Wii touches down in the UK

 

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By Alun Williams

Posted on 8 Dec 2006 at 12:08

The Wii has finally arrived in the UK and Europe, with Nintendo's alternative gaming platform costing £179. The release pits it against the Microsoft Xbox 360, released in the UK December 2005, and the forthcoming Sony PlayStation 3, scheduled for these shores in March 2007.

If you are one of the lucky ones to get your hands on the small beast, you have probably already been waving your arms to deliver virtual ten-pin bowling balls or push home a putt on the green. Just don't let go of the remote.

The Wii package includes a Wii console, Wii Remote, Nunchuk, Sensor Bar, Stereo AV Cable and the Wii console Stand (to display the Wii vertically). In terms of games, it also includes Wii Sports, a collection of five games, such as bowling and boxing.

Additional to the core game content, there are also the built-in Wii Channels. There is the Mii Channel to create an in-game caricature and the Photo Channel to transfer pics from a digital camera and edit them. A message board feature is intended for comms with other Wii owners. Forthcoming channels are promised to deliver browsing and specific online content such as news and weather.

Nintendo says it is confident that initial stocks of the console will sell out.

Originally codenamed the Revolution, Nintendo's console was controversially dubbed the Wii (pronounced 'wee') in April. You can read more on the platform here.

The official UK launch event took place at HMV's flagship Oxford Street store in London. The store was issuing writsbands to identify early queuers for non reserved orders, with a restiction set on 200 to avoid too big a scrum. We have heard reports, however, of trouble outside the store last night, due to the fact that pre-orders could not be satisfied, let alone the non-reserved demand.

By contrast, one early buyer tells us, Virgin's main London store strictly controlled pre-orders to the amount of Wii models delivered, and chose not to open at midnight, selling its consoles at 9am this morning.