The Video Game Critic

Not that anyone cares, but now that the VGC finally has a Wii I thought I'd give MY first impressions.  Ever since I'd heard about the motion-sensing remotes used for controllers I remember thinking that idea would either be awesome or awkward, but that I would reserve judgement until I actually had a chance to use them.  Thus far in my limited experience I have to say I'm not a huge fan.  I love the idea and I can see where they were going with it, but I find what I'm trying to do doesn't usually translate very well to what I actually end up doing in the game.  For instance the other night we were playing a racing game and I had the controller stuck into one of those little faux wheels to simulate steering; everytime I cranked it to one side at more than a 90 degree angle, it would immediately cause me to start steering in the opposite direction.  Ok it was my fault because I needed to not steer so far to one side, but since I couldn't seem to get the thing to steer as sharply as I wanted it was a natural reaction.  There have been other games that I played on the Wii that I remember thinking "This is fun, but I think I'd like it even more with a standard controller".  Props to Nintendo for trying to something different, but for me personally the gimmick of motion sensing has worn off and I'm ready for better control. 

As far as game selection, there have been some that I thought were really cool and some that I wasn't that impressed with, so in that respect it's not much different than the 360 or the PS3.  I do have to give them props though for knowing their target audience and working to please them - it's a dedicated game system, and I think they did well to not try and overreach and release their system at a reasonable price as opposed to going to the extreme and charging half a grand for it.

Based on everything I've seen so far if someone put a gun to my head and forced me to buy one of the new generation console systems I think it would be a toss up between the 360 and the Wii, with the Wii wining out due to the lower price.
Sudz

I remember when I heard Nintendos goal was to simplify games and especially controllers, I looked at me GC controller and could not imagine what they planned to eliminate if they wanted to still make 3-d games.

Needless to say the Wimote took me by total surprise, and it was love at first sight.

That being said, I don't think the controller has had many games that really focus on its strengths.

Most games so far have been existing franchises/concepts with some superficial motionsensing controls tacked on. The word "intuitive" hads been used way to often.

Personally, I want to see PC mouse heavy games made for the Wii. That is a no-brainer, but seemingly slow to come.