Nintendo has already announced that the Nintendo Wii will be shipping with only one standard Wii controller with a nunchuk attachment controller. Although some have commented that it may be an expensive proposition for gamers who will have to buy additional controllers to enable more players to play a game in their homes it still does not dampen the excitement for the console’s launch on November 19 (the US release date).
Of course, much of that excitement revolves around the controller itself and its promise of a more revolutionary way of playing games. The Wii-mote – as it has come to be known – looks like a remote control (hence the name). The device possesses a built in accelerometer as well as other motion detection hardware in order to determine motion, pitch, tilt as well as depth inside a 3D space. Thus, the controller becomes an actual extension of the player’s hand. The gestures that a player makes is translated into actual movement inside the gaming space. For example, the control can effectively mimic your slashing movements as if you are wielding a sword, point around the screen to shoot just like a gun swing the controller to and fro just like in a tennis game. The Wii-mote opens the door to endless possibilities of game movements.
The Wii-mote will feature a power switch, a directional pad, A and B buttons, 1 and 2 buttons as well as a home, plus and minus buttons. As a bonus, the bottom of the controller has a port where certain other controller peripherals can be attached for enhanced or specialized gameplay, like the nunchuck controller that has an analog stick that can, for example, be used in a first person shooter.