Wiimote May Control Nintendo's Future

Posted on November 3, 2006

The New York Times has an interesting piece about the future of Nintento and how Nintendo has focused on its unique controller, called the Wii remote or Wiimote, that lets the player swing the controller like a sword in an adventure game or a racket in a sports game. The wiimote also has the potential to be used for steering in racing games.

But a big test of the company�s strategy will come this fall with the release of its new video game console, the Wii (pronounced WEE), which will be introduced Nov. 19 in North America and in December in the rest of the world. If the device does not sell better than the GameCube, it would consign Nintendo to a more distant third place in the console business. While the new Microsoft and Sony consoles will have faster chips and more extravagant features, Nintendo is steering clear of that technology in favor of a controller for Wii that senses motion in real space.
In the Wii game Red Steel, for example, the gamer jabs the controller as if it were a sword.
"Most of the game business is going down a similar path toward hyperrealistic graphics which recreate sports or movies," said Shigeru Miyamoto, a senior managing director at Nintendo and the designer of Donkey Kong, Super Mario Brothers, and scores of the medium's biggest hits.
"We want to put a little more art into it and do it in a way that casual consumers can enjoy the games," Mr. Miyamoto said in an interview through a translator.

You can see more photographs of the Wii controllers here on Nintendo's website. Wikipedia also has an information entry on the Wiimote. It will be interesting to see whether the improved playability offered with Wii can win out over the complex graphics and computing power of the new PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360.

NINTENDO