Hi I'm a 30 year old male living in South Wales. I like most music (especially live music) and films...
Hi I'm a 30 year old male living in South Wales. I like most music (especially live music) and films and also enjoy a drink.
Am now married so have so time to catch up all the reviews I've missed - Enjoy
Member since:18.05.2005
Reviews:105
Members who trust:5
As mentioned in my review of the Wii Nunchuck I have had my Wii for a few weeks but haven’t had chance to review it so am starting with the peripherals.
The Wii uses wirelesscontrollers (it was the first games console to do this) that communicate with the main console via bluetooth. Unfortunately the Wii only comes with a single controller and as the main fun with the Wii comes from playing against friends and family I immediately purchased a second controller for £29.99 (it is hard to find them cheap anywhere on line or the high street).
The controller is white plastic (the same as the Wii itself) styled like a small TV remote and is solidly made and feels even more so when the 2 AA batteries are put in. The remote which has a wrist strap (to prevent it flying from your hand and smashing your TV or other fragile items when you get a bit too enthusiast ) feels very comfortable in you hand with the main buttons in just the right places.
For the more physical games such as golf, baseball, bowling etc the remote is held in the dominant hand and actual swung to simulate the movement required in real life – making use of the motion sensors in the controller. Generally the ‘A’ button, which is round and located in the centre of the controller is used to confirm decisions or held to make a stroke in some cases. The ‘B’ button is located under the controller, and is well shaped meaning that your finger rests on it naturally, this button is generally used to start an action (such as release the bowling ball).
On the top of the remote, along with the ‘A’ button (see above) there is a 4 way directional pad which is used in many way but generally for direction in slow moving games such as golf and bowling, the ‘1’ button used for getting different view points, a ‘2’ button which is rarely used, ‘+’ and ‘-‘ buttons which are used for pausing games and in some cases zooming and the last real button is the ‘home’ button which will always pause the game and brings up a screen from which you can go back to the main Wii menu or go back to the start of the current game.
I say that the ‘home’ button was the last real button as in the top left corner is a power button. This actual controls the power for the console, this caught me out the first few times and I turned off the Wii when I just wanted to turn off the 2nd controller. The controllers do turn off when the main console is off and the turn themselves off if they haven’t been used for approximately 5 minutes to save the batteries.
On the subject of batteries I have found battery life to be very good, and along the bottom of the controller are 4 blue LEDs. If you press a button on the remote whilst the console is off, the number of LEDs lit indicate the remaining battery power – 3 light means 75% battery remaining. When the console is turned on the LED’s indicate which remote it is i.e. remote1, 2, 3 or 4.
The final 2 components are the speaker located in the middle of the controller, this gives quite low quality sound but does add a certain something, seemingly make the games more realistic and a vibration unit which again adds to the realism.
All in all the remote is great, it can be used in so many orientations for such a variety of games and the motion sensors are generally very good – although it does get confused some times, but a quick shake seems to get everything back to normal. The only slight downside is the price but you really can’t do without a second controller if you have a Wii.
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Shaped like a TV remote, the Nintendo Wii controller has been designed to be easily used ... more
by beginners and pros alike. Sensors determine the Wii Remote's position is in 3-D space, which means that racing-game steering and a tennis swing, for example, ar...
Postage & Packaging: Check Site. Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Advantages: Looks and the multiple ways to use it Disadvantages: Fails in it's primary use as the reponsiveness seems haphazard and the games don't help, Price
Advantages: Looks and the multiple ways to use it Disadvantages: Fails in it's primary use as the reponsiveness seems haphazard and the games don't help, Price