Ok, I got a wii this weekend.  I got The Wii, Wii Play, a third remote (three of us in the house) and a total of 3 nunchucks as well.  I have Wii play, Zelda, MP8, RE4 Wii, Red Steel, and Godfather Blackhand.  Now that that's out of the way, I have a couple of questions and a couple of comments:

Questions: 

I sit about 10-12' from the screen.  That seems to be the distance that the controller begins to become less accurate.  Does that sound about right?  I have the sensor bar on the top of a 4:3 32" television.  I have halogen lighting in the room and no direct sunlight on the sensor bar.  I've read the "wireless" sensor bars boost range and such but I don't want to be constantly changing batteries so I'm not even going there.  What are the things one can do to optimize range and accuracy on the Wii?

How long do your batteries last?  My system got a healthy workout this weekend and one controller went from a full battery bar to 1 bar left (and popped up a warning).  That was from about 2 hours on red steel and about the same on Zelda.  There was a bit of time on a couple of other games but without the Nunchuck.  The other didn't drain as much, but I wasn't using the nunchuck on it.  Do nunchuck-based games eat the hell out batteries?

Comments:

Control seems a little "shaky" at times from 10-12' out.  If I get a little closer, it seems to be better.

The sensor bar is on top of the screen and my TV has a 4-5" border around the screen so I'm "pointing" quite high to represent the "top" of the screen.  I'm assuming this means the "gun" attachments for the wii are worthless because it isn't a "point where you are aiming" thing like a light gun is.

Red Steel takes a lot of heat.  I'm sure it is because of the overall controls.  I'd give it quite a bit more than the 6ish average it gets from GameRankings, though.  I actually LIKE the control scheme though it is a bit slow to respond.  The control scheme is not one that I would want if I was a "rush into the thick of it" kind of player in First Person Shooters.  If you play FPS games like I do and slowly, cautiously enter each room, take cover and take time to assess the situation, location of enemies, etc., the controls are awesome.  I would give red steel more like a 7.75 or so.  I actually prefer the controls in Red Steel to those of Resident Evil 4 Wii by a great deal.  Hopefully more games use this type of control scheme going forward.

Nintendo should either work hard now or for the next generation Wii to produce a controller with much greater speed, accuracy, and response time.  If the controls were truly 1:1 and could maintain that 1:1 even with the user moving the controller rapidly, the game possibilities are mind blowing... 

That's quite the initial game collection.

It eats batteries like nothing else, get some rechargeables and maybe one of the docking stations out there (the Nyko one is pretty good).

There should be a setting to adjust the sensor bar sensitivity but you might have it maxed out already. There is a sensor bar either out already or coming soon that plugs in to the wall outlet but not the Wii that could be stronger but I haven't heard anything about it. That's just the pointer though -- distance shouldn't affect the accelerometers however unless you're 20'+ away and the remote loses its bluetooth connection.

And yes it's more of a 3D mouse than a light gun but (for me at least) that still makes it move a lot quicker and more accurately than the dual analog setup. I always thought the gun attachments were worthless anyway, as are the stupid steering wheels. Zelda has a calibration thing you can do that makes it very close to 1:1 pointing, shame more games don't do something similar.

Sitting very close and far away from the sensor bar ain't very good for the reaction of the sensors that's right. Concerning your sensor bar can't you put it lower? Then you don't have to point so high. You can change the sensor bar options in your WII options if I'm not mistaken. Yes the batteries indeed empty very fast, therefore one advice... get rechargable batteries! A real must have.

my initial batteries actually lasted a while, (10 hours or so on zelda, 5 hours on raving rabbids, and lots of play time on wii sports). maybe cuz i used some other brand batteries to start with.

anyways, if your sensor bar isn't too good for that far of a distance, there are some cheap, more powerful sensor bars available. those should extend the range further out.

One warning for rechargeable batteries... if u live in europe, don't buy the GAMEware wiichargeable battery, they charge you a stupid price for 1 battery, and they don't sell da batteries seperatly. I feel for their dirty tricks, they got me with a 'it's five pounds cheaper if you buy it with anything else... so i bought XIII for 98p brand new (approx $2). By the way I think a XIII sequel would be great on Wii, as it would give Ubisoft to improve their controls, and the art style would fit the wii perfectly, don't you agree?

Wow, nice initial collection! I might say add Super Paper Mario to that when you get the time, you won't be upset.

As for batteries, if you haven't already drained your initial batteries, get rid of those as they are crap. After that, pick up a Nyko docking station. Don't listen to people that tell you it's hard to use because of the Wii straps, it's actually incredibly simple and the charge last a pretty long time.

Also, if your'e having sensor bar troubles look at the lighting in your room.   Fluorescent lights don't affect it as far as I can tell and I've never had trouble with natural light, but normal light bulbs can cause problems.  If you have lights behind your TV or off to the side that you might point directly at those could be affecting things too.

Will the controllers drop into the Nyko Charge Station with a silicone skin on them?

Naaa u'll probably have 2 remove da silicon skin, because they will make u put on a new wii remote back, which has metal transfers 2 make da charging work.

 No, that kind of made me mad too because I liked having the gloves on the remotes.  Still though, the plastic back that the charger gives you and not having to buy batteries os better than having the cool gloves on your remote.

The shaky part, it's most likely you aren't used to the wiimote yet. My cursor was shaky too when I first played. Can't help you if you have shaky hands tho.