This once innovative design was one of the attractions to nintendo's new Wii console.

The Wii-mote, usually paired with the nunchuck is the motion sensor controller that comes free with most Wiis. You can find them priced at around £20-£30 and they require two AA batteries.

Primarily, like me, you'll be pretty amazed with this new technology and it's attractions, but be prepared to be rather let down.

The Wii-motes guzzle up battery power and you'll find yourself forking out money on batteries and constantly changing or waiting for your batteries to recharge during the middle of a game. There are charging docks available in many different forms, but be warned most are of poor quality. Over time you will probably find your controller's power to be weakening providing less gaming time for every set of batteries you go through. I had some very reliable rechargable batteries for years and years, about three sets of two, after about 3 months of usage with the Wii-motes their power became very low and eventually deminished and for some reason I found battery acid leakage from them all over the Wii-motes.

The Wii-motes depend on infra-red light in order to provide the motion sensoring however this can be a pain when playing in a room with a lot of daylight coming in through the windows and can disturb the connection between sensor bar and controller and you will find it impossible to play, unless it is a game that requires very little action.

I think that most will be disappointed with the limits of the Wii, where most games do not take into account the full capabilities of the Wii-mote, only requiring a flick of the wrist in the designated direction and it rarely picks up the entire actions your performing, simply just the little gestures.

It can be a hassle when playing with more than one player when attempting to register controllers, it usually takes some time and agony in the process.

On the bright side the controller is very comfortable in the hand and the button lay-out is very cleverly done in my opinion. It can be really great for games in the First Person Shooter category as it feels like you are actually in control of a gun. the rumble feature is available and the lack of wires is a god-send around your busy gaming area. It is a treat to play with friends around.

In conclusion I feel there was too much hype for what it is with it's somewhat limited capabilities, it is far too expensive in my opinion not to mention the cost of the batteries you will be going through alongside it and it's connectivity with your sensor bar is inadequete. There are some positive aspects that can make it bareable and sometimes fun to play, but I recomend when playing some games (eg super smash bros brawl or mario kart) you revert back to the gamecube controllers as they don't require batteries and are a lot more reliable!