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![]() Original white Wii standing upright on its stand next to an original Wii Remote | |
Codename | Revolution (RVL) |
---|---|
Developer | Nintendo IRD |
Manufacturer | Foxconn[1] |
Type | Home video game console |
Generation | Seventh |
Release date | |
Introductory price | |
Discontinued | |
Units shipped | 101.63 million (details) |
Media | |
Operating system | Wii system software |
CPU | Broadway @ 729 MHz |
Memory | 24 MB 1T-SRAM + 64 MB GDDR3 SDRAM |
Storage | 512 MB flash memory |
Removable storage | |
Display | Video output formats
|
Graphics | Hollywood @ 243 MHz |
Controller input | |
Connectivity | |
Online services | |
Dimensions |
|
Weight |
|
Best-selling game |
|
Backward compatibility | GameCube[a] |
Predecessor | GameCube |
Successor | Wii U |
Website | wii |
The Wii[g] (/wiː/ WEE) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released on November 19, 2006, in North America, and in December 2006 for most other regions of the world. It is Nintendo's fifth major home game console, following the GameCube, and is a seventh-generation console alongside Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3.
Nintendo president Satoru Iwata directed the development of the Wii with a strategy focused on appealing to a broader audience through innovative gameplay, rather than competing with Microsoft and Sony on raw computational power. Shigeru Miyamoto and Genyo Takeda led the project, which was initially codenamed Revolution. The result was a console that emphasized new forms of interaction, particularly through its wireless controller, the Wii Remote, which featured motion-tracking controls and could recognize gestures and function as a pointing device. The Wii was Nintendo's first console with native Internet connectivity, enabling online gaming and digital distribution via the Wii Shop Channel. It also supported wireless connectivity with the handheld Nintendo DS console for select games. Early models were fully backward-compatible with GameCube games and accessories. Later in its lifecycle, Nintendo released two more affordable versions: the RVL-101 without GameCube compatibility and the Wii Mini further removed features like online connectivity and SD card storage.
Because of Nintendo's reduced focus on computational power, both the console and its games were less expensive to produce than its competitors. The Wii was extremely popular at launch, causing the system to be in short supply in some markets. Wii Sports, a pack-in game became the killer app for the console while new entries in the Super Mario, Legend of Zelda, Pokémon, and Metroid series helped boost its popularity. Within a year, the Wii became the best-selling console of the seventh generation as well as a social phenomenon in many countries. Total lifetime sales of the Wii reached over 101 million units, making it Nintendo's best-selling home console until it was surpassed by the Nintendo Switch in 2021.[h] As of 2022, it remains the fifth-best-selling home console of all time.
The popularity of the Wii's motion-controlled games led both Microsoft and Sony to develop their own competing products—the Kinect and PlayStation Move, respectively. The Wii successfully achieved Nintendo's goal of attracting a broader audience to video game consoles, but it also alienated core gamers. In an attempt to recapture this key demographic, Nintendo released the Wii U in 2012, which proved to be a flop. The Wii was discontinued in October 2013, though the Wii Mini continued production for a few years, and some online services persisted until 2019.
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