How does the Wii actually work?

[Kyze]

Alright so i'm currently considering purchasing a Wii for the first time, i just have a few questions about how it works.

I seem to recall a similar system on the PS2 called the eye-toy which was basically a camera you would mount to focus on you and therefore needed plenty of space, after seeing similar things for sale with Wii's that catch your movements am i right in assuming they work the same way? Or is it solely to track controller movements because i'll be using the Wii on a 42" TV with about only 5-7 feet distance from the TV as space to take part in the activites.

Sorry for the rather obvious question but i generally have no clue about these consoles, having played the Xbox and Playstation systems all my life!

 

[Splash_King]

The Wii uses infrared, among other technologies, to detect movement of the Wii Remote; while I have no idea how that garbage eye-toy works, unless it also uses infrared, I doubt they're similar in regards to their inner-workings.

5-7 feet squared should be enough space for pretty much any Wii game, so you should be good to go. :thumbsup:

 

[BadBanshee]

They're two different things. The Wii sensor doesn't perceive any human movement, in fact the only movement it senses is inside the Wiimote and the nunchuk. The eye toy is like the Xbox 360's Kinect.

It's funny really how recycled these "new innovations" really are. When I reflect upon it, even my first ever console from when I was a kid, the NES, had similar technology. They had the ray gun that you point at the television and shoot at objects on the screen and the NES would register it. Quite remarkable when you consider that the NES was released in the 80s and this technology didn't need any kind of sensor, it was like all TVs had the technology built in! Turns out the ray guns would send infra red rays that would temporarily (milliseconds) blotch out pixels on the TV screen and the NES would register it that way. Still a little mind boggling because that means there is a feed of information going from the TV to the NES as well as from the NES to the TV.

There is also the Wii motion plus accessory that you can buy that attaches to the end of your Wiimote (but all new Wiimotes now come with motion plus built in) that is used with games such as Wii Sports Resort and Zelda Skyward Sword. They're supposed to make the sensor more sensitive to movement of the Wii mote somehow. There's meant to be more gaming options with the Wii motion plus for this reason. I'm not sure exactly how it works though but I enjoy Wii Sports Resort so I guess it works well!

 

[Phoenix Wright]

I would not buy the Wii, to give you my honest opinion. The new Wii's that are selling out do not have GameCube support, nor can you plug in a handy GameCube controller into 'em.

With the Wii U around the corner, I would wait and save up for that. It will be able to play any Wii games you get, anyway.

But if you're really wanting to buy the Wii, I suggest going on eBay and getting a new/pre-owned older model, as it will have the GameCube support and what-not.

The Wii isn't the strongest console compared to the PS3 and Xbox, but you get good 1st party support with Zelda, Mario, Metroid, etc. etc.
The two posts above me were spot on over the specs, so I won't repeat that. Just depends on your gaming style, I guess.

 

[BadBanshee]

I bought my Wii recently and I made sure I got one of the RVL ones that have backward compatibility with Gamecube games and accessories. The new ones have a serial number beginning RVK.

So yeah I bought mine off eBay for cheap. The Wii U isn't coming out until December the earliest (although that might just be for the UK). That's a long time to be waiting for a games console.

It's a great time to own a Wii to be honest because you can buy all the best games from 2010 and earlier for cheap. The fact that the Wii U is coming out in the near future didn't deter me from buying a used Wii one bit.

In comparison to the PS3 and Xbox, I don't think they're necessarily better. The Wii provides exactly what I want... a hardcore gaming experience when I want it (with the Classic Controller) and a fun gaming experience when I want to play multiplayer with family and friends.