Let's get this out of the way right now. The graphics on these games blow ass.

They're very simple, and very not next-gen (see Metroid if you want true next-gen graphics). Imagine playing with Lego people with no arms and you'll have an idea of what the games looked like. Whether this is because the games were so early, or just tech demos, or a very strange style decision by Nintendo I don't know, but that's how it is and that's all I'll say on it. They sucked, too bad, move on.

The first one I'm going to talk about is the controller, before I get into anything. The first game that I played was the Shooting demo; that it was the first time I got my hands on the Wii controller, and it was just as wonderful as you'd imagine. The first time you get your hands on a new controller, you typically have to get the feel for it before you can do much of anything. Not with this thing. I grabbed that thing and it felt literally like an extension of my hand. I know a lot of developers say that they want to create that illusion, and perhaps you think some have, but once you get your claws on this little beauty, you'll realize just how natural it is. I'm telling you right now: right handed, left handed - you're going to feel comfortable holding this thing. I myself am a lefty and felt totally comfortable holding it in either my preferred left hand or my right and didn't miss a beat. Truly awesome, especially for these games.

Probably the most popular of the series on the floor was Tennis. This is the game that Reggie, Miyamoto, Iwata, and that AOL dude played at the press conference. This is the one game that we know for sure will support up to four simultaneous players, although it's likely t hat Shooting and Golf, at least, will be able to have to do it as well. Basically, the control was to swing the Wii controller (because I refuse to call it the Wiimote) as the ball came towards you and hit it back to the other side. If you're familiar with tennis, you know exactly what to do.

The characters moved to the ball automatically, and when they were within reach of it, you just swung the controller exactly as you would a tennis racket. If the ball is on the far side, you do a backhand and if it's on the racket side, you do a forehand swing. Pretty simple, right? That's what we thought, too. Then we realized it was a lot more than just that. Depending on how you swung the controller and, in turn, the racket, the ball would do different things. A quick flip would perform a lob shot, the angle of the controller would determine the angle at which you hit the ball, and hitting too hard or too far to the side would make it go out of bounds. The toughest thing was realizing that you needed to swing the controller in the same spot the ball was in relation to you, as well - as in, if there was a lob shot at you, and the ball bounced over your head, you had to physically reach up and go after it or it would just bound over your head. Yeah, it's that detailed. Very cool, and very enjoyable, especially with a group of friends. Just don't punch each other while you're trying to swing.

The next one in line was Golf. It consisted more or less of a driving section followed by putting, getting three shots to make the shot to move on to the next hole or, if you didn't sink it, move out of line and let somebody good play. Again, the primary control was in movement. The only button usage was to press A or B (the front button or trigger button on the controller), which you pushed to move up to the ball and shoot. Swinging the club was done - you guessed it - by swinging the controller in a golf motion. The trick is to not swing too hard or too soft, just like real golf. The only real problem with this one was that it seemed just a little too sensitive, particularly when it came to putting. The slightest motion made you hit the ball ridiculously hard, and clearly needs to be recalibrated at some point before it hits final version (again, assuming there is a final version). Not necessarily bad, but the Golf demo was certainly not as much fun or as involved as the Tennis.

Moving on down the line of Wii stations (or Urinals, as we affectionately came to call them), we came to Baseball. Me being the huge baseball fan, this was easily my favorite of the Wii Sports. It wasn't really so much a full Baseball title, but rather a home run derby demo, which I was fine with. Again, no buttons were used, it was simply motion activated. If you're a baseball player, you'll enjoy this one greatly. Just go into your own typical batting stance and you're all set. Even if you have those little idiosyncrasies in your stance, such as wiggling the bat or holding it at a strange angle, that will be reflected on screen in an amazing representation of what you're doing. When the ball is pitched, just take your swing and watch it fly. Too early or late, and you'll hit it foul or swing and miss. Time it right, though, and you'll be hitting the ball 500 feet or more. It really is a very finely tuned demo, and will most definitely be a great addition to an eventual Wii Sports game, as well as any future baseball games that may or may not come to the system.

So let's talk about the Shooting demo, because I feel like talking about that now. This one was actually set up for two players, so I played against Eric and later Joe. The controller acted as a gun, moving it towards the target and pressing A or B to fire, with a little blue or red cursor on screen to represent where each controller was pointed. This was a very clean demo, with aiming precise and accurate. First they had us shooting some balloons, then targets, clay discs, UFOs and finally (yes!) ducks. No dog though, sadly, but oh well. This is definitely the kind of thing that should be included on a disc of Wii Sports or another compilation disc of some sort, simply because it was very well done and, well, rocked. There wasn't much to it, obviously, but it was still quite fun and very clean. I know I loved being able to finally hunt ducks once again, as well as several others at the show.

Sadly I didn't get a chance to play Airplane, so I'll leave that up to one of my other staffers to tell you about in their own impressions. In all, though, the Wii Sports titles were very good, if not very rough and very simple, both in looks and presentation. They certainly would never stand on their own, but would make an absolutely perfect compilation disc and make a wonderful addition to Nintendo's launch lineup for Wii games, particularly if they added more options in the games they have, as well as include some other surprises (volleyball or boxing, perhaps?). If nothing else, they acted as perfect representations of just what the Wii controller is capable of, and it is badass.