Reception

ReceptionThe system was well-received after its exhibition at E3 2006. At the event, Nintendo's console won the Game Critics Awards for Best of Show and Best Hardware.

Reception

In the December 2006 issue of Popular Science the console was awarded with the Grand Award Winner in Home Entertainment. Spike TV's Video Games Award also granted the console the award in breakthrough technology. GameSpot chose the console as the Best Hardware on their Best and Worst 2006 awards show.
The system was also chosen as one of PC World magazine's 20 Most Innovative Products of the Year.
The worldwide success of the Wii has caught third party developers by surprise, leading to some apologizing for the quality of their early games. In an interview with German news magazine Der Spiegel, Ubisoft's Yves Guillemot and Alain Corre admitted that they have made a mistake to rush their launch titles, promising to take future projects more seriously.
Take-Two Interactive, who released few games for the Nintendo GameCube, has changed its stance on Nintendo, putting a higher priority in developing for the Wii with Manhunt 2 being their first release on the system.
At the same time, criticism of the Wii Remote and the Wii hardware specifications has surfaced. Jeff Gerstmann of GameSpot has stated that the controller's speaker produces low-quality sound, while Factor 5 President Julian Eggebrecht criticized the hardware audio as being substandard for a console of its generation.
Free Radical Design has stated that the Wii hardware lacks the power necessary to run the software they have scheduled for release on other seventh generation consoles.
An executive for Frontline Studios also expressed that major publishers are wary of releasing exclusive titles for the console due to the perception that third-party companies are not strongly supported by consumers.
The online connectivity of the Wii was subject to criticism, as Matt Casamassina of IGN compared it to the "entirely unintuitive" service provided for the Nintendo DS.
Scott Steinberg, Sega's U.S. Vice President of Marketing, expressed concern about the creative depth of the Wii pool and said that all developers will have to take responsibility to create new innovative games. He also stated that he was concerned that the Wii is a fad and that games on it will look dated in a few years compared to those on other consoles. However, Steinberg recanted his previous comments in a follow-up in which he shares the view on the system's innovation and acknowledged Nintendo's sales success. He also said that he believes Sega has "the responsibility to take advantage of Wii's potential".