Hands-on with Wii

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A trio of tech demos reveal what the Wii remote can do - and what it shouldn't

While Wii games such as Super Mario Galaxy and The Legend of Zelda attracted most of the interest of those attending this year's E3, it was a small collection of tech demos that best displayed the potential of the Wii controller.

We managed to get access to the VIP area of the Nintendo booth and spent some quality time with the Wii remote in hand. We've begun to learn how to manipulate the controller for the best results.

Available to play were three tech demos that are unlikely to be released as games but offered some interesting gameplay experiences all the same. First was the obstacle course demo, which had similarities to the GBA game Kuru Kuru Kururin, but instead of guiding a spinning stick through a level, here you guide a sleeping man. No, really.

Making the challenge even harder were a number of different hazards such as a sliced-up pizza, octopi that sprang from the walls and tiny planes that buzzed about the place.

The game was as difficult as it sounds, mainly as many of the gaps you had to guide the man through were barely bigger than he was. Consequently, only miniscule movements could be made with the remote - even breathing affected the control. It was a real test of concentration and control.

Ben_Richardson

Ben Richardson is a former Staff Writer for Official PlayStation 2 magazine and a former Content Editor of GamesRadar+. In the years since Ben left GR, he has worked as a columnist, communications officer, charity coach, and podcast host – but we still look back to his news stories from time to time, they are a window into a different era of video games.