About Console > Wii
It's already fairly well documented that Wii is no graphical powerhouse. Nintendo has never released the official clock speeds of either the CPU or GPU, but most reports suggest them to be roughly twice as high as those found in the GameCube; making it on paper slightly more powerful than the original Xbox.
Put simply, though, to judge Wii on graphical prowess is missing the point entirely. If you can't live without the very best graphics on offer then Wii may not be for you, though you'll be missing out on a number of the unique benefits only found on this system.
Memory cards have long been the bane of gamers and though Wii doesn't feature a hard drive like its rivals, it does include 512MB of internal flash memory for storing game saves, downloaded channels and Virtual Console titles. This is supplemented by an SD Memory Card slot, located under a flap on the front of the console, with a capacity of up to 2GB. Good though this is, it's tarnished somewhat by the fact that game saves and Virtual Console games must be transferred to the main internal memory to be used.
The optical drive has a smart front-loading slot mechanism, and is surrounded by enchanting blue lighting around the slot. It'll accept both GameCube discs, in their mini-DVD format, and Wii Discs which are essentially the standard DVD discs we've all become accustomed to with 4.7GB of single layer capacity and 8.5GB on a double layer disc.
The mainstream media has been very quick to declare Nintendo’s Wii console to be the next big thing in gaming and there’s no doubt that the Wiimote is indeed a revolutionary controller that when used to its full effect by developers will give games and the people who play them an all new experience, however, the Wii is almost a schizophrenic product with a mix of both revolutionary ideas and design combined with technology that at times is almost retro (sometimes in a good way and sometimes not). The overall result is a product that in our view does a lot to make video games more acceptable to a mass audience but has features that keeps it tied to consoles of the past. It does have one terrific launch title but the overall game launch line-up for the Wii is also lacking. However that may change as more developers get used to the system. |
