The Nintendo Wii will soon be upon us, but what exactly is inside that shiny little elegant box and what other accessories can we buy for it? As our commitment to expanding our guide we bring you a simple guide that should fill you in on what you are buying and what else can be bought such as Wii Remotes, Classic Controllers and more.

Nintendo Wii Console

The Nintendo Wii console measures 157mm in length, 215.4mm in width, and 44mm in depth. If these figures don’t mean much to you, its bloody small think of 3 DVD cases stacked together and you’re on the right track. While it is dwarfed by other next-gen consoles in comparison, it remains as sleek and beautiful as any console released to date. The Wii will be released initially in white, with other colours expected to be released in the future. The Wii can be placed either horizontally, or vertically using a stand.

Check under the hood of this little dynamo, and youll find some pretty strong hardware, though it certainly pails in comparison to the Xbox360 and PS2. The Wii is by no means a graphics powerhouse, it has been described as roughly twice to three times as powerful as the Nintendo Gamecube. This is part of Nintendo’s plan to make an affordable console that can be enjoyed by all. You won’t need a hi-defintion TV to enjoy the Wii’s graphical capabilities. Sure, the graphics will not stand up to the power of the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360, but with the Wii – it is not all about the graphics is it?

Nintendo have kept things pretty quiet regarding the breakdown of the performance of the components within the Wii, but here is what we have

729 MHz IBM PowerPC “”Broadway”” CPU
24MBs “”main”” 1T-SRAM
64MBs other 1T-SRAM
243 MHz ATI “”Hollywood”” GPU
512MBs internal flash memory
Built-in 802.11b/g Wi-Fi capability
3MBs texture memory on GPU
One SD memory card bay
Analog (left/right) audio / DPLII
Two GameCube Memory Pak slots/
Four GameCube controller ports
Two USB 2.0 ports
AV multi-port: S-video, Composite, Component Video

The Wii will be backwards compatible with GameCube games and will also be able to play titles at 480p resolution in 16:9 screen aspect ratio for those that have these features enabled.

To take advantage of the increased resolution and aspect ratio, a separate Wii component cable will need to be purchased. These cables RRP for $49.95, and can be found in various stores; however, there are claims that the component cables will only be available by purchasing them online with Nintendo. Whether this applies to Australia too is to be confirmed.

The Nintendo Wii will RRP in Australia for $399.95 including the console itself, a stand, a Wii-mote, Nunchuck attachment, sensor bar, sensor bar stand, an AC adaptor, a composite audio/video cable, 2 AA batteries for the remote, and Wii Sports game. The Nintendo Wii will be released in Australia on December 7, 2006.

Nintendo Wii Remote

What the Wii lacks in terms of graphical prowess it makes up in innovation. The Wii marks a revolution in gaming where the player takes more control of the game than ever before.

The primary controller for the Wii is the Wii Remote (or Wii-mote for short). Its dimensions measure 148 mm x 36.2 mm x 30.8 mm and it resembles a small television remote. The face of the remote features a power button, a D-pad, a large A button, 3 smaller buttons of which two are + and – buttons while the centre of these is a home button. There is a speaker which emits sounds from games, 1 and 2 buttons which are vertically aligned, and then there are 4 lights corresponding to the player number using the remote. On the underside of the remote is one large trigger button designed for use with the index finger called the B trigger. The Wii remote also has a vibrating rumble feature.

Now onto what makes the Wii remote so special. Inside the remote is a fairly complex group of components known as accelerometers. These enable the remote to detect the movement of your hand when holding it. These movements are detected on all X, Y, and Z axis in fully 3 dimensional movement. The force at which the remote is moved as well as tilted is also recorded. So for example, if you want to hit a Tennis ball, simply swing the remote like you would a tennis racquet and you will strike the ball and return it in game just as you normally would in real life. The remote sends instructions wirelessly via Bluetooth to the Wii console, so complete freedom with the remote is available and can be used up to 4.5 metres away.

However, not only does the Wii-mote detect movements of ones hand, but it also acts as a pointer – a hand-held mouse if you may. This is enabled by a sensor bar which accompanies the Wii and is plugged into the rear of the Wii and placed on top of or below your television set. Fear not for the aesthetics of your T.V. setup though; the sensor bar is very small and unobtrusive measuring just 20cm in length and only a centimetre or so high. Together with the sensor bar, the optical sensor positioned in the front of the Wii-mote allows the user to point the remote in a certain direction with on-screen pointers also following the same path.

The Wii remote is also unique in another way, as it is designed to be a central hub type controller that other controller attachments can plug into. This is done using a small port at the bottom of the remote.

The Wii remote will RRP in Australia at $69.95, however for a limited time a bundle including the remote and Wii Play a title comprised of 10 mini games will be available for $79.95 at selected outlets.

Wii Nunchuck Controller

One of the major attachments that will be packed in with the Wii is the nunchuck controller attachment. This attachment is a small pod shaped object that is held in the second hand, as opposed to the remote which is held in ones primary hand. The nunchuck also features accelerometer technology just as the Wii remote does, allowing for further opportunities for more diverse and expanded gameplay. For example, with the nunchuck attachment in place, both hands can now be simulated on screen which allows for games such as boxing, sword fighting, etc.

The Nunchuck attachment also features an analogue stick on the upward surface, as well as 2 shoulder buttons on the front surface of the controller knows as the c and z buttons. Pressing the analogue stick back into the remote does not act as a button as has been the case previously. The cord connecting the nunchuck attachment to the Wii remote is approximately 3 foot long.

The Nunchuck attachment will RRP in Australia for $29.95

Wii Classic Controller

The Classic Controller is an optional accessory for the Wii, which also plugs into the Wii remote and can then be used wirelessly. It is reminiscent of a SNES controller, however it has has two analogue sticks as well as a the D-pad, X, Y, A, & B buttons, two shoulder Z buttons, and the + home and – buttons. It is expected that most Virtual Console games will take advantage of the Classic Controller, as well as newly designed games for the Wii that require a more conventional controlling approach, for example fighting games.

The classic controller will RRP in Australia for $29.95

SD Cards

The Nintendo Wii has an SD card memory slot which you can use to transfer and store information on your own SD card. Unfortunately other memory card formats wont be supported in the SD card slot. An SD card, which stands for ‘secure digital’, is a memory card format that is most commonly found in digital items such as digital cameras. It can store audio, video, and picture files.

The use of the SD card in the Wii is quite an advantage you wont be having to buy expensive memory cards if you already have a product that uses this type of card. It is also an advantage in that an SD card capacity can range from only a few megabytes to a few gigabytes! You will be able to store a variety of information from the Wii onto your SD card, from game saves to games themselves!

Some media that has been previously saved to an SD card such as pictures or movies can also be viewed on the Wii. Be shop around for the best price.