My first impressions upon hearing of the Nintendo Revolution months ago were mixed. On one hand, if they could get the controller to recognise movement the way they seemed to promise, it could make for some amazing games. But many of the people who tried the newly christened Wii at E3 last year posted reviews that lowered my expectations. They said that the controls were less than precise and took a lot of getting used to. So while I was still hopeful for the Wii, I became somewhat tentative.

Over the Christmas vacation in Connecticut, I was over a friend’s house where I got to try out the Wii. Six of us took turns playing Wii Sports and multiplayer Elebits. Although a lot of the controls were more minimalist than I’d expected, I actually had fun playing golf, bowling was fun, and four player tennis was amazing. I’ve never really enjoyed sports games much, but I had a blast that day playing Wii Sports, and so did my wife. So the day after we got back to Colorado, it was she who suggested that we buy a Wii. We only had to stop at four stores before we found a Super Target with a dozen Wiis in stock.

I’ve heard it said that the Wii is a game console for people who don’t generally play video games, and so far I’ve got to agree. Instead of having to remember what each of the ten buttons on a gamepad do, you simply swing the Wiimote and occasionally press a button. I haven’t yet unwrapped my copy of Zelda: Twilight Princess, where I assume the controls are a bit more complex, but I assume that’s a title developed more for the traditional gamer, and as such will make more use of the Wiimote and attached nunchuk’s many buttons.

Before I’d tried the Wiimote, I expected it to work a bit like a light gun when I pointed it at the screen, but it’s a bit different. The on-screen cursor won’t always appear exactly where you’re pointing, but you do get used to that quickly. It’s not even a big problem, as many of the games rely less on precise aiming than they do on flicking or twisting the controller or push/pull movements, as if you were poking someone with the Wiimote.

It really is a totally new control scheme, and it’s going to be a challenge for Wii developers to put it to good use. There are only so many “guy with a sword” games you can make before it becomes boring, and from what I’ve heard, Red Steel is a terrible implementation. But games like the newly released Warioware: Smooth Moves were reviewed favorably enough to give me hope.

One of the biggest reasons I wanted a Wii was because of Nintendo’s huge backlog of older titles it would allow me to play. I never owned a Gamecube, and there are a few ‘cube games I’d been dying to try. On top of that, there’s the Nintendo Virtual Console, where you can download NES, SNES, N64, Genesis, and TurboGrafx16 games. I haven’t downloaded anything yet - I’m still waiting for Ocarina of Time and Double Dragon 2. But the fact that one point corresponds to one cent is a lot better than the 360’s implementation of Microsoft points.

When you first start up the Wii, the various options are displayed onscreen as channels, an interface familiar to anyone who’s held a remote control before. The default channels are the disc channel, which will show whatever Wii or Gamecube game is currently in the drive; the Mii Channel, where you can create and share “Mii”s; the Nintendo Store Channel, where you can purchase and download older games; the News Channel, which I have yet to get working; and a channel for each Virtual Console game that you may have downloaded.

The Mii channel is one of the Wii’s most interesting features. It allows you to create a cartoonish avatar to represent yourself in the game. Each of these “Mii”s can then be sent to friends or set to “mingle”. The Mii Plaza stores Miis that you’ve created and ones that have been sent to you by friends. In addition, there is a “Mii Parade”, where over time you’ll see Miis accumulate. The Miis in the parade come from any Miis your friends have set to mingle, or Miis from their parades. These things are viral, spreading from parade to parade. If a new one shows up, it could have come from a friend of a friend of a friend of a friend. I for one welcome our new Mii overlords.

When you play Wii Sports or other Mii-enabled games - I think Warioware: Smooth Moves is currently the only other Mii-enabled game - the Miis are the ones running around playing baseball or throwing punches in the boxing ring. And I’ve noticed that the spectators in the background are often drawn from your Mii parade. Your Wii Sports scores are stored in the Mii you use - that Mii becomes in essence your save game. Then, if you want to go over a friend’s house to play with his Wii, you can store your Mii in the flash memory inside your Wiimote and just bring the controller.

Like any new game console, there aren’t a ton of good Wii games out. I could probably count the good ones on one hand. But I’m happy to say that the console has potential. I’d say it’s worth the $250. Now, if I can only get my wife to stop playing with my Wii long enough to get some gametime in myself…