[Rocol]

Nintendo is entering into the next-generation console market with the rather strangely-named 'Nintendo Wii'. What's more, their latest creation has dispensed with conventional joystick-style controllers in favour of a gadget that looks like a small TV remote that you wave around in the air.

Sounds weird, right? Even so, the Wii received near-unanimously favourable feedback at this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles (where, incidentally, visitors queued for up to 4 hours for a 2-minute session), while Nintendo also held a recent UK demonstration.

For tennis and golf games, you need to hold the wireless movement-sensitive control system controller exactly as you would your racket or club, swinging away to hit the ball and, in the case of tennis, adding a flick of the wrist to add spin.

Wario Ware, a series of crazy 3-second micro-games originally made famous on the Game Boy Advance, was also on show at the British demo. This requires you to hold the controller in one of a set of different positions on your body before partaking in its suitably surreal interactions.

Such unorthodox controllers are likely to mean that non-gamers will at last enjoy a far more level playing field on Wii against more experienced hands.

It is reported that the Wii is likely to cost around £133 – a price considerably lower than its next-generation rivals from Sony (PlayStation 3) and Microsoft (Xbox 360).

I wonder how long it will last before it shakes to pieces