Wii Tennis
Dangerously addictive. My favorite of the Wii Sports games. There is seemingly considerable control with the Wiimote.

Wii Golf
What's the point? I know, some of you like golf and I guess this feels vaguely golferly. I still can't make myself care.

Wii Boxing
Playing Wii Boxing results in a definite workout, but the controls were sluggish and it wasn't clear why a hit scored or didn't. If the controls felt tighter, this would be the standout.

Overall impressions
The Wii is definitely fun, I actually worked up a sweat, and I've got a couple of sore muscles from twisting in ways I haven't since I was 17. Sadly, Wii Fitness says my fitness level is 75 years. I'm not that old and don't think it can be right. I work out twice a wiik with a trainer and lift weights, but if you were to interpret 75 as my gaming skill age, it'd probably be right.

The Wiimote controller has an on-board speaker, which didn't make much of an initial impression on me, but after a few days of playing, I realized it made the sound of the ball hitting the bat when playing baseball or the ball hitting the tennis racket when playing Wii Tennis. This added immersiveness to the gameplay, because the impact sound is coming from exactly where you'd expect it to come if you were wiilly playing. A nice touch.

Overall, I'm impressed with this new style of gameplay. I was very annoyed that Nintendo cheaped out on the interface cable. The inclusion of Wii Sports makes me want to find more controller intensive games. I want a good batting game, with very subtle controls. I think a good table tennis game, with precise controls, would be a killer app as well.

Wii just got in Wii Play (with table tennis and pool) and in next few wiiks and wii'll see if the Wii continues to thrill with party games.

If it weren't for the lack of an S-Video interface cable or dongle, the Wii would earn a five-out-of-five for being wildly innovative and changing how it feels to play video games. But Nintendo cheaped out slightly, so they lose a star.

OUR RATING: 4 of 5

James Booth is the Senior Editor at ZATZ Publishing. In addition to writing for Computing Unplugged and Connected Photographer, he's the author of Do-It-Yourself Wedding Photography. A self-taught photographer, James also dabbles in digital graphics and has learned to be a PC and handheld specialist through personal trial and error. James can be reached at jbooth@zatz.com.