Gizmos and Gadgets（科技酷品）

Video games have certainly come a long way from the days of Pong and Donkey Kong. These days， powered by advances in computer technology， gaming consoles have undergone phenomenal development to become more realistic， more entertaining， and more time consuming than ever before. Currently， there are at least 3 corporate giants competing for domination of the gaming market: relative newcomers Sony and Microsoft， and the veteran Nintendo. From early on， Nintendo has built a reputation as an innovator in the gaming field， and their latest innovation does not disappoint. Introducing the Wii.

擺弄《乒乓》和《大金剛》這些電子游戲的時代已經(jīng)一去不復(fù)返了。今天，隨著電腦技術(shù)的發(fā)展，電子游戲發(fā)生了翻天覆地的變化，變的更真實、更具娛樂性、更經(jīng)得起時間的考驗。目前，至少有3家游戲巨擎在爭奪游戲市場，例如剛?cè)胗螒蛐袠I(yè)的索尼和微軟，還有任天堂。早前，任天堂曾在游戲領(lǐng)域樹立了革新者的聲威，而他們最新的革新作品也不讓大眾失望，那就是Wii。

Developed under the code name Revolution， the Wii is the fifth home video game console released by Nintendo. The most striking feature of the Wii is the method of control: the console utilizes a wireless controller， the Wii remote， which can be used as a handheld pointing device and can detect motion and acceleration in three dimensions. In other words， Wii gaming is done through actual hand movements and motions. A tennis ball comes flying at you at high velocity. Grip the controller like a tennis racquet， cock your hand back and swing forward， causing the ball to fly back towards your opponent. A sword slices through the air， aiming to decapitate you. Wield your controller like a weapon and swing， striking back at your adversary. The Wii allows gamers to utilize a previously untapped medium of digital control: the natural motions of the human body.

Wii是任天堂發(fā)行的第五代家庭游戲產(chǎn)品，代碼是“革命”。最引人注目的特點在于它的操控設(shè)備：控制臺使用了無線控制器，而遙控器可以手動操作又可以動作感應(yīng)還有3維加速度。換言之，Wii既可直接操作又有動作感應(yīng)功能。當(dāng)你玩網(wǎng)球游戲時，有一只網(wǎng)球快速地向你飛來，你只要將遙控器當(dāng)作網(wǎng)球拍奮力出擊，網(wǎng)球就能飛向你的對手了。而當(dāng)一把劍向你迎頭砍來時，你只要將遙控器當(dāng)作武器揮動就能抵擋你的對手。Wii讓游戲玩家使用了之前從未發(fā)行的數(shù)字控制媒介：人體的自然動作感應(yīng)。

The Wii was first conceived in 2001. Nintendo's game designer Shigeru Miyamoto wanted to focus on a new form of player interaction. Engineers and designers worked together in the next two years to develop the concept further. By 2005， the controller interface had taken form and the product was unveiled and demonstrated by Nintendo President Satoru Iwata at the September 2005 Tokyo Game Show.

Wii的構(gòu)思源自2001年。當(dāng)時，任天堂的游戲設(shè)計師宮本茂想要開發(fā)一種新的玩家傳感形式。隨后的兩年，工程師和設(shè)計師們致力于開發(fā)這個新的項目。2005年，控制器的界面形成，新產(chǎn)品也于2005年9月在東京游戲展會上由任天堂的總裁巖田聰揭開了面紗。

Nintendo has stated that it hopes to target a wider demographic with its console than that of its seventh generation competitors including the Playstation 3 and the Xbox 360. At a press conference for the upcoming Nintendo DS game Dragon Quest IX， Iwata stated \"We're not thinking about fighting Sony， but about how many people we can get to play games. The thing we're thinking about most is not portable systems， consoles， and so forth， but that we want to get new people playing games.\"

任天堂聲稱希望通過該產(chǎn)品收獲比其第七代競爭對手（包括Playstation 3和Xbox 360）更多的消費者。在任天堂《勇者斗惡龍9》的游戲發(fā)布會上，巖田聰說：“我們想的不是和索尼競爭，而是我們會有多少購買者。我們想得最多的不是便捷的系統(tǒng)和控制臺之類的，而是我們想讓更多的人來玩游戲?！?/p>

Games on the Wii include new games representing Nintendo's flagship franchises such as The Legend of Zelda， Metroid， Mario， Animal Crossing， Pokemon， Super Smash Bros.， and Mario Kart. The Wii has internet capabilities， and is backwards compatible with all official Nintendo GameCube software， as well as the Nintendo DS. At the E3 video conference in 2006， the Wii won first place in several categories of awards. The console has been well-received by the public， prompting the Financial Times to declare during the week of September 12， 2007 that the Wii is the current sales leader of its generation.

可在Wii上玩的游戲還包括了代表任天堂旗艦系列產(chǎn)品的新游戲，比如：《塞爾達(dá)傳說》、《銀河戰(zhàn)士》、《馬里奧》、《動物之森》、《口袋怪物》、《明星大亂都》和《馬里奧賽車》。Wii還有上網(wǎng)功能，可與任一官方的任天堂游戲和任天堂DS兼容。在2006年的E3電子發(fā)布會上，Wii獲獎無數(shù)。而其控制臺也廣受大眾好評，《金融時報》也聲稱在2007年9月12日所處的那一周，Wii絕對是游戲界的銷售冠軍。