The Wii is a dangerous machine. And Nintendo knows it.

Warning screens pop up before you start playing some games on the next-generation console, out Sunday for $250, urging you to clear space. Watch out for picture frames, beer bottles and pets, folks. They won't recover from the spastic, sudden movements you make while playing.

And you won't be watching them. Because despite subpar graphics, the Wii's impressively intuitive controllers immerse you in games like no system before it.

For hardcore gamers, the wireless Wiimote and nunchuk attachment are like an electronics smoothie where some Japanese engineers dropped in updated versions of the Power Gun and Power Glove (remember those?), Sony's EyeToy, and all those steering wheel controllers you could never bring yourself to pay for.

And it works. So sweet.

For newcomers, it's a simpler way to play video games, with point-and-click action, fewer buttons and easy-to-grasp motion sensors.

I played the Wii for one week prior to launch, trying four games: the first-person World War II shooter "Call of Duty 3," racer "Excite Truck," action-adventure game "The Legend of Zelda: The Twilight Princess," and the included "Wii Sports."

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The customization options were excellent, with characters I created showing up in Wii Sports, and the ability to play my own MP3s off an SD card while driving in "Excite Truck" (the guitar-heavy in-game music quickly tires).

Nintendo apparently did a much better job of backwards compatibility than Sony -- I had no trouble loading up any of my GameCube titles to the Wii, and up to four GameCube controllers plug into the Wii with no problems. One gripe: I can't import my saved game data because GameCube memory cards don't plug into the Wii's SD-only slot.

There's currently no DVD playback, but who needs that nowadays? Some unknowns remain: Ease of use for the various other "channels" like news and weather, which were only becoming available at launch, reliability of Internet connectivity, and depth of the throwback-gaming Virtual Console.

The Virtual Console will be a big draw for those of us who increasingly want a bit of nostalgia with their next-gen gameplay. Done with "Twilight Princess"? Let's play some "Tecmo Bowl" or "Bonk's Adventure"! Prices for the downloadable games are believed to range from $5 to $10.

To truly enjoy the Wii in its position as a party-ready system, you'll need to buy at least another Wiimote for $40 right away. But that still brings overall cost in at much less than next-gen systems from Sony and Microsoft. Of course, you don't get their much-touted processing power, wow-worthy graphics or complexity.

I'm not sure you'll miss it, though. This is a happy little console -- no fuss, not too many frills. Wii indeed.

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asap staff reporter Ryan Pearson challenges you to a game of tennis. A game of Wii tennis.

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