A few years ago I took part in one of those focus group thingimawhoozits. It was that kind of function where a big medley of mixed corporate cahooneys and skint students all muddled together to dream up new megabucks-making ideas - in this case, for an especially well-known telecoms outfit. Amongst the myriad ideas dreamed up that day, was one, I thought, particularly impressive prospect: Playing, say, the drums in one country, and having the sound transported in real-time across a great expanse to an overseas band practice, using the all-sparkly powers of the ever-expanding magical world wide intraweb. Imagine the possibilities, eh?

Strangely, that was the first thing that came into my head watching the promo video for Nintendo's new console, the wondrous, wacky and weirdly monikered Wii. The association, however, was somewhat turned on its head; far from transporting sound across the world, it was the act of making the music itself which I'd previously not considered, that now seemed so fresh and unique that I positively ached to get my hands on the machine - for here, in front of me, in the trendiest of central London locations, on a plasma screen TV the size of Tunbridge Wells, were moving images of a well-dressed twenty something not unlike myself (you wish! - Ed), making quite the rhythmic racket playing air drums… holding no more than a pair of Nintendo Wii remotes.

That was it for me. Sold; hook, line and sinker. In that single moment I went from sceptic to believer, and found myself wanting the machine more than fruit-named puffy dress-wearing princesses long for short dumpy moustachioed plumbers in dungarees. I'm such a sucker for hype.

But you, the general games-buying public shouldn't be. You shouldn't be influenced by incidentals like concept footage of funky aspirational games-playing mannequins. You shouldn't, in all seriousness, let the sheer cool-factor of air drums influence your opinion either - and please, PLEASE, don't be swayed by silly salesy little slogans (according the Nintendo PR rep, Wii 'is not next-gen, but new-gen', folks!).

No. There's only one single thing you need to know about the Wii: That it's sheer, unadulterated, peerless and incalculable FUN - for kids of all ages… and we mean that right up to those grown-up kids with mortgages and half-pints of their own.

Our hands-on with Nintendo's new machine lasted a good hour and a half - easily long enough to sample the delights of the on-display Wii Sports, Wii Warioware and two accompanying tech demos. Sadly, the big guns were conspicuous by their absence, so there was no Super Mario Galaxy, Twilight Princess and such; while the show staff were keen to stress that the Wii remotes in use were still work-in-progress prototypes.

By far and away the crowning glory of the show's software, Tennis gave the best example of the Wii's much-vaunted pick-up-and-play social gaming abilities. The setup was slightly unusual, however; a two-player game with each player controlling not one, but two on-screen doubles partners - all of which moved of their own accord - something we were told may be moved to the remote or nunchuck for the final release version.

That small detail aside, the act of playing Wii sports tennis itself was both delightful and empowering. The remote acts as a real-life tennis racket would; simply flick your wrist upwards then forwards to serve, and from there it's a mere matter of rallying in real-time. Spin can be applied, and the accuracy of shots was pretty much spot-on. Slices and lobs were especially hard to do, however, and using one remote to control the rackets of both doubles partners was frequently off-putting, but again this should be corrected for the final build. Overall, the sheer energy and enthusiasm generated by Wii Sports Tennis was enough to leave everyone eagerly awaiting the machine's release.

Distinctly less complicated than either Tennis or Golf, the baseball simulation saw the player holding the only wireless remote at the event as if it were a bat, and slogging away - first at three practice pitches, and then ten live ones, with the game measuring how far successful hits travelled. Never managing to get more than three home runs, I'd be inclined to blame the controller and call it over-sensitive… though in truth, the accuracy of the hand piece was never less than dead right. I hang my head in shame.

Quite a heady workout, and potentially as addictive as any other physically-demanding videogame (Eyetoy or Dancing Stage, watch out!) Baseball was an admittedly shallow, but still rather promising demo.

The most technical of the three Wii Sports titles on offer, Golf also offered the most sensitive and demanding control setup. As you've probably guessed by now, it involved holding the Wii remote as you would a golf club - with power helpfully indicated on-screen using a power bar at the bottom of the display. Test swings could be taken to gauge the effect of moving the remote at different speeds, with actual shots being taken by holding A and taking a punt.

Given the different modes of shot, we were quite impressed with Wii Golf. Pitching and putting both followed the same basic system, though felt quite individual with the amount of power applied, while the added issue of undulating terrain proffered another problem to play through. Of all the Wii sports titles, we'd bet on this being the least easily accessible - but also the most lifelike and deep, too. One for real golf lovers, then.

Fast growing into one of Nintendo's most well-loved series, Warioware is the type of game the Wii itself could have been made for. In our demonstration, the minigames were no less addictive than expected - and the intuitive uses for the remote were even better than we could have hoped for.

Driving a car by holding either end of the remote like a handlebar; holding the remote by your side and wiggling hips to spin a hula hoop; sitting the hand piece flat to balance an on-screen broom in a hand; holding the remote like a pen to trace an outline around a shape; moving the remote up and down to pump a balloon; running on the spot to send an on-screen sprinter to the finish line - all of these and many, many more were present, and helped make Warioware: Smooth Moves the most laugh-out-loud funny game to watch at the event, as well as the most manic in the series to date.

The two other titles on show were more tech demos than actual titles set for release. That's not to say that they provided little insight to the machine's capabilities, though. Indeed, the first, a sort of Duck Hunt inspired shooting gallery, gave a good example of the kind of calibration problems that could be an issue with the machine - for while one of the remotes on the demo pod was perfectly calibrated, the other had the on-screen indicator a good few inches to the left of where the remote was being pointed. Nontheless, it was good fun to play, and showed how much great first-person shooting action we can all look forward to from the machine's point-and-shoot control system.

Lastly on the software side of things, Orchestra was the simplest offering of the lot. With two choices on offer - the Zelda theme being one of them - the player merely waved the magical Wii remote at different speeds like a conductor's wand, to slow down and speed up the composition at their discretion. Yet another fantastic example of the diverse multimedia properties of Nintendo's new machine - and having played it, now I REALLY can't wait for that drum game!

Small, lightweight, easy to use… but as of our playtest, not quite finished - the wires on most hand pieces at the event were testament to that. Nevertheless, the Wii remote represents the very bleeding edge of Nintendo's continued commitment to videogame innovation.

It's a smart piece of kit; solid, durable and less easily marked than the new DS Lite. The D-pad is small but perfectly positioned, while the A button and B trigger both gave off that satisfying click that you get with the buttons on only the best peripherals; little rigidity; no sponginess. The ones we tried even had a little wrist strap attached, just in case of droppages. Lovely.

And of course, the motion sensitivity itself is key. We found it, if anything, a tad over-sensitive with certain software (the Shooting Gallery in particular), while in general the software on offer seemed to only hint at its potential sophistication; a more refined Tennis sim, for instance, could be a truly lifelike in-depth playing experience, once developers really get their heads around the technology. Wii Virtua Tennis? Yes please!

All in all, we could feel nothing but positive from our ninety minutes with Nintendo's new console. There really is nothing like it on the market, and as if to testify to this, watching two gasping be-suited forty-something executives duke it out on Tennis really was a sight to behold. Maybe there IS something in Nintendo's 'New Gen' slant, after all.

Mark Scott