THE NINTENDO REMOTE CONTROLER - Swings like a sword, aims like a pistol!

There's a fad going around the gaming world - perhaps you've heard of it. It's the Nintendo Wii? Instead of following in the footsteps of Microsoft and Sony, loading up their controller with a ton of buttons and joysticks and D-pads and triggers and lights and fluff and vibration, Nintendo took the Zen approach of minimalism. They went back to the good old days of the Atari 2600 and it's user friendly One Huge Button(tm).

I'm not here to debate the pros and cons of the system - that's well beyond the scope of the review. I'm here to tell you if the Wiimote (and probably the Nunchuck too) is worth a damn.

Looks like it is. I've had my Wii for just over a year now, getting it a couple of months after launch (with a blind stroke of luck, I assure you). Since there, I've played with it extensively, and while I will admit that there is indeed a learning curve, the controller seems so natural now. In fact when I went back to my old X-Box for some multiplayer rounds of Halo 2, it seems so weird and passive to just use my thumbs for movement. I wanted to swing my arms wildly, to control my guys viscerally.

The controller itself is nicely laid out, with the d-pad just above the one main button and in easy reach of where your thumb would most likely rest. The home and + and - buttons are a bit harder to reach if your grabbing the remote for ACTION, but not impossibly so. Fortunately both Nintendo and the third parties seems to be staying away from them for instances of "Must push this NOW". The Nunchuck is comfortable to hold, with only a couple of buttons and a joystick to worry about - very ergonomic.

Oh, and one nice touch - one that doesn’t get used all that often - is the built in speaker. It's not very loud, or very clear for that matter - but it's one more layer of sensory input to immerse the user into the game. Props to Nintendo for including it, even if it doesn’t see all that much usage beyond some Rayman novelty games.

The only complaints against the controllers I have are:
* The Wiimote eats batteries like Pac Man eats dots. Of course picking yourself up a set of rechargeable AA batteries and you'll be good to go.

* The cord between the Wiimote and the Nunchuk. It's too short and should either be longer or gone with the wireless option.

* They're kind of pricey. I haven’t shopped around for the 360 or PS3 controls, so I don't know if this is the going price, but the Wiimote costs 40 dollars and the Nunchuck (sold separately) costs 20. So if you were to outfit your Wii for a full on four person battle, you are looking at laying out about half the price of the console.

But these are small points indeed. Overall the controller (and system) is comfortable, simple to use for non-gamers, innovative, user friendly and just fun to use. Well done, Nintendo. You may have revolutionized gaming once more. . .