Battle for hearts, thumbs

By Pete Metzger

Nov. 16, 2006 12 AM PT

Special to The Times

ON Friday, Sony will release its long-awaited PlayStation 3, the biggest, meanest, most expensive game console ever created.

But on Sunday, Nintendo will release its revolutionary new console, the Wii, and video gaming as we know it will drastically change.

Gone are the days of video game systems being used by those heavy with computer skills. Thanks to the Wii, and its set of innovative controllers, just about anyone can truly get into the game. And that was the idea -- the Wii is pronounced “we” and the lowercase I’s in the name are meant to mimic the controllers’ shape and be little anthropomorphic representations of people playing. (Go figure.)

Nintendo knew that it couldn’t compete in the “anything you can do I can do better” world of next-generation consoles -- that is, the PlayStation 3 and last year’s Xbox 360 -- with their high-definition graphics and ability to burn and store music and videos, so it took a different approach: Change the way games are played and who can play them. The result is one of the freshest and most exciting products to hit leisure time in the last decade.

Say goodbye to the traditional way to interface with a game system: a hand-held controller chock-full of buttons that connects to the console with a messy wire. (All those different buttons and thumbsticks can get very intimidating to the uninitiated.)

In its place, the Wii gives us a wireless remote about the size of a king-size Snickers bar that fits naturally in the palm of your hand. Connected to that is the “nunchuk” controller, complete with a control stick that requires a more traditional use of the thumb. Besides the different shapes, what makes these controls unique is the way they work with the game -- it’s never been this lifelike or natural, not to mention this easy to pick up and play.

The Wii comes with a small sensor bar that, when placed on top of your TV, allows the remote to act as a laser pointer. Using a little hand icon on the screen lets you interact with the games in a very intuitive way. Want to start a game? Simply point to it and click.

But besides the ease of use, both controllers also are laden with sensors that force gamers to think and act differently than they have before. Playing a game of boxing (one of the five Wii Sports games that come included with the unit) has never been more fun, and yes, even a little tiring.

Want to make your boxer throw a left? Then extend the controller in your left hand away from your body, and your video game doppelganger does the same. After enough bouts, your arms begin to tire in real life; how’s that for an immersive experience?

The controls are also similar for baseball, tennis and golf. Hold the controller as you would, were you actually playing those sports (upright as if it were a bat, sideways as if it were a racket, or downward like a golf club), and swing away. How hard you swing is how hard the ball goes on screen. Tennis is so fine-tuned that the controllers recognize more than 100 shots, according to Nintendo.

The new control set even makes the familiar new. Take football powerhouse Madden NFL 07: To rifle a pass downfield, the Wii remote needs to be snapped harshly at the screen. To float a pass over a defender, lightly flick the remote instead. Kicking is achieved by mimicking the action of the kickers’ leg. Hold the remote down and bring it up gradually to get the perfect boot. All that Madden gamers once knew is out the window. Like we said, the Wii changes all.

In addition to the 32 new games available in stores over the next few weeks (most priced around $49.99), Nintendo promises to make 30 classic games from its rich history of titles available via the Wii Virtual Console. Remember such classic systems as the N64 and the Super NES? Games from those bygone systems and others are downloadable right to the Wii for as little as $4 a game. (If we find NES classic Arm Wrestling on that list, our social life will be a distant memory.) And of course, the Wii is fully backward-compatible with the GameCube, meaning the entire library of its predecessor works on a Wii, albeit with an old-school GameCube controller.

But best of all? The price. A very affordable $249.99. And with about 4 million units in stores worldwide over the next six weeks, finding one shouldn’t be too much of a challenge. (GameStop at Universal CityWalk is one of the stores holding a midnight launch event Saturday night where die-hard gamers can be one of the first to get their hands on the Wii.)

The PS3

So what about the PlayStation 3, which was supposed to be launched in March but was delayed by manufacturing issues? The PS3 delivers what was long promised at a steep price.

A top-of-the-line version -- with a 60-gigabyte hard drive, memory card reader slots and Wi-Fi compatibilities -- retails for $599.99. A model with a 20GB hard drive and no Wi-Fi or card slots will run $499.99. Why so expensive? Well, Trojan horses don’t come cheap.

By putting a Blu-ray drive into the PS3 (one that also plays traditional DVD and CD formatted discs), Sony is hoping to win the war of next-generation high-definition movie formats that it is engaged in with Toshiba’s HD-DVD discs. Sell enough shiny black PS3s, Sony’s thinking goes, and HD-DVD will become as extinct as all those Beta tapes that lost out to the VHS format years ago. Take that, Toshiba.

But first and foremost, this is a game system, and now Sony can truly say it is a system unmatched. Using something called the Cell Broadband Engine, the PS3 is 40 times faster than the PlayStation 2. This gives game-makers the ability to develop titles that are freakishly lifelike and add depth and layers unlike anything that was possible before.

For instance, on the first-person shooter Resistance: Fall of Man, the windows of the 1950s-era English town you try to defend can all be shot out. Shooting the glass causes numerous results depending on where the shot hits, whereas in the past developers wouldn’t have had the computing power to pull off such a cool detail. (As soon as developers figure out how to use these tools to their maximum effect, watch out.)

The PS3 can store movies, music and photos using an interface that’s identical to that of the PlayStation Portable, which also connects to the PS3 and can used as a second screen for some games.

Perhaps taking a page from Nintendo, the PS3 controller, called the Sixaxis, is also wireless and features a motion sensor. For better or worse, however, it’s basically just the same controller from the PS2, just a little lighter and with no rumble function.

And like the Xbox 360, the PS3 is not fully backward-compatible, meaning some games from PlayStations 2 or 1 won’t play on the new system, despite earlier promises from Sony to the contrary.

So besides serious gamers and tech freaks, will the general public rush out and buy something with expensive features they don’t need? That’s the billion-dollar question for Sony.

For those seeking some good old-fashioned fun, however, there is a great new system you can get for half the price of a PS3.

weekend@latimes.com

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At a glance

A look at the newest generation of video game consoles:

Wii

Made by: Nintendo

Release date: Sunday

Price: $249.99

Exclusive titles: The Legend of Zelda: The Twilight Princess; Wii Sports

Best feature: Remarkable controllers open the world of video gaming to just about everyone

Worst feature: Graphics aren’t a whole lot better than last generation’s GameCube