Barry brought his Nintendo Wii along for his trip to Texas this week and so I got to play with it a bit. Lucky me! The Wii is as much fun as you would expect. What sets it apart, and what makes up for its weak graphics, is its controllers.

Until the Wii, game console controllers have been fundamentally unchanged for decades. Every few years there would be something new–extra buttons, triggers, analog sticks, vibration, dance pads, and wireless technology kept us hanging on–but the pushbutton crowd kept innovation on a very short leash. The Wii breaks out of that leash with its motion-sensitive controllers and their famously breaking straps. No lanyard is too strong for Nintendo!

I had a bit of fun on the side by turning on my iSight camera and capturing a few minutes of Wii action for posterity.