
The Wii is a home video game console released by Nintendo on November 19, 2006. As a seventh-generation console, the Wii competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. Nintendo states that its console targets a broader demographic than that of the two others. As of the first quarter of 2012, the Wii leads the generation over PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in worldwide sales; in December 2009, the console broke the sales record for a single month in the United States.
The Wii has many advanced features compared to previous Nintendo consoles. For example, the primary wireless controller (the Wii Remote) can be used as a handheld pointing device and detects movement in three dimensions. Another notable feature of the console is WiiConnect24, which enables it to receive messages and updates over the Internet while in standby mode. Furthermore, it is the first console to offer the Virtual Console service, with which select emulated games from past systems can be downloaded.
In late 2011 Nintendo released a reconfigured model, the "Wii Family Edition", which removed Nintendo GameCube compatibility; this model was not released in Japan. The Wii Mini, Nintendo's first major console redesign since the compact SNES, succeeded the standard Wii model on December 7, 2012 in Canada. The Wii Mini can only play Wii optical discs, as it omits GameCube and online game capabilities.
Online Services
Online Games
The online mode is completely free and uses the service Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. The network program is included directly in the console, which eases the work of developers. The Wii is, from the beginning, sold with everything needed to play online and no subscription is required for Nintendo games. Nintendo believes that the online mode will be the turning point of the new generation of consoles and wishes to be present.
Virtual Console
With this platform and free Internet, the Wii can emulate games consoles NES (500 points), SNES (800 points), Nintendo 64 (1000 points), Turbo Grafx (600) Neo-Geo AES (900 points), Genesis (800 points) and Virtual Console Arcade (500 points).
Enjoy Hulu Plus and Netflix from your Wii console
Wii is great for family movie night too. You can stream thousands of TV episodes and movies right from your Wii console using Netflix. You can also enjoy current and classic TV series, and acclaimed films using Hulu Plus. All you need is a Netflix streaming account or Hulu Plus account, and wireless broadband Internet access.
The company chose to call its new console the "Wii." Nintendo has also expressed that the pronunciation of Wii, which is like the English word "we," tells you who this console is for -- all of us, everyone! There are other implied or attached meanings in the new name -- one important one goes with related WiFi releases to be used with Nintendo's wireless gaming service, "Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection." Naming aside, the company set a big goal -- to dramatically improve the interface for video games. With this strategy, Nintendo built an amazing amount of hype around its innovative controller for the Wii.