Pros: Slick look in menus and hardware, backwards compatibility, innovative controls, potential, Wii sports
Cons: No DVD playback, lack of HD, not much of a powerhouse, wifi only, friend codes
The bottom line: This fun little system offers plenty of differentiating factors to stand out from the rest on its own.
Alright, so you've read about, heard about it, watched it on TV, and perhaps even played one yourself, but is the Wii really worth its (comparitivley) cheap $250 dollar price tag? In a word, yes.

Packaged in with the Wii is a Wii remote, the nunchuk attatchment, composite cables, the sensor bar, AV cable, the console stand, Wii Sports, and, of course, the console itself. When I first it out of the box I was suprised to see how small it was. I mean really small. It was dwarfed when it sat next to my 360. The console itself is very slick and sexy. Everything is consealed in flaps (the SD card port, the gamecube controller ports and memory card slots, etc.) The only thing that shows on the front is three buttons, the eject, reset, and power buttons, and the slot load drive. The slot load drive is one of those small things that just facinates the heck out of me. Its not like I haven't seen one before but its just so fun to watch! You can even slide your Gamecube discs in which is odd because every other product tells you not to put a disc that size in a slot load drive. The Wii's first start up is fairly breif and only goes over the basic things like location, date and time, and position of sensor bar. The advanced options like sensitivity, connecting to a wireless network, etc. are all in your Wii's options menu along with the Data management on the flash memory and SD card memory.

As I mentioned before, the Wii is fully backwards compatible with the Gamecube with the controller and memory ports under 2 flaps at the top of the unit. Just slide any gamecube disc in and it will play without a hiccup. The Wii also supports the "Virtual Console" with tons of games from all eras including games from the NES, SNES, N64, Genesis, and Turbo Grafx. So far I've only bought Super Mario Bros. and Super Mario 64 and I have to say its been a blast! It is a little pricy, with 2000 point cards costing 22.99 plus tax (or roughly the same if you buy points with a credit card online) and each NES game costing 500 points, SNES game costing 800, and 1000 points for an N64 game. You can use a gamecube controller for most of the virtual console titles but a classic controller is almost a must for some games (its an extra 20 bucks) especially the SNES games. Although, NES games can be played by flipping the Wiimote horizontally.

The Virtual console is only one of the Wii "Channels". Theres also the disc channel (for games, obviously), the forcast channel (which shows today's weather and a five day forcast for most big cities in the world), a news channel, an internet channel, and more. Also, every VC title you buy has its own "channel". Since the Wii support SD cards for game saves and such, than you can also use your memory card from your Digital Camera to watch on your Wii. You can doodle on them, watch slide shows, and much more. Its a nice addition with picture channel and certainly is welcomed.

One of my favorite channels is the Mii channel. It is here you can create a virtual you. Its funny watching these little guys walk around and you can "mingle" with others where your Mii is randomly generated on other people's Wiis. Your Mii's can be used in games like Wii Sports or the upcoming Wii Play games where your actual tennis or boxing character is your Mii. Its kinda neat, especially in multiplayer games and creating look alikes.

Another nice addition is the messages you recieve which inform you of how much you have played in one day or of new updates from Nintendo's online service. So you can find out you wasted 5 hours of your life playing Wii Sports!

Speaking of Wii Sports, how could I forget this bundled game! As many of you know, Wii Sports is the free game with the Wii. It utilized the Wiimote very well unlike some launch games. The sports included are Tennis, Baseball, Boxing, Golf, and Bowling. In tennis the wiimote is used as the racket and you swing it to hit the ball. All these games are rather obvious, like swinging the remote to hit a baseball, swing a golf club, bowl, or punch (along with the nunchuk) in boxing. In my opinion, the only fun ones are Tennis, bowling, and occasionally boxing. Boxing is tiring but can be a fun experience as long as you aren't just throwing your arms like a maniac. But tennis and bowling are by far the best games. Theres also a Wii fitness mode that gives you a fitness age in the same way Brain Age give you a, well, brain age based on your preformance in a few tasks (3 mini games). Then your stats are tracked every day you play over up to 3 months. The training mode also helps the depth in the game providing 3 mini games for each sport. All in all, Wii sports isn't a very detailed game, graphically or gameplay wise, but a fun game to play by yourself or at parties. Don't buy the system for it, but don't mind that its included with it. The gentle music also keeps the pace of the game steady just like the soft music on the Wii menu keeps the calming feel intact.

On to the negatives.....

Now the lack of DVD playback isn't so much as a negative as it is annoying and bothersome. What I mean is, for one, Nintendo originally promised DVD playback but folded on that to keep production down and now they've confirmed a DVD playback model of the Wii in Japan next year. And the second reason its annoying is because it would be so much simpilar if it could play DVDs rather than switching devices just to watch a movie. Also, the Wiimote is perfect to use as a DVD player remote because of it's shape. Once again, not a big problem but an annoyance.

The other problems that are the most obvious are its lack of power compared to consoles like the 360 and PS3 and lack of High-Def capability. Having played my 360 in HD I have to say its hard to go back to SD content, but at least its 480p and widescreen. Its no where near the power of the 360 and some games even look close to the PS1 era. The lack of HD is sorely missed but not a killer for those eyeing the console's innovative control scheme and loads of other features. Although the other problem with the console is the wifi only support. There is no ethernet built into the console, but an adapter will be avaible sometime in 2007 to add on to the Wii. Currently there are no online games for the Wii, but wireless is usually not to great for a gaming. Which leads me to another problem with the Wii right now, which can be easily fixed. The lack of decent games. Theres some that shine here and there but the third party games are lackluster for the most part and it seems like the Wii could be a place to pick up the occasionaly Nintendo-made game again, just like the cube and N64. Hopefully third parties will be quick to jump on the Wii and make quality games. Finally, the last thing keeping the Wii from excelling is the "friend code" system. Your basically given a 16 digit number at random which you need to give to your friends so both of you are added to each other's contact list so you can recieve messages and have each other's Mii's on your console. Its a fairly poor system compared to Xbox Live and a little disappointing.

Sadly I think the system will show its age rather quickly compared to the PS3 and 360, but this is more of a prediction and I won't factor this in to the final score. But, in my opinion, Nintendo didn't make as big of a jump as they needed to to distance themselves from the last generation.