Nintendo Chooses A Simpler Route

An article in the NY Times looks at how Nintendo is going for a better experience with their new Wii system - not a faster, more graphical one:

While Microsoft and Sony duke it out at the high end of the market with expensive machines that feature the flashiest high-definition graphics, Nintendo is taking a radically different, inexpensive path, one that focuses on how games feel rather than on how they look… Playing a video game may require looking at a screen, but the primary interface between a human and a game is the player’s hands. So to play tennis with the Wii, you watch the screen, and when the ball comes, you simply swing your arm to make your on-screen avatar swing. (If you’re good, you can get spin on the ball). To throw a football, you mimic throwing a football. To swing a sword — well, you get the idea.

The Video Game Goes Minimalist: Nintendo Comes Full Circle - New York Times