Hobbies And Interests
Background
Released in late November 2006, the Wii revolutionized gaming with its use of a motion-sensing remote instead of a traditional game controller. By brainstorming what a casual gamer might find important, Nintendo designed the Wii--and its simple-to-use controller--for the large portion of the population, like older adults, women and young children, who were inexperienced at playing video games. By broadening the gaming audience with its intuitive controls, Nintendo has sold more than 32 million consoles in the U.S. from November 2006 through April 2010.
Wii Console Hardware
The Wii console is a thin, rectangular, plastic unit that you can position flat or on its side. The Wii is 8.5 inches long by 6 inches wide, and 1.73 inches thick. The Wii weighs 2.7 pounds. It is powered by a PowerPC CPU developed by IBM with a processor speed of 729 MHz, and a custom GPU created by ATI with a processing speed of 243 MHz. The Wii is equipped with wireless capability; for storage, 512 MB internal flash memory, an SD memory card slot and a GameCube memory slot; and a Wii Sensor Bar to sense your movements with Wiimotes, as well as an optical drive to read game discs.
Wiimote
The Wiimote sends infrared signals to the Wii Sensor Bar that turns your movements into in-game actions. Wiimotes contain a speaker, rumble feature and connections for a classic controller--with which you can play Gamecube, NES, Super NES and Sega Genesis games--and for the Nunchuk, which adds more options to your controls. When you buy a Wii, you receive one Wiimote. You can play with up to four Wiimotes at a time.
Wii Nunchuk
The Wii Nunchuk is an optional controller used in games that need more motion control than is available with the Wiimote. Like the Wiimote, the Nunchuk uses infrared signals to transmit actions to the game. The Nunchuk, at times, can be used to move characters around, while the Wiimote is used to perform actions such as swinging a sword or hitting a ball. The Wii ships with one Nunchuk.
Wii Software and Games
The Wii software contains a simple interface, where you point and press "A" on the Wiimote to navigate between games and Wii Channels, such as the Internet Channel, Weather Channel and Wii Shopping Channel. You can download games directly onto the Wii using the WiiWare Channel and a wireless Internet connection, or you can load Wii game discs using the Wii's optical drive. The Wii ships with the Wii Sports game included in the box.