It was released at a time when just about everyone had upgraded to HDTVs, and it ran in SD. The games just looked terrible compared to every other system being sold at the time. They basically repackaged a slightly overclocked version of their previous generation (GameCube) with motion controllers and tried to sell it as “next gen”. The movement controls were mostly fun for non-gamers and a bit of a gimmick. Online was all the rage; and the Wii was a complete fail in online. The only reason it sold in massive numbers is it was about half the price of the competition; so a lot of Moms and Grandmas bought it for the kids because of sticker shock. That and Nintendo fanatics that would literally buy any hardware that plays Nintendo games (which I can kind of relate to).
I remember standing in line to get one for my nieces and nephew when it came out because they were really excited for the motion controls. It got hauled out for various family events...probably a few dozen hours of play during its life. Meanwhile the PS3 they later bought got thousands of hours of play and is still in use.
I was so appalled the first time I connected their new Wii to their HD screen on launch day. Soooooo ugly video.
The thing I can’t understand is the Wii U hate. They fixed all the deficits of the Wii, added some very innovative features, and it’s a very solid system. I really enjoy mine. I think people were just pissed it was a normal price system after getting used to the cheap Wii.
I’ve owned almost every other console since the Atari, and the Wii is the one I refuse to buy.
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