The Wii has arrived, you subterranean dwelling denizen.

“But I don’t see it anywhere in Singapore” “No, you can’t, because at the moment the little white console is still pending approval from the media authorities but the NS Portal’s eager gaming beavers have managed to get our grubby little mitts on the US set which was launched not too long ago. (Please don’t ask us when Singapore will have its launch because we DON’T know). But lest, we be called selfish, Wii-hogging whores, we do the next best thing, short of letting you leave your sweaty fingerprints on it, – bringing you a pictorial coverage of the Wii itself – up close and personal! So here Wii go!

Good Things Come In Small Packages
The first thing people probably notice of the Wii straight out of the box is its space saving size. When you put it up against the powerful systems like the Xbox 360 and the PS3, it’s almost akin to putting Xiaxue next to Yao Ming, if what I saw on the pilot of Girls Out Loud a while ago is true.

Measuring a petite 4.3 by 21.5 by 15.6cm, it’s evident that Wii is eschewing power for innovativeness since there’s not much you can squeeze into its tiny chassis (the system is not even fit for HD, the sacrilege for some) reminiscent of Apple’s sleek, white iPod; but it more than amply makes up for the lack of oomph by the plentiful set of ahhhhs when people actually see you play with this thing. On the console body, you will notice three hidden panels (pardon the paradox) despite its relatively stark chassis.

On the front lies a flip panel that opens to reveal a SD memory card reader and a sync button used for connecting wireless Wii Remotes to the system.

Shifting your focus to the top of the Wii will also throw up two more hidden panels.

One is a large, removable one that houses what astute gamers will recognize as GameCube controller ports and the other smaller (also removable) panel uncovers two GameCube memory-card slots – which simply mean your Wii is also a GameCube. It’s also a GameCube wannabe with four ports and two memory card slots!

The Nintendo folks even placed four rubber corner stoppers on the left side of the Wii to allow users to set the Wii onto its side for an even slimmer, space-saving setup when you are using it as a ‘GameCube’!
Note the rubber stopper next to the power button, there are four of them to let Wii lie horizontally.

Logic will also dictate that the Wii’s is backward compatible with GameCube discs. But the bummer will have to be that the Wii is not capable of playing DVD movies, a feature that Nintendo has supposedly indicated will be added in the future. Now, turning the console around, we see two USB ports, an AV multi out, a power connector, and a port for the sensor bar. The sensor bar is of course the device that works as the reference point for the Wii Remote or Wii-mote. For tech buffs, the Wii itself comes with a composite AV cable for regular 480i displays, but it’s generally recommended that Wii users get a set of component cables for 480p as otherwise, picture quality differences can be very striking, to put it gently.

First off, I would like to say a big thank you to Nintendo for adhering to simple ergonomics. The Wii-mote feels absolutely natural in my hand when I was swinging it as a tennis racquet for the first time in Wii Sports.

The Wii-mote runs on two AA batteries and comes with a wrist strap designed to keep the controller from flying away in case you accidentally lose your grip while playing games. And the last I heard, it didn’t really work since people are still breaking windows and TV screens when the thin straps break and send the controllers flying which has led to players christening the Wii-mote as ‘Wii-siles’.

At the time of typing this, Nintendo has announced to produce thicker straps as well as taking back the faulty ones in exchange for better strap versions. The primary tool of gaming on Wii! And that is only the Wii-mote bit. The second, more significant other (in my opinion) half of the Wii-mote is actually the Nunchuk attachment which you will be hard-pressed (read: impossible) to play a Wii title without. pict0140

The Wii Nunchuk
The Nunchuk plugs into the bottom of the Wii-mote and basically functions as a secondary controller for your off hand while marinating the motion-sensitive shebang. It has an analog thumbstick like many other contemporary console controller and two buttons Z and C.

Users will need to use the Nunchuk attachment as the direct tool to interact with the many scenarios in Wii games such as swing Link’s sword in The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess or throwing a KO-ing hook in Wii Sports’ boxing arena.

Closer look at the Nunchuk reveals the Z and C buttons and the analog thumbstick on top.

Channel Surfing on Wii
As with the physical features of Wii, the fired up Wii menu is also chockfull of goodies which I will briefly hightlight here. When you turn on the console, you will be brought to the grid-based channel menu which opens up specific Wii applications- they being the Disc, Mii, Photo, Wii Shop, News, and Forecast options. As of now, to my understanding, the News and Forecast channels aren’t up yet, but once they do, users will be able to watch news and weather forecasts on the Wii.

The Disc channel will have to be the most used on your console. It is here that you click on the panel to fire up a game disc residing in the bowels of your Wii.

Enough said.The more interesting channel on the Wii will have to be the Mii channel that lets you create your Mii, or a personal avatar that you will use to play in Mii-compatible games like Wii Sports where you are the virtual athlete.

The usual customization options are available that lets you put down your gender, face shape, skin color, hair color, eyes, eyebrows, nose, mouth, glasses, height, and weight to try to mirror your actual form!

Last but not least is the Photo channel. Remember SD memory card slot? Well, here is where the slot comes in useful. Insert your SD memory card and start to view all your photos while being able to zoom in or out on the pictures. The Wii also offers music beds for slideshows, and can even play an MP3 file from the SD card! It’s pretty cool if you ask me, especially when the Wii has so successfully squeezed every bit of the expected console features these days into a plastic casing no bigger than a toaster and slimmer at that!

The End Swing
In all, the Wii looks set to be the ideal gift idea for the holidays this season if you are into casual fun or want a device that will add to the funky quotient of your house since the Wii is unobtrusive and fits right into any décor (best of all being those with the Zen look).

The features and the innovativeness of the Wii also puts it on the top of my list as being the most wanted gadget this season alongside the Zune which hopefully I can get my hands on one and then you all can read about it here on the NS Portal.

However, the console is still yet to reach local shores but many gamers I know have already procured their sets online so if you want to grab hold of one, there’s always the legitimate online shopping sites since the Wii has already been launched in the US, Japanese and Hong Kong markets.