Launched with a retail price of US$ 250 (more than a portable player such as the Sony PSP but much less than the latest PlayStation or Xbox), the system arrived well-equipped. Along with a few types of controllers (including the Wii Remote—nicknamed the "Wiimote"—and its Nunchuk accessory), the buyer also receives the Wii Sports game—a welcome bonus for consumers, who for years have been accustomed to buying consoles packaged with only a single controller and no games. (Other, more expensive, packaged console and game configurations are available.)

Including Wii Sports, a compilation of sports such as tennis, golf, and boxing, is a savvy move because the game both teaches first-time users how to use the motion-sensitive controllers and demonstrates the player's visceral connection to the game itself, mimicking the player's every move as the character on the screen. A frustrating learning curve with a new system is mastering its controllers; Wii Sports provides a fun, learn-as-you-play tutorial.

Another unique feature to Wii is the incorporation of personalization and avatars through the "Mii Channel," allowing players to choose and customize a digital representation of themselves within the games. Because the system is WiFi enabled, it can connect to the Internet to shop for and download various games—including Nintendo classics from the last two decades—as well as connect to other players. Wii can also play games from the GameCube, Nintendo's previous console.

Unlike its competitors, whose monolithic offerings crowd home-entertainment shelf space, the Wii console is designed to be minimal and unobtrusive, taking up a small footprint—though it does not offer a CD or DVD player as other systems do. Originally dubbed "Revolution," the name was changed to the oddly spelled (and at first glance, ambiguously pronounced) Wii—presumably to evoke "we" and "wee!" (as in fun) as well as qualify as an unchallenged trademark around the world. The Wii wordmark is as minimalist as identities come, keeping in alignment with the fun, rather cartoonish video graphics.

Not long after the system was released, reports emerged about Wiimote wrist straps breaking and launching unintentional projectiles at people and objects within close range, but neither product nor company took a hit in image or sales. Nintendo quickly offered replacement (presumably defect-free) straps and published an entire web page dedicated to Wiimote safety. The incidents spawned an interesting form of unintended publicity via "Wii Death" t-shirts making the wearer look as if he's bleeding from a Wiimote stab wound, as well as a handful of grassroots websites dedicated to showing off Wii injuries and damage.

As the saying goes, all publicity helps the bottom line. In the first full month of head-to-head sales competition last December, Wii outsold Sony's PlayStation 3 by 110,000 units, according to market research firm NPD. At the end of 2006, video game and hardware sales as a category were up 28 percent to $3.7 billion. CNNMoney.com reports that Nintendo intends to double its profits in 2007.

Those numbers should satisfy the home of Mario for the rest of the year. But until the release of the next generation of Wiis, PlayStations, Xboxes, and who knows what's to come (iVideoGame?), all this is merely another battle in a decades-long conflict that has yet to be adapted and packaged in a cartridge or disc: The Game Console Wars.

Alycia de Mesa is a brand identity consultant and writer with over 10 years' experience, from Fortune 100 to start-up companies. She is author of Before the Brand, the definitive brand identity handbook, published by McGraw-Hill (under the name Alycia Perry).