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Well, my brother in law got a Wii at midnight, and I just spent several hours playing on it. I'll just go through my initial thoughts on the Wii itself and the games.
What he ended up getting was:
The Wii unit, bundled with WiiSports, WiiMote, and nunchuck
3 addition WiiMotes (Nunchucks were sold out)
Rayman: Raving Rabbids
Marvel: Ultimate Alliance
Red Steel
His copy of Zelda: Twilight Princess is on its way, though not sure when he will have it for me to play... or if I will even be allowed to play it, as he might just get sucked in
The Wii unit and controllers
The unit itself is small and quite minimalistic. I would prefer it in black, as the iPod white is just too run of the mill these days. And I like black. Discs load very smoothly and quietly.
The Wiimote is a little heavier than I expected, but that is probably because of the batteries. The nunchuck weighs nothing and is completely natural to hold. Pointing in the menus and selecting options is very easy with the WiiMote and just seems better than other other systems. That and my soon to be brother-in-law's almost 4 year old daughter can get through the menus with the WiiMote. So yes, simple to use.
Oh, and the Nunchuck has what is pretty much the SixAxis system found on the PS3 controllers. So you can get some very advanced setups as developers get more use to the Wii.
The Mii system for avatars is quite a nice touch. It is a rather in depth system, from being to able to select several styles of eyes and such, to adjust their orientation on the head and their size and so on. In the end, people could recognize my avatar as me, which is kinda nice.
WiiSports
Simply awesome for showcasing the WiiMote. Easy games that a 3 year old can pick up (she actually beat me at the gold
) Bowling and Tennis are probably the most fun. Tennis is fast paced and just funny to see what happens. Bowling is a more casual gaming deal, but as you can put spin on the ball by twisting your wrist and control its speed with how fast you move your arm, its nice. Plus you can let go too late and toss the ball behind you, which causes the Miis behind you to jump 
Since anyone can pick this up and play, I imagine it will become a great game for when you have a few friends over, family, or whatever. Just an awesome included title.
Rayman: Raving Rabbids
Dark, twisted, and awesome humor make this a great mini-game fest. The usage of the WiiMote and nunchuck is awesome, and can easily give you a work out. Things ranging from shaking the Nunchuck to make carrot juice, which you aim at charging Rabbids with the WiiMote to basically drown them in carrot juice, to Area 51 style shooter segments, make for a wide range of games. One of the ones that really uses the WiiMote's unique elements is where you trace a drawing on screen. Being faster and closer to the line you are suppose to follow means more points.
Only draw back is you need the nunchuck attachment, and as those are in short order, we had to take turns playing the minigames.
Marvel: Ultimate Alliance
I'm not much of a Marvel fan, but its still cool to run around as Spiderman or what not. I found myself going from the more button orientated commands to useing the WiiMote gestures. They make sense and start to come naturally as you work with the mote more and more. Using the stick on the Nunchuck to move is easy, but it took me a bit to get use to leaning the nunchuck to rotate the camera. I didn't spend much time on this title though, as its not too interesting to me.
Red Steel
I had to wait till his kids were in bed, as this really isn't a game for a 3 year old and 1 year old. At the same time, this limited how long I could play it, as it was getting late.
This is one of the titles that is getting alot of attention, so I will try to be a bit more in depth about it.
The nunchuck controller has alot of functions in this. The two buttons on it are used for jumping and ducking, while the joystick moves you forward and back, and lets you strafe left and right. Swinging it down reloads or interacts with enviroment, while swinging it up lets you flip tables over for cover. In sword fights it is used to parry and dodge.
The WiiMote is your aiming device of course. This is rather well done, in that the cursor just move on the screen, kinda like an Area 51 idea, but once you get towards the edge of the screen (any of the 4 sides) it starts rotating the camera, so you pivot and look up and down this way. Takes a little getting use to though. Also, the d pad is used for selecting weapons. In swords fights, swinging the wiimote various directions creates slashes that go along that path.
Initially, I was horrible at aiming. This was likely me trying to work it like it was a mouse or just Area 51, which lead to over the exagerrated movements. As I got the hang of the controls, things started to come naturally. Reloading was easy, and advancing on enemies started working out as I ducked in and out of cover and advanced while shooting. After about 45 minutes I was nailing targets without taking too long to aim and staying out of harms way overall. Just takes a bit to get use to, thats all. I can easily see this getting awesome once you are practiced in it, as you can quickly jump from targets and have a bit more freedom than in Halo.
Sword fights work a bit different than I expected. You are locked into a duel stance, and the nunchuck controls your parrying blade, while the wiimote does the slashing. The option to spare your opponents life is neat, though I have yet to see what comes of it beside respect points. Will find out later no doubt.
Other Thoughts
Graphics are decent, though nothing amazing. Nintendo has gone their usual path of persuing gameplay over graphics, and I prefer that. As Duck said elsewhere, they are better than the previous generation, but not up to par with the XBOX 360 or PS3.
This initial batch of titles does a good job using the WiiMote and attachments, but I imagine as developers get experianced with these input devices that games will use them better and better. Pikmin could be an interesting title later on, and I am curious about Trauma Center, though I'll probably have to buy that if I want to play it.
The compact nature of the Wii makes it perfect for taking over to a friends for some casual gaming, party games, and so on. Plus its just fun to play and watch other people do crazy things when they pitch the ball or such.
I like the Wii, alot. And I'll give more feed back as I get more familar with the system and games. Feel free to ask questions and leave comments, and if you liked the post, please hit that check mark and say so
Take note graphics whores- You will not be pleased if that is all you care about. Do not bash the Wii's graphics, as everyone already knows that are not up to the PS3 and XBOX 360. Just save it for something else or another time.
What he ended up getting was:
The Wii unit, bundled with WiiSports, WiiMote, and nunchuck
3 addition WiiMotes (Nunchucks were sold out)
Rayman: Raving Rabbids
Marvel: Ultimate Alliance
Red Steel
His copy of Zelda: Twilight Princess is on its way, though not sure when he will have it for me to play... or if I will even be allowed to play it, as he might just get sucked in
The Wii unit and controllers
The unit itself is small and quite minimalistic. I would prefer it in black, as the iPod white is just too run of the mill these days. And I like black. Discs load very smoothly and quietly.
The Wiimote is a little heavier than I expected, but that is probably because of the batteries. The nunchuck weighs nothing and is completely natural to hold. Pointing in the menus and selecting options is very easy with the WiiMote and just seems better than other other systems. That and my soon to be brother-in-law's almost 4 year old daughter can get through the menus with the WiiMote. So yes, simple to use.
Oh, and the Nunchuck has what is pretty much the SixAxis system found on the PS3 controllers. So you can get some very advanced setups as developers get more use to the Wii.
The Mii system for avatars is quite a nice touch. It is a rather in depth system, from being to able to select several styles of eyes and such, to adjust their orientation on the head and their size and so on. In the end, people could recognize my avatar as me, which is kinda nice.
WiiSports
Simply awesome for showcasing the WiiMote. Easy games that a 3 year old can pick up (she actually beat me at the gold
) Bowling and Tennis are probably the most fun. Tennis is fast paced and just funny to see what happens. Bowling is a more casual gaming deal, but as you can put spin on the ball by twisting your wrist and control its speed with how fast you move your arm, its nice. Plus you can let go too late and toss the ball behind you, which causes the Miis behind you to jump Since anyone can pick this up and play, I imagine it will become a great game for when you have a few friends over, family, or whatever. Just an awesome included title.
Rayman: Raving Rabbids
Dark, twisted, and awesome humor make this a great mini-game fest. The usage of the WiiMote and nunchuck is awesome, and can easily give you a work out. Things ranging from shaking the Nunchuck to make carrot juice, which you aim at charging Rabbids with the WiiMote to basically drown them in carrot juice, to Area 51 style shooter segments, make for a wide range of games. One of the ones that really uses the WiiMote's unique elements is where you trace a drawing on screen. Being faster and closer to the line you are suppose to follow means more points.
Only draw back is you need the nunchuck attachment, and as those are in short order, we had to take turns playing the minigames.
Marvel: Ultimate Alliance
I'm not much of a Marvel fan, but its still cool to run around as Spiderman or what not. I found myself going from the more button orientated commands to useing the WiiMote gestures. They make sense and start to come naturally as you work with the mote more and more. Using the stick on the Nunchuck to move is easy, but it took me a bit to get use to leaning the nunchuck to rotate the camera. I didn't spend much time on this title though, as its not too interesting to me.
Red Steel
I had to wait till his kids were in bed, as this really isn't a game for a 3 year old and 1 year old. At the same time, this limited how long I could play it, as it was getting late.
This is one of the titles that is getting alot of attention, so I will try to be a bit more in depth about it.
The nunchuck controller has alot of functions in this. The two buttons on it are used for jumping and ducking, while the joystick moves you forward and back, and lets you strafe left and right. Swinging it down reloads or interacts with enviroment, while swinging it up lets you flip tables over for cover. In sword fights it is used to parry and dodge.
The WiiMote is your aiming device of course. This is rather well done, in that the cursor just move on the screen, kinda like an Area 51 idea, but once you get towards the edge of the screen (any of the 4 sides) it starts rotating the camera, so you pivot and look up and down this way. Takes a little getting use to though. Also, the d pad is used for selecting weapons. In swords fights, swinging the wiimote various directions creates slashes that go along that path.
Initially, I was horrible at aiming. This was likely me trying to work it like it was a mouse or just Area 51, which lead to over the exagerrated movements. As I got the hang of the controls, things started to come naturally. Reloading was easy, and advancing on enemies started working out as I ducked in and out of cover and advanced while shooting. After about 45 minutes I was nailing targets without taking too long to aim and staying out of harms way overall. Just takes a bit to get use to, thats all. I can easily see this getting awesome once you are practiced in it, as you can quickly jump from targets and have a bit more freedom than in Halo.
Sword fights work a bit different than I expected. You are locked into a duel stance, and the nunchuck controls your parrying blade, while the wiimote does the slashing. The option to spare your opponents life is neat, though I have yet to see what comes of it beside respect points. Will find out later no doubt.
Other Thoughts
Graphics are decent, though nothing amazing. Nintendo has gone their usual path of persuing gameplay over graphics, and I prefer that. As Duck said elsewhere, they are better than the previous generation, but not up to par with the XBOX 360 or PS3.
This initial batch of titles does a good job using the WiiMote and attachments, but I imagine as developers get experianced with these input devices that games will use them better and better. Pikmin could be an interesting title later on, and I am curious about Trauma Center, though I'll probably have to buy that if I want to play it.
The compact nature of the Wii makes it perfect for taking over to a friends for some casual gaming, party games, and so on. Plus its just fun to play and watch other people do crazy things when they pitch the ball or such.
I like the Wii, alot. And I'll give more feed back as I get more familar with the system and games. Feel free to ask questions and leave comments, and if you liked the post, please hit that check mark and say so
Take note graphics whores- You will not be pleased if that is all you care about. Do not bash the Wii's graphics, as everyone already knows that are not up to the PS3 and XBOX 360. Just save it for something else or another time.
