In the 8 bit era Nintendo ruled the console scene with their famicom, also known as the Nintendo Entertainment System, which was released around 1984. After that they released the Super Famicom or SNES but their market share dropped allot because of the release of the Genesis or Megadrive by Sega. In the 90's after Sega released the Mega-CD, which wasn't really a hit, big N also wanted an add-on for it's 16-bit machine. At first they worked with Sony but later they contracted Philips to develop one. But it was to late, Sony joined the console race with their PlayStation and took over the gaming market. After that Nintendo released several other consoles like the Nintendo 64 and the Gamecube but they were never very popular. Although they were still the strongest players in the handheld market with their Gameboy Advance and Nintendo DS.
But now Nintendo is kicking back trying to re-take back the market with their innovative console which was first code named the Nintendo Revolution but now known as the Wii. Re-inventing the gaming experience using a totally different controller that gamers are used to. The controller is wireless and looks a bit like a remote from a television it has build in motion sensors so if you move it from left to right the console will know. This way you can control your character on the screen by motion. There is already an impressive line-up of games including Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles, Super Mario Galaxy, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and Super Smash Bros Brawl. Another cool thing is the virtual Console which allows the gamer to play titles originally released for Nintendo 64, the SNES and NES. There will also be games available which were released on the Sega Genesis and games from the TurboGrafx console. These games will be available for download on a site from Nintendo which can be directly accessed with the Wii console. How much one download will cost is yet unclear, but it probably won't be much. There will be four ports available for the classic Nintendo GameCube controllers and also two slots for Nintendo GameCube Memory Cards.
Now the console wars has started again and it's just a question of who has the best machine and will sell the most consoles and games. Sony with it's PlayStation 3, Microsoft with it's XBOX 360 or Nintendo with their Wii. Wii will soon find out..
If you want to know more about the new Wii console you can find a collection of links on http://www.wiitopsites.net
