Innovative, but far from perfect...

I remember when I found out that the Wii's controller looked a lot like a remote controller. I thought it was dumb. I still don't think the Wiimote is a good idea for traditional sit-down and play games, but it is a great idea for the more active ones, and allows the Wii to do things you cannot on any other console.

To play tennis, swing the Wiimote like a racquet. To play boxing, just punch and flail about while holding it. The Wiimote is the only controller in recent history to really change the way (some) people play video games. I mean, putting joysticks on controllers was cool, the Rumble Pack and vibrating controllers were cool for about a month, and people kept finding ways to put more and more buttons on the things, but the Wiimote's impact dwarfs all of those. The price of its originality is that I doubt third-party companies like Pelican will be able to make cheap knockoffs for frugal gamers that work...

What's also cool is that you can store your Mii (like a profile) on your controller, so if you keep it with you at all times, when you wake up in some strange apartment with a Wii, you'll have your Mii on you. It's also wireless (duh) and 4 Wiimotes can be used at once. It's also $40.

However fresh the Wiimote is, it does have its flaws. It doesn't work perfectly all the time. Things will happen in the game that you didn't mean to do at all. Sometimes it's too sensitive, and sometimes it'll just stop functionallity for a second or so, totally screwing up what you were about to do. There's many factors that go into this...where your sensor bar is placed, the size and shape of your room, and whatnot, but the bottom line is that you'll get more random effups from the Wiimote than the 360 controller, for example. Luckily, this doesn't happen too often, but certain games like boxing are significantly less fun because of the controller. In that game, it seems to be impossible to throw an uppercut in a match because the Wiimote just doesn't seem to respond that way.

My other beef is that the straps that came on the first batches of Wiimotes was really thin and lame. My friend sent the Wiimote flying into the TV when bowling because the strap just snapped. Nintendo puts beefier straps on the Wiimotes now and you can get one of those new straps for free, but it's not like they're going to pay for anything you've damaged because of their poor design...

All in all though, the Wiimote is great. I don't like to throw the word "innovative" around but the Wiimote is just that. Innovative.