A Gaming Revolution

Wii is a video gaming console released by Nintendo Corporation Limited on November 19, 2006 in North America. In Japan, it was released on December 2, 2006, where as in Australia it was released on December 7, 2006. Nintendo Corporation Limited is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan and founded on September 23, 1889. The company deals in several niche businesses and is listed as Japan’s third most valuable company with a market value of over USD $85 billion. Nintendo Wii primarily competes with Xbox 360 of Microsoft and PlayStation 3 of Sony. Nintendo wii games broke the record for best selling console in a single month in the United States in the year 2009 and lead the worldwide sales over PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in August, 2011. One of the most distinguishing features of the Nintendo gaming console is its wireless Wii Remote controller which can be used as a handheld device and detects the movement in all 3-dimensions. Another interesting feature of the Wii console is WiiConnect 24 which allows receiving of messages and updating over the internet in standby mode.

Every Nintendo Wii gaming console comes with Mario Kart Wii game in which the user can create his or her Mii characters and enjoy other range of fun built-in content. Since all the Wii gaming console systems can be connected to the internet, it provides access to Netflix where the user can download other games. The Wi-Fi enabled console can also be connected through Bluetooth and through LAN adapter via USB port. The storage capacity of 512 MB internal flash memory comes with SD card, SDHC card and Nintendo GameCube Memory card. It operates with IBM Power PC-based “Broadway” system and ATI “Hollywood” is the graphics processing unit used in this console. Since this graphics processing unit was designed by AMD’s graphics product division, it is manufactured using 90 nm CMOS process as the “Broadway” processor. Its another online feature of Wii Shop Channel allows the user to do online shopping for Wii video games and download Virtual Console and Wii Ware games and new channels. Wii Shop Channel can be organized into three sections of Virtual Console, WiiWare and Wii Channels.

The best selling games of Wii console are Wii Sports and Wii Play. Wii Sports was developed as the launch title for the Wii video game console and was included as pack-in game with the console system. Wii Sports is a collection of 5 sports simulations that include tennis, golf, baseball, bowling and boxing. The sports simulations are designed to demonstrate the motion sensing capabilities of Wii remote control and the players can use the remote control system to mimic actions to be performed in real sports. Wii Play is a party video game that features characters from the Mii Channel. Several mini games like Duck Hunt shooting game and table tennis have been featured along with other types of mini games. Wii Play is the third best selling game on the Wii and can be purchased as a stand alone game or can be bonded with a Wii Remote.