Some Nintendo folks were in town today, along with some of the Nintendo Wii games that'll ship at launch and soon afterward. I didn't get to go to E3 last May, so this was my first hands-on experience.

Can I just say that I think the controller is genius: It's wireless and motion-sensitive, similar to the Gyration mouse, with tactile feedback. It will work well for so many games. Sports games like baseball and tennis, both of which I tried, are a blast, and the very interactive WarioWare: Smooth Moves was quite fun too. You can use the controller like a hand, a club, a steering wheel, a sword... anything game designers can dream up.

I also saw a demo of Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, which uses the plug-in adjunct Nunchuk controller together with the main controller. It looked a bit complicated to use, for me, anyway, but I think shooter fans will be happier by far than with a regular joystick controller or keyboard and mouse combo.

For now, Wii Sports and Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess are confirmed to ship at launch, which is sometime in Q4; the Wii will cost less than $250. That's all I can tell you, but I'll keep you posted.