The Wii was extremely popular at launch, causing the system to be in short supply in some markets. Later in its lifecycle, two lower-cost Wii models were produced: a revised model with the same design as the original Wii but removed the GameCube compatibility features and the Wii Mini, a compact, budget redesign of the Wii which further removed features including online connectivity and SD card storage.īecause of Nintendo's reduced focus on computational power, the Wii and its games were less expensive to produce than its competitors. Initial Wii models included full backward compatibility support for the GameCube. The Wii also supports wireless connectivity with the Nintendo DS handheld console for selected games. The Wii was the first Nintendo console to directly support Internet connectivity, supporting both online games and for digital distribution of games and media applications through the Wii Shop Channel. The primary controller for the Wii is the Wii Remote, a wireless controller with both motion sensing and traditional controls which can be used as a pointing device towards the television screen or for gesture recognition.

Game designers Shigeru Miyamoto and Genyo Takeda led the console's development under the codename Revolution. In developing the Wii, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata directed the company to avoid competing with Microsoft and Sony on computational graphics and power and instead to target a broader demographic of players through novel gameplay. It is Nintendo's fifth major home game console, following the GameCube and is a seventh generation home console alongside Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. It was first released on November 19, 2006, in North America and in December 2006 for most other regions of the world. The Wii ( / w iː/ WEE) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo.

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