Credit: Christopher Harting

Initially discounted by game-industry watchers as graphically underpowered compared with the Sony PlayStation 3 and ­Microsoft Xbox 360, the Nintendo Wii has wiped the sales floor with its competitors. In February 2007, 335,000 Wiis were sold in the U.S., versus 228,000 Xbox 360s and 127,000 PS3s. Behind the Wii's success is its unique controller: simple and wireless, it responds to your movements in a natural manner, turning into a baseball bat, a sword, or a hand, as necessary. It is, in a word, fun.

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