Nintendo's new generation console, which was formerly codenamed Revolution, is now simply named Wii. For the record, it's pronounced like "we," despite the different and deliberately odd spelling. Nintendo announced the official name of Wii on April 27, 2006.
The Wii brand is designed to accentuate the console's unique controller (as represented by the 'ii' in the title) and its ability to bring gamers of all types together, hence the name "we."
The Wii system is the fruit of a new Nintendo philosophy that is determined to emphasize original and fresh gameplay endeavors over dramatically enhanced graphic presentations. Whereas both Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 are designed from the ground up to deliver more detailed, high-definition graphics, Wii's biggest innovation lies with a potentially revolutionary new controller and not raw horsepower. It is this controller, dubbed the Wii remote (or Wii-mote for short), which truly distinguishes the Big N's new platform from its competitors.
The Wii console is the end user's home base, providing the horsepower to render beautiful games like The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, as well as the means to download Virtual Console classics, browse the Web and photos, and receive news and weather forecast updates. But it's only half of Nintendo's equation for the new generation. The other, arguably more important half is the innovative controller itself.
With Wii, Nintendo is betting everything on the belief that old and new gamers are looking for an entirely fresh way to play. The Wii-mote is designed so that it resembles a regular television remote. Like the console itself, the controller is glossy white and tiny. At first glance, the Wii-mote is an enigma. Its lack of a traditional analog stick begs the obvious question, which is how does it work? The answer is that it uses a built-in accelerometer and other motion detection hardware to judge motion, pitch, tilt and depth inside a 3D space. In games, the Wii-mote effectively becomes an extension of the player's arm. In a game like Metroid Prime, it would become the gun; in a game like Red Steel, the sword; and in Wii Sports Tennis, the racket. Rather than manipulating an analog stick, players would simply point at the screen and shoot in Metroid, gesture a sword swipe in Red Steel and literally swing the controller to and from in Wii Sports Tennis. As readers are undoubtedly aware, the possibilities for this new control mechanism are endless.
The Wii-mote features an on/off power switch, D-Pad, A and B buttons, 1 and 2 buttons, and finally home, plus and minus buttons. IGN has provided an accurate 3D model of the controller, which readers can rotate, enlarge, and view from any angle. Simply click on the image below and jump to the render.