I had a play on Nintendo’s new Wii games console earlier this week, at the Science Museum’s Game On exhibition. Nintendo has prioritised gameplay over graphics in its new device… and seeing it in the context of how games have developed over 50 years, the Wii’s visuals looked really disappointing. But the fun comes from its innovative motion-sensing wireless controller. For example, you play tennis by swinging the controller in your hand, like a racquet – which makes for a very different, and very enjoyable, gaming experience.
But I love this email which Nintendo have (apparently) had to send out to new purchasers in the US. It’s basically a human nature warning, as opposed to a hardware defect. I wonder how many people have smashed their controllers by (a) dropping them; (b) tossing them against the wall; or (c) whacking them against the side of the telly?
(Most fun at the exhibition, incidentally: playing Guitar Hero on the PS2 for the first time. Basically it’s another ‘press buttons in time to the music’ game, with the added excitement of a guitar-shaped controller, and a classic rock soundtrack. But as a proper guitar player myself, I found it really difficult, as my hands wanted to form the appropriate chord shapes, rather than just pressing the coloured buttons!)