Nintendo Wii and DSi Nintendo Wii games console

Nintendo Wii, £150

The Nintendo Wii offers a new approach to gaming

The Nintendo Wii entered the games console fray in 2007 and took an entirely new approach to gaming. 

The significant things which set the Wii apart from the Xbox 360 and the PS3 are that the control system is so very different, but its graphics look poor in comparison, and it lacks significant internal memory with only 512MB available. 

These decisions are conscious ones by Nintendo, which has put playability and interactivity at the forefront of the Wii. 

Wii games are controlled by a Wii remote, which you wave around to move your character on the screen. It uses motion-sensing technology to detect your movements, which are picked up by a sensor bar that sits on your TV. 

You can use it with attachments such as the Wii MotionPlus, which contains extra sensors for more accurate gameplay, and the supplied Nunchuck, an additional analogue joystick control that you can use to move your character around while you point your Wii remote at the screen - as a gun, say. 

It's virtually impossible to play any Wii game sitting down, as interaction is the key, and you soon find yourself wildly waving your arms about. 

Wii Sports, which is supplied with the games console, gives a great introduction to the Wii and its unique control system, and will keep you entertained for many months as you try your skills at bowling, tennis, boxing and other sports.

Wii Sports Resort makes use of the Wii MotionPlus

Wii vs Xbox 360 and PS3

Many of the Wii games are essentially animated, so slick lifelike graphics are neither needed nor even missed, but if you compare games that are available on the Wii with those for the PS3 or Xbox 360, it's clear that the Wii is the weaker system graphically. And, while the other two games consoles can operate in full HD, the Wii can't. 

However, it's not really fair to compare the Wii with the Xbox 360 and PS3, as you will either want one or not. The Nintendo Wii is aimed at a wider audience, having many family games and games which can be played as a group. 

Also, if you have an old Nintendo Gamecube, you can play those games on the Wii, though you will have to use your Gamecube controllers.

Setting up the Nintendo Wii

The Wii is easy to set up. After navigating the few obligatory setup menus, you'll need to create your Mii character. This is your avatar, and all your gaming history is stored with it. 

This can be done in a few minutes, or you can spend several hours honing your Mii into a lifelike representation of yourself. Or if you want to make your Mii look like a film character or your favourite celebrity, then you can choose from the hundreds of options found at MiiCharacters.com.

Nintendo’s Wii is easily connected to the internet via a wireless connection – if you don't have a wireless network available, then you need to buy an adaptor that allows you to connect via an Ethernet cable (around £20). As there's no Ethernet port on the Wii, this will simply convert one of the USB sockets to an Ethernet socket.

Online gaming with the Wii

The online gaming capacity of the Wii is, depending on your viewpoint, much better or much worse than other systems. You can't simply jump into online games with random people from around the world as you can with the PS3 and Xbox 360; you must first get their Wii number, which is specific to each console, and register them as a friend. 

This means you need to know people with the same game, and they must be online at the same time. For some people, this would seriously limit their opportunity to play online, but parents may like it as it ensures that children are playing online only with trusted friends.

Similarly, the Wii's messaging service can be used only between registered consoles - people you have accepted as being allowed to send you messages. This messaging service effectively enables you to send messages between Wii games consoles and email accounts. 

Using the Wii remote to type out messages is tedious, but you can connect any USB keyboard to the Wii, which makes life much easier. 

Wii shopping channel

Once connected to the internet, you can also enter the Wii shopping channel where you can download new channels, most of which are free. For example, there are channels that let you see the news and weather around the world, while the internet browser channel allows you to surf the web. 

There are also other, more interactive, channels that allow you to compare your Mii characters with other people’s creations from around the world, while the Today and Tomorrow channel gives you clairvoyant-style advice on everything from money to love.

The other parts of the Wii shopping channel are related to gaming. The virtual console lets you download games from old consoles such as the Neo Geo and even the Commodore 64. 

Nintendo points

The Wii Ware shop sells even more games, but these are exclusive to the Wii. These games have to be paid for and, annoyingly, the only way you can buy is by using Nintendo points. These must be bought in blocks of at least 1,000, with 2,000 points costing around £16. 

You can either buy a points card or buy Nintendo points directly using your credit card.

Buy games from the Wii Ware shop using Nintendo points

Games cost from around 500 to 1,000 points, but not all of them can be controlled using the Wii remote. For many of the older games you will need to get a classic controller, which costs around £15.

Nintendo Club

If you're really keen, you can get Nintendo points free of charge by setting up a Nintendo Club account – but be warned, this can rapidly become confusing. 

You can start by registering your Wii console and any games you buy on your Nintendo club account (cards containing codes are supplied with every Nintendo game and console), which in turn will give you Nintendo stars (not to be confused with Nintendo points). 

You get 1,000 Nintendo stars when you register your Wii, and between 100 and 250 stars for every game you register. Nintendo stars can then be traded for a whole array of Nintendo-related merchandise, from stickers to a limited edition DS Lite for 10,000 stars (it would take 10 Wii consoles to get that many stars). 

However, you can also exchange your Nintendo stars for Nintendo points, but this is where it gets even more complicated. Nintendo now only releases a certain number of Nintendo points cards for trade-in with Nintendo stars every day, so you may have to try several times before you're successful. 

To get 100 Nintendo points you need 400 Nintendo stars. 

One other word of warning – if you see something in the Nintendo stars catalogue that you think is worth saving for, beware. Nintendo stars have a finite life (two years) and will drop off your account if you don't spend them in time. 

We can only assume that Nintendo has made this so irritating that people will simply give up and just buy the Nintendo points card.

Nintendo Wii memory

You can store video, music and image files on the Wii console, and you can meddle with the latter by adding captions and doodles. 

But this is where Nintendo’s decision to only include a tiny 512Mb of flash memory begins to let the Wii down, as it won't go far if you plan to store significant numbers of photos or regularly download games from the virtual console. 

To partially address this, it's possible to save and run games directly from an SD card, but it's a shame that the Wii's memory is not upgradable to users' requirements, as per other games consoles.

Pros: Comes with Wii Sports, can connect any USB keyboard, can play old Gamecube games, built-in Wi-Fi, can run BBC iPlayer, very family-friendly, can store photos on hard drive.

Cons: Graphics are not so great, can be difficult to connect to internet if you don’t have Wi-Fi, can only trade in Nintendo points, small internal memory that can't be upgraded, hard to play online.

Nintendo Wii specs

What’s in the box?

Wii games console and stand, power supply, standard AV connection lead and Scart adaptor, sensor bar, Wii remote (with strap, cover and batteries), Nunchuck controller, Wii Sports game.

Extras worth considering

To make the most out of your Wii console, you may want to think about getting the following extras:

• extra Wii remote and Nunchuck controller
• classic controller for virtual console games.

Find out more about Nintendo Wii accessories,

File types

The following file types can be played/displayed:

• Image: JPEG
• Music: MP3
• Video: QuickTime, AVI.