Just when you thought Nintendo was down and out for the count, they go and surprise everyone again:

It's a remarkable experience. Instead of passively playing the games, with the new controller you physically perform them. You act them out. It's almost like theater: the fourth wall between game and player dissolves. The sense of immersion--the illusion that you, personally, are projected into the game world--is powerful. And there's an instant party atmosphere in the room. One advantage of the new controller is that it not only is fun, it looks fun. When you play with an old-style controller, you look like a loser, a blank-eyed joystick fondler. But when you're jumping around and shaking your hulamaker, everybody's having a good time.

The new console, dubbed the "Wii" (pronounced "we", apparently), suddenly looks a lot more interesting. No announced price point or release date (that I can find, at any rate), so two of the most critical factors in the success of any consumer electronics device are still up in the air. Nintendo has a well-deserved reputation for doing what it wants, when it wants, for its own reasons. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. We'll just have to wait and see if it works this time.