With memories of Christmas still fresh in our minds and a brand new year to look forward to, let’s take a moment to look at this year’s biggest ups (as well as its downs) for Nintendo’s Wii console. Yes, we know it’s underpowered, has a relatively-unintuitive online play system that still featured cumbersome friend codes, and a big library of games which can charitably be described as a huge pile of shovelware - but if you look at the entire picture, we’ll see that for the rocky year of 2007, the Nintendo Wii didn’t do so bad.

In fact, I’d be so bold as to say that the Wii held its own, even in the midst of its two more powerful competitors unleashing high-definition beasts month after month. So, if you will, join me in this little trip down memory lane as we re-discover the biggest events that transpired in 2007 for the Nintendo Wii.

The Lowdown

Let’s first take the time machine into overdrive and look at how the Wii did when it was launched. Who could forget the controversial name change? From the awesomely-optimistic name that followed the likes of “Genesis”, “Dreamcast“, and even “AWESOMEBOX”, Revolution is probably the first time we saw Nintendo coming out of its sugar-coated shell. It was an awesome name. It was a HARDCORE name, not just because it fit neatly with any slogan that had the word in it but also pushed the idea that the game console itself was not just a plaything, it was THE killer app.

Looking back at it now, Nintendo probably would have had an easier time pushing the console and its games (not that it needed any on the former) if it had retained its prototype moniker. It’s the Revolution. Join it.

Then April 27 of last year came along, and Nintendo busted out the announcement that no, they’re not calling it Revolution anymore - from then on, their highly-anticipated console would be called the Wii. Not Nintendo Wii, just ‘Wii’ - a name chosen for many reasons and explanations, with the deal of it sounding much like the pronoun ‘we’ being the most popular. Wii. We. It was the console that everyone could enjoy, as well as make some very naughty jokes about  (and pretty much everyone did at the time). In fact, everyone’s still at it, and even though us here at QJ.NET like to think we have at least some degree of maturity, we can’t help but bust out the occasional Wii joke. And then proceed to giggle like a room full of schoolgirls.

But despite having such a hardcore name swapped for something you would name a very small dog, the Nintendo Wii has consistently been selling like chocolate-covered hotcakes with sugar-encrusted diamonds as garnish from the moment it  was launched. And yes, as of this writing, it’s still one of the hottest pieces of digital joy that one can splurge one’s hard-earned money on AND justify to one’s spouse or parent.

Pundits and even game developers themselves thought the Wii would be a temporary fad of sorts that would fade out into obscurity, what with its gimmicky motion-sensing control scheme and serious lack of polygon-crunching power - only to be proven wrong by the overwhelming demand that the glossy white block garnered. People of all ages and genders loved the Wii for what it was and how it made gaming so accessible, so much that even senior citizens got into the groove.

The Controversy

In terms of really hot events that could make even the most jaded of tabloid news reporters blush and break out in a cold sweat, nothing else sticks out more than an analog stick-sore thumb than the controversy surrounding Rockstar’s Manhunt 2. Granted, the game wasn’t even that good (even when they left the gory stealth kills in, but after running them through a couple hundred Photoshop filters), and the material is as philosophical and deep as the premise of any Mario game - but suffice to say it

Original article from: Wii