more going for it than the Wii & out of all 3 I can see it winning this round of console wars. The Wii is a 2nd place console, although without friends joining in for a laugh, I can see the novelty wearing off quite quickly. Maybe the online play will help?

[Zapp$ter]

Wii sports : All wonderful except tennis, I really don't feel I have any input as to the direction of my shots. No matter what I try, it pretty much goes back to the opponent and if you score it's down to luck or them missing it. Also, why the **** is there no 1 vs 1? Golf : Sublime, Bowling : Ultimate party game, Baseball : Ultimate party game 2, Boxing : Hilarious fun.

Wii Sports - it's impossible to aim in tennis, I can hit it back and forth but cannot seem to aim it in any sort of direction, and in bowling it always bloody curves in the opposite direction of whatever hand I set it to bowl with.

:P

I think shots can be aimed depending on how you time them. I forget which way it is, but the direction changes if you hit the shot early or late. So just try delaying your shot a bit. I'm pretty sure this came up in one of the onscreen hints because I wouldn't have known myself otherwise. People on rllmuk have said much the same thing too.

Also if it's curling in bowling it's probably because your adding spin to your throws which is done by twisting the remote as you make your throw. Try keeping the remote straight when you do it and see if that helps.

As for my first impressions. I think it's great. I'll admit ever since they announced they were doing something different I've been in varying states of jubilation and despair.But the final product was worth the wait IMO. It all controls rather well and I was flying about the menus after a couple of minutes. Setting it up took a while but for me it was all rather painless. I've not had any problems so far with my console locking up, no problems connecting to my wireless etc..

Wii Sports is ace. I'm sure it's great fun in multiplayer but I had a good time just playing singleplayer. The only problems I had were in boxing, with it not registering my punches, although I think this might be partly down to how I'm controlling it. The short putting on the golf seems a bit suspect too but I've tried out one or two things and had a much better time with it. The best moment for me was on the first golf training exercise. Managed to chip it in with my first shot and this was my first time trying out the golf too. Haven't managed to do it since though Wiisports is like the definition of pick up and play.

Zelda I played a lot less because I'm saving it until the holidays when I can really get into it. But what I did play was nice. Again the controls were great and I felt right at home after a few minutes with the game, which bodes well for future games. The nunchuk and remote are fantastic, they really melt into your hands and I hardly noticed they were there after a few minutes of playing.

The main problem now is going to be getting through this next week so I can get started on Zelda Oh and staying injury free might be a problem. My arms are killing me now, I think I got into Wii Sports a bit too much. You know how you feel after you've been to the gym for the first time in ages? Well that's how I feel right now

[dlittley]

I think shots can be aimed depending on how you time them. I forget which way it is, but the direction changes if you hit the shot early or late.

Now I'm no Pete Sampras, but yeh this is pretty much spot on. Whilst I've seemingly managed to lob and top spin shots to a degree with the obvious type of motion with the wiimote, the timing of shots is definately key for shot direction. And this is pretty much how it works in real tennis so should feel totally natural - and it does.

Basing this on a right handed Mii, you should find swinging for and hitting the ball early on a forehand shot sends it left, and hitting it late sends it right. Its the opposite for backhand shots obviously.

This isn't a trick or a 'workaround' or anything, its just really well implemented shot timing and adds a little more depth to Tennis than I was expecting tbh. Superb stuff.

[Yoshimax]

I'm not too sure of this. For me the 360 has more going for it than the Wii & out of all 3 I can see it winning this round of console wars. The Wii is a 2nd place console, although without friends joining in for a laugh, I can see the novelty wearing off quite quickly. Maybe the online play will help?

I know what you're saying - It's a party machine through & through - post-pub I doubt anybody will ever do anything else

Having said that, Zelda has consumed about 2 hours of my life already and it just flew by - It's Nintendo we're talking about so I can see a good few solid SP experiences (Metroid will be mammoth no doubt).

I hope you're right though - to me 360 really deserves the crown this round and Nintendo deserve all the success they get with this thing it's almost magical.

[gibbon]

I'm not too sure of this. For me the 360 has more going for it than the Wii & out of all 3 I can see it winning this round of console wars. The Wii is a 2nd place console, although without friends joining in for a laugh, I can see the novelty wearing off quite quickly. Maybe the online play will help?

Unless they release a camera for it though eh nige. Think of the noncing possiblities then!

[Yoshimax]

Unless they release a camera for it though eh nige. Think of the noncing possiblities then!

Ah yes - Grooming via cam = Wii+3 for nige 8)

[gibbon]

aye and he could pass the rigorous movement off as just using the controller

[Jebus]

I know what you're saying - It's a party machine through & through - post-pub I doubt anybody will ever do anything else

Having said that, Zelda has consumed about 2 hours of my life already and it just flew by - It's Nintendo we're talking about so I can see a good few solid SP experiences (Metroid will be mammoth no doubt).

I hope you're right though - to me 360 really deserves the crown this round and Nintendo deserve all the success they get with this thing it's almost magical.

I was gonna say, yes it's completely a party console BUT if they can keep the flow of single player games coming, to the quality of Zelda, it most certainly will hold its own.

But then, will they manage quality titles like Zelda (single player) on a regular basis?

[Yoshimax]

It's where they let themselves down with GC - But that was in my mind due to an over-reliance on Miyamoto which they seem to have got over now.

Anyway, If they can do that kind of "first-third party" support and get Pilotwings and stuff out the door of other companies but with their magic pixie dust sprinkled on them we're in for a treat.

Pilotwings - mmmmmmm.

[Jebus]

Now I'm no Pete Sampras, but yeh this is pretty much spot on. Whilst I've seemingly managed to lob and top spin shots to a degree with the obvious type of motion with the wiimote, the timing of shots is definately key for shot direction. And this is pretty much how it works in real tennis so should feel totally natural - and it does.

Basing this on a right handed Mii, you should find swinging for and hitting the ball early on a forehand shot sends it left, and hitting it late sends it right. Its the opposite for backhand shots obviously.

This isn't a trick or a 'workaround' or anything, its just really well implemented shot timing and adds a little more depth to Tennis than I was expecting tbh. Superb stuff.

I think it would feel and look natural if it weren't for the fact your character was a series of circles with no real "animation" as such. I love Wii Sports, and I'm coming round to tennis, but it feels in no way natural to me. I used to play tennis a lot so it's not because I've never played.

It feels un-natural, and having to control BOTH players is just plain silly. Would it have been so hard to put in a 1 vs 1 option really?

The method is growing on me but it still feels a little...false. If you could see some definition on the characters to see when you're swinging early/late it'd be okay but for me it feels like a lottery 50% of the time which is a great shame because the other 4 games feel so perfect, natural and acurate.

[Yoshimax]

Jebus you don't need to control both players - Just click one of the pictures of you when you're at the "choose your position" screen and the AI will take care of the other player

I love the mii characters - the replays in the boxing are absolutely hilarious with their mad gloved hands launching themselves across the ring like telekinetically controlled footballs

[Jebus]

Yeah, but then I find it even less enjoyable because the AI is pretty crap sometimes. One game (2 vs 2) I played an entire best of 3 match with only me and one of the CPU opponents hitting the ball. The other 2 CPU players didn't hit it once.

I do love the Mii's though, don't get me wrong.

[Soi]

My wife's first impressions (she isn't a gamer, but as I play a fair bit, she's quite a lot of games on our tv and plays everynow and again) were:

Wii Sports: good, she liked tennis and picked it up instantly.

Mii's: she thought these were brillant. "So cute" were her first worlds, and she liked making a little version of her. She especially liked picking them up.

Zelda: She thought it looked awful and couldn't understand why a new console looked so bad. "It is like going back to an old console when things looked ****", was more of less her first words. Harsh I thought, but I see her point.