Once picked up it is hard to put down (Nintendo Wii Remote)

Member Name: sit2020

Product:	Nintendo Wii Remote
Date:	01/05/07 (1087 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: New way to play games

Disadvantages: Battery life

When you first purchase a Nintendo Wii, you are supplied with a controller that is called a Wii remote controller. This is one of the integral parts of the whole Nintendo Wii experience.

What does it look like?

The Wii remote controller is wireless and takes 2 AA batteries and has a part at the rear for a wrist strap (this should always be used).

At first glance it resembles a television remote control, oblong shaped and white (which is the predominant colour of all things Nintendo Wii). Looking from the top with the wrist strap to the rear, you have the following buttons,

Front left power button, marked “power”

Just behind this centrally positioned you have a directional control button (often called a “D” pad).

Behind this is the largest single button on the top of the Nintendo Wii remote, it is marked “A”, it is one of the two most used buttons when playing games.

Next comes three buttons side by side they are used to navigate, they are marked (from left to right) “-” “home” “+”

Just behind these is a little integral speaker, used very cleverly in certain games (sword fighting for instance).

Behind this come two more buttons (one behind the other), marked “1” and “2”

Nearly at the back are four little blue LED’s they show how much battery power remains on the Wii Remote. 4 flashing means it is at, or near, full battery charge, this drops to 3 for 75%, 2 = 50% and one equates to 25% or less.

At the back is a slot used for plugging in the;
Nunchuk controller (this is a controller that is used in various ways in different games).
Classic controller (this is a controller used for playing downloaded retro classic games).

Below this as previously mentioned is where the wrist strap is attached.

Underneath approximately a third of the way from the front is the “B” button, this looks like a trigger and this is how it is used when playing shooting games.

Finally between the “B” button and the wrist strap is the battery compartment (this is where you could find yourself popping in loads of AA batteries).

How does it work?

The way that games are played varies from game to game. In general, you move the Wii remote in a style similar to the way you would if you were actually playing the game i.e. Hold the remote as the handle of a golf club when playing golf or hold it like the handle of tennis racquet when playing tennis.

The maximum distance that this will work is about 5m or 16ft, I prefer to be closer than that. I have also found that when the battery power starts to dwindle, trying to play games at any distance can become harder and therefore more frustrating.

All of this magic is due to the way Nintendo have put movement sensors inside the Wii remote, part of the credit must also go down to the games program writers for the way they have taken on board the workings of the Nintendo Wii and its most important part the Wii remote and produced some great games that have pushed the gaming world in a new direction.

It is worth also mentioning that when we purchased an additional Wii remote, we had to configure it the Nintendo Wii, this was very easy to do (just look at the manual and follow the on screen prompts).

Does it need anything to help it work?

You have a sensor bar, this is about 20cm in length, it needs to be positioned either above or below the television, and this is directly connected to the Nintendo Wii. This is the way the Wii remote communicates with the Nintendo Wii.

What about the batteries?

Well the Wii remote takes 2 AA batteries. Nintendo have said you will get up to 60hrs of use from one set of batteries. I have found that depending on the type of batteries, this can be seriously reduced. In one case I got less than 2hrs from a battery change (ok they were cheap batteries that I had bought from a pound shop).

Do not skimp on cheaper batteries, you want to be looking at alkaline batteries as a minimum.

Although Nintendo do not recommend using rechargeable batteries, I personally think that using rechargeable makes sense; they work and also work out cheaper than buying an endless supply of disposable batteries.

Recently we bought a third party recharger designed specifically for the Nintendo Wii remote, this has made life easier as we do not have to worry about batteries.

Another power drain on the battery life will come from the previously mentioned controllers (Nunchuk and Classic); they have no power supply of their own and therefore take their power from the Wii remote.

The extras

Although only a few exist at the moment from third party developers, I do expect that more will follow in the passage of time, at present you can buy third party chargers and my better half purchased a pink skin ( a latex covers that stretch over the Wii remote)

You can also store up to ten Miis (little sprite characters) on the Wii remote so if you visit friends and bring your Wii remote with you, you can also bring your favourite playing characters.

The ups and downs.

The biggest plus is the way you play games when using this.
I found it surprisingly easy to get used to interacting with games using this controller.

The minuses are batteries losing charge.
Trying to play games at a distance from the television set, when the battery power is dwindling.
The cost of additional Wii remotes (a new Wii remote will set you back £34.99, although you can buy a game called Wii Play for £39.99 and this comes complete with an additional Wii remote)

When I first saw the Wii remote I was quite skeptical, to me it looked cheap, tacky and clumsy.
Once I used it I totally changed my mind, I have found it easy to use and part of a very enjoyable game playing experience. The batteries for me are the only real problem, but then the only other choice would be to have it hard wired to a power supply, and that for me would ruin the whole concept of what the Nintendo Wii and the Wii remote is all about.

Summary: Once picked up it is hard to put down

Processing/Quality:
Reliability:
Ease of use:
Installation:
Speed:
Variety of features: