Wii Zero-Day Hands On

Ready to Launch

So far, we've only got Nintendo's three first-party games in hand. As others trickle in we should have updates before the full reviews go live. For now, here's a tease from the final build of each. And we have to say, while a lot has been made about Nintendo's relative disinterest in graphics, the look of each game we've played from the company seems quite appropriate to the game itself.

Wii Sports
We've had a good time with Wii Sports so far, though it definitely has some quirks that must be learned. Most of the movements and game responses, when swinging a bat or tennis racket, or throwing a bowling ball, are spot on. So that makes the few things that aren't -- like the ability to master the spin of the bowling ball -- stand out. Tennis is the standout so far, though we're looking forward to playing with the Wii Fitness routine.

Excite Truck
So far, the game we've enjoyed the most in either launch has been...Excite Truck? Lord, this one is fun. Does it matter if it's just light-hearted, play for 15 minutes fun, rather than the super-immersive feel of other current games? Judging by our grins so far, nope. The graphics aren't up to Xbox 360 standards, but water and lighting look great and the frame rate blazes. And when you've leapt through hundreds of feet after grabbing a power-up to deform the landscape, only to land in the water you were aiming at to cool down your boosters to get extra speed, maybe high definition graphics really don't matter. Better music wouldn't go amiss, however.

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
We've waited years for this one, so summing it up in a paragraph is absurd. Check out our hands-on preview for more in-depth coverage. The bottom line is it looks great and uses the nunchuck controller to show that there's more complexity to the Wii than just waving the remote. The special Wii actions seem a little tacked on -- swinging your sword isn't mapped to movement, it's simply activated by shaking the remote -- but they also make playing a lot more engaging;

Back in Time

We have to admit that before even popping in a new launch title, we inspected the Wii's performance with Resident Evil 4 and Eternal Darkness for the GameCube. If the Wii is standing vertically, two doors on the top open to reveal ports for GameCube controllers (4) and memory cards (2). The controller port area is large enough to accommodate a WaveBird receiver, which we appreciate. Both games loaded quickly and looked great. It was tempting to just play Resident Evil 4 again, but... all those new games...

Online...Soon (Redux)

Just like the PS3, the Wii's online component isn't quite live. We were able to configure and test our wireless connection easily (much as you would with the DS, ironically, considering the PS3/PSP interface similarity) but while trying to go online we'd be presented with a 'time for an update' notice, which lead to a timeout while contacting Nintendo's server.

So we haven't looked into the store or Virtual Console yet, and will have updates when those items go live. We also haven't yet been able to access the Weather or News channel, or let our created Miis go live on other people's consoles.