Whether you think Nintendo’s populist-aiming Wii is going to either change gaming, be one of the biggest tech flops in history, or merely do well with non-psycho gamers, you have to admit it’s an entirely fascinating concept.

The NYTimes recently had a really nice article on the Wii and the whole point of its existence:

More important than the unit’s look, however, have been the almost entirely positive reviews from people who have played it. Tennis feels remarkably like tennis, employing a nearly full range of upper-body motion. With Excite Truck, the user holds the controller between two hands like a steering wheel and merely tilts it left and right to steer. You can also wield the Wii as a pen, a fishing rod and, of course, a weapon.

“We wanted to change the image that people have when you think of someone playing a video game,” Shigeru Miyamoto, Nintendo’s creative director (and the creator of the famed Donkey Kong, Mario and Zelda franchises) said during an interview at E3. “There is always this image where you think of a young person holding a controller in two hands kind of in a darkened room with the light of the TV shining on his face, and it’s not a very positive image. We really wanted to break that by creating this interface that would allow people to be much more active.”

This thing could really be amazing. Stand by for more when we hear it.

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