To begin, let us all say hello to the "Jaggies" of previous consoles. That’s right, while Nintendo claims the Wii is at least twice as powerful as the Gamecube, I was finding it hard to see the upgrade. Zelda didn't look like an upgrade at all. Until I become used to the lower level graphics, I found myself distracted from gameplay. Maybe it is because, at this point, I am used to 720p resolution from my Xbox 360 and 1200p from my PC. Either way, the look was jarring and a bit of a let down from what I had heard. In fact, showing the Wii on high definition displays only seemed to enhance the jagged lines on Zelda's Link character rather then increase viewing quality.
Once I adapted to the lower grade graphics, I began to see where the Wii truly shines; gameplay. Each and every game offered a new way to hold and utilize the Wiimote to control the action on screen. After testing all the games, I was able to see how the Wiimote was both a blessing and a nuisance. For instance, games that were created with the express interest of exploiting the Wiimote to its limits seemed to work flawlessly. Games like Wario Ware: Smooth Moves, Wii Sports and Elebits all felt natural and easy to control. On the other hand, games that seemed better fit for a controller, felt forced and awkward. Ported games like Madden, Marvel Ultimate Alliance or even first party games like Zelda had the most awkward gameplay experiences. Since I have always played Zelda and Madden with a controller, the Wiimote almost seemed unnatural. I assume this will only be worse for other games that need to be ported to the Wii and its Wiimote structure. Think about it this way, if developers are already worried about making games run well on three systems, how will they respond to creating new controller structures just to fit the Wii? There is definitely a lot of room for error that could leave many games too frustrating to play. If Nintendo can turn out enough niche games to keep consumers happy, this may not be a problem. On the other hand, if you were already a 360 owner would you honestly buy the Wii version of Call of Duty 3 over the 360 counterpart? At this point, I would say better graphics and a control scheme I can understand would make much more sense.
