Wii

• • Manufacturer: Nintendo

  • Designer: Shigeru Miyamoto

  • Generation: Seventh

• Bits:

  • Year Released: 2006

  • Units sold: As of Dec. 2009: 67.45 million worldwide

  • Media: Disk

  • Summary: The sixth most selling console of it's time. Beat both the X Box 360 and the Playstation 3. Known for having the Wii mote as well as a much wide audience than any other console.

History

The Nintendo Wii was first thought of after the successful release of the Nintendo Gamecube. The idea was to create something new and powerful. Nintendo wanted to invent a new way of player console interaction. Designer Shigeru Miyamoto stated that "The consensus was that power isn't everything for a console. Too many powerful consoles can't coexist. It's like having only ferocious dinosaurs. They might fight and hasten their own extinction."

The original idea was to take the interface of the Nintendo DS and expend that out into a new Nintendo Console. The idea was rejected with the theory that obviously whatever they were to come up with with that set of ideas would be too similar to the Nintendo DS.

Nintendo wanted then to look at a wider range of players. They wanted to create something hard core gamer, non gamers, casual gamers and lapsed gamers. This disition lead to the creation of a mechanic or "hook" to the console rather than cutting edge graphics such as the X Box 360 or Playstation 3.

By 2005 the Nintendo Wii Mote had been prototyped. By 2006 the Platform was launched and outsold both the X Box and the Playstation 3.

Hardware

CPU: IBM PowerPC-based

Storage Capacity: 512 MC Internal Flash Memory

Graphics: ATI "Hollywood"

Controller Input: Wii Remote, Wii Balance Board, Nintendo GameCube controller, Nintendo DS

Connectivity: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 2 x USB, LAN Adapter (via the USB)

Online Services: Nintendo Wi-Fi, Connection, WiiConnect24, Wii Shop Channel

External Hardware

Nintendo Wii Mote - Nintendo Nunchuck

Many many adaptations and add ons were created for the Nintendo Wii including modifications for your wii mote and fave plates for your Wii.

Notable Qualities

Backwards compatible to the Gamecube. First ever console to have the interaction ability the wii mote allows. First console to update while "off" or idling.

Notable Titles

Wii Sports

Animal Crossing: City Folk

Sonic the Hedgehog 4

New Super Mario Bros. Wii

Red Steel 2

Super Smash Broz Brawl

Monster HUnter Tri

Mario Kart Wii

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare: Reflex Edition

Super Mario Galaxy 2

Super Mario Bros.

Endless Ocean: Blue World

Super Mario Galaxy

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

Calling

Lego Sports Resort

References

"The Technology Chronicles : E3: Nintendo Wii Pulls Ahead of Xbox 360 in Console Sales."San Francisco Bay Area News, Sports, Business, Entertainment, Classifieds: SFGate. Web. 31 Mar. 2010. <http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/techchron/detail?blogid=19&entry_id=28286>.

"Wii Launch Guide." Nintendo Wii Games, Cheats, Walkthroughs, News, Reviews, Previews, Game Trailers & Videos at IGN. Tues. 30 Mar. 2010. <http://wii.ign.com/launchguide/hardware1.html>.

"Wii at Nintendo." Country Selector at Nintendo. Tue. 30 Mar. 2010. <http://www.nintendo.com/wii>.

"Top Wii Games - Best Wii Video Games - Best Wii Games - Top Wii Video Games."GameSpot Is Your Go-to Source for Video Game News, Reviews, and Entertainment. Tues. 30 Mar. 2010. <http://www.gamespot.com/games.html?platform=1031&type=games>.

"BusinessWeek." BusinessWeek - Business News, Stock Market & Financial Advice. Bloomberg, 2009. Web. 31 Mar. 2010. <http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/nov2006/tc20061116_750580.htm>