What is the Nintendo Wii?
The Nintendo Wii has sold over 50 million units globally making it the best selling video games console currently available. The small, unassuming white box can bring an immense amount of fun to any family once connected to the television, and it makes playing games simple and fun for people of any age thanks mainly to its revolutionary new control method.
Instead of using a control pad filled with buttons and levers, the Nintendo Wii instead uses a controller called the Wii Remote, or Wiimote as some call it. Styled more like a television remote control, the real magic of the control lies with its motion sensing ability.
By waving, twisting or wiggling the Wii Remote games can be controlled in a manner far more akin to real life. For example, you can swing it like a tennis racquet or slash it like a sword.
The Wii Remote also features a directional pad and some buttons, and for more traditional console games an additional joystick can be attached via a cable. This is known as the Nunchuk.
The Nintendo Wii normally comes bundled with a free game called Wii Sports, which even those who've never played a video game before in their lives will immediately enjoy and, more importantly, know how to play. This software consists of five separate sports games - Tennis, Baseball, Bowling, Golf and Boxing - each of which is played by moving the Wii Remote to mimic what you would actually do to play each sport.
It was with the release of the Wii Fit package that the Nintendo Wii really became linked with the concept of using a video game to keep active. With Wii Fit you control games with your body using the Balance Board that comes as part of the package. The Balance Board is a large rectangular board upon which the player stands, and by shifting their weight forwards and backwards and from side to side they can control games or perform Yoga or muscle workout moves.
