Posted December 31, 1969 by Matt Wetsel

If you were lucky enough to attend E3, you probably noticed the enormous line waiting to get inside Nintendo's Wii booth. Some people waiting in line didn't even get inside, and all the positive things everyone had to say on the way out after seeing it only made it worse for those who didn't make it. Thankfully, I wasn't one of those people. That's right, dear readers:

I have played the Nintendo Wii, and videogames will never be the same.

Nintendo's insider-only booth had 75 Wii conoles with 27 different games on display, including Metroid 3, The Legend of Zelda: Twighlight Princess, WarioWare, Red Steel, a new Kirby title, Excite Truck, Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam, and a slew of others. As if the lines to get inside weren't bad enough, lines formed at each console to await the opportunity to play each game, so time with each title was limited.

On the way inside, there were the same displays we saw last year with the console models and the nunchuck analog stick, but now the case is joined by the "classic" controller which is intended to be used for the Virtual Console's games, as well as what looked like a Wii version of the original NES Zapper - excited yet?

The Wii's 'classic' controller appears to be modeled after the SNES design.

Well, you should be. Not only is Nintendo bringing together over 20 years of video game history through the Virtual Console, but they're also reinventing gaming as we know it. While the point-and-click appearance of the Wii remote gives the impression that it would be hard to be innovative and more of a gimmick, just glancing at the games that are already in development dispels those concerns rather quickly. Recall the NDS' lackluster 1st year in games, but now the platform is taking off in ways that no one could have ever imagined. Well, the Wii is going to be very much the same way. Also like the NDS, the graphics on the Wii don't completely scream next-generation the way the absurdly powerful PS3 and Xbox360 do, but you'll barely notice the lack of horsepower when you've got remote in hand. I would estimate that the Wii is right in-between the GameCube and something like the 360, though specific stats haven't been released. To be honest, though, I could care less about what's under the hood, because everything I've played so far was incredibly fun, and Nintendo knows that.

I had the pleasure of trying out a few titles personally: Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, and Red Steel. Both are currently slated at launch titles, but Red Steel obviously needed more work than Metroid.

Let's start with Metroid. As an avid fan of the series and veteran of the Prime games, I couldn't wait to try out the latest incarnation. Though the environments are definitely more detailed and have higher polygon counts, at a glance you'd have trouble knowing whether you were looking at one of the GC games or a next-gen title. Everything changes when you've got that controller in hand, though, as the experience is so incredibly different that it's almost difficult to make a comparison. The analog stick on the nunchaku functions just like you'd expect, with left-to-right input resulting in strafing. Where things change is with the remote, which replaces the C-Stick for looking around the screen and aiming, which is also the biggest learning curve. Since it was on a widescreen tv, it felt like the up and down views were overly responsive when compared to the wider field when moving the cross-haird left to right.

The now-famous nunchaku design.

Of course, these were all using the default settings on an incomplete title, and in the finished product I was told you'll be able to choose from a variety of sensitivity settings. Anyway, once you get a feel for the control scheme, the lock-on that's become standard in the Prime series makes up for a lot of the sensitivity issues in this build. The majority of the demo involved walking through narrow corridors in an unnamed facility and fighting enemies, some of which are designed with the control scheme in mind. For example, you turn a corner and find a group of electrified orbs floating in the air. Only one of them can be damaged, and you have to use the remote to pick them off one by one as they lose their shields. After a couple of groups of them, it becomes second nature, although if I moved too quickly, I could get my view stuck looking at the ceiling and have to take a moment to correct myself.

The truly exciting moment came when you step out on a wide, open platform and have to fight multiple space pirates and eventually some flying enemies. These open spaces really allow you to explore how open-ended the controls are, and despite it being so foreign, I found myself dodging, dashing, and taking out enemies with relative ease. I can't wait to see how the finished product comes out, and if I get a Wii at launch, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption will be one of the first games I buy.

Now on to a title which has received considerably more attention, Red Steel is a FPS that's been hyped especially for its sword combat. The actual shooting sequences were a little mixed, I was either at the top of my game or getting my ass kicked, no thanks to controls which were a little less responsive than Metroid's.

To be fair, whenever I play a FPS I use my aiming device (whether it be a mouse or a 2nd analog stick) to get the cross-hair on a target, so whatever I'm trying to aim at is usually in the center of the screen by default. When using the wii-mote, though, you can aim at anything you want within your field of vision without moving your entire character's direction. In the brief amount of time I got to play it, I never got quite used to it, but it's hardly a fault of the game or the controls - it just requires a little bit more adaptation than other titles, but ultimately provides a more realistic and effective approach to the game.

A pleasant surprise is that the analog piece of the controls also has a sensor in it and can respond to movement in the game. For example, I tried endlessly to push all my available buttons and twist my remote to activate a big, red button to access the elevator. I soon discovered that tilting the analog stick made my character push the button, and shaking it back and forth would open doors.

Disarming enemies plays a large role in Red Steel, since you can sometimes get weapons from disarming, but not killing, forces. Disarming is easiest in the bullet-time Ubisoft has implemented, during which your enemies' guns are outlined as desirable targets. Fire a few shots, and when you exit bullet-time you'll take all the shots in a quick succession, disarming even 2-3 people at once.

But, if you're anything like me, all of this is interesting but you want to know about the swords, and I'm happy to report that they controlled fairly well. All sword battles are done from a somewhat fixed perspective in that you're able to strafe around your opponent but cannot get any closer or further away. In lue of a block button, blocks are handled just like a real fight - by swinging your sword to intercept your opponents' blade. Thrusting the analog stick piece makes your left hand attack with a small dagger, which works great for blocking, and it's quick so it sets up another attack with your larger sword. Not all the animations and moves were as seamless to my own movements as I was hoping, but it's still a lot of fun and plenty impressive. Most importantly, this title is also a work in progress, and the purpose was to get a feel for the controller.

Based on what I've seen, I'm extremely excited at the potential the Wii has. From a distance I saw a table-tennis game with fairly simple graphics and the controller being moved around like a ping-pong paddle - rather than just push a button to swing, you actually control the angle and timing of the swing, adding entirely new levels of depth and interaction to the simplest of games. I believe this is the reason Nintendo hasn't released official stats on the CPU speeds, etc., because if they're low by industry standards then the console will be judged by its specs and not by what it's capable of doing.

What else can I say? The Wii's controls are innovative, fun, and offer a completely new spin on gaming as we know it. Having played it first-hand (and oh man, it feels good to say that!) I can tell you I have complete faith in Nintendo now to re-establish itself within the world of console gaming. Graphics are only going to get so good before there isn't an extremely noticeable change over generations, and games will be judged based on entertainment and how much they challenge us, not just how good they look. Nintendo knows this, and rather than go for raw horse-power, they've created a console centered around creativity and entertainment, and I'll be the 1st in line at my local games shop on launch day.