Topic: The Wii is MUCH way smaller than other game consoles, WHY?

@vio: not cool, man FYI, our profiles all show what country we're from. hulklol is from Costa Rica, so I'd assume that English is, in fact, not his first language.

Actually the Mac Mini does have an external brick, but it's a bit smaller and cooler (temperature-wise) than the Wii.

The reason the Xbox/PS3 are larger is basically because they have internal hard disks and poorer design, whether it's using components that get so hot more space is required for heatsinks and vent fans, incorporating the power supply internally rather than using an external brick (the PS3 seems to have taken a big step backwards to the original PS days - though at least it's multi-voltage) or just being big and ugly (again the PS3)

Seriously, what the hell went wrong with Sony's last two gen machines? The Playstation was beautiful and iconic, but the PS2/slim and PS3/slim are hideous doorstops. I give all due credit to Microsoft following up that monstrous abomination that is the original Xbox with the 360 (and the new version looks pretty decent), though it's still way too big.

@Sean Aaron: I'll take funtional design over looks, thanks. The reason the PS3 is so huge is so that it CAN cool effectively. The concave design of the 360, on the other hand, contributed greatly to its overheating issues. Though really, it's a semi-moot point, 'cause the PS3 ain't ugly.

Graphics? Portability?

The Wii is only the size it is because of the optical drive. Get rid of that and you could have it about the same size as a DS.

hahahahaha, win.

_{no, I don't have anything intelligent to add to this discussion.}

Because Nintendo is awesome like that!

I'm sorry, but the PS3 as originally produced is bigger than my receiver and if it needs to be that big due to overheating then the design is flawed, not functional - having a concave surface also works strongly against that definition applying. It's bigger than a standalone bluray player for goodness sake! They should have gone the same route as Nintendo/M-Soft and made the power supply external and cut down on the size of the box which also would have reduced the overheating issues.

The slim is a bit smaller, but looks even worse to me. The flat square shape and matt finish make it look exactly like a giant external optical drive for a circa 200X IBM Thinkpad. After the crappy 1980s stereo-separate look of the PS2 it's incredibly a major step down for them. They'd be better off sticking the parts into a clear acrylic box and saving the money of hiring external designers if this is the best they can come up with.

Because Nintendo wanted it to be about as casual as humanly possible, and didn't want it to stand out too much, it was either Miyamoto or Iwata that actually said that he wants it to be no larger than 3 or 4 DVD cases stacked on top of each other. The Sensor Bar is black for the second reason, they didn't want it to stand out.

I hate the PS3's size and shape, too, Sean. I have one, and I never know how to situate the machine. It looks best horizontal, but it takes up so much room and is unstackable both ways because of the stupid concave surface. I've got it standing up and pushed back now, hoping that if I keep my room dark enough the black shape won't stand out a sore thumb.

Wii is by no means a beautiful thing, but it's small, stackable, and functional. Good enough for me.

I'm not even remotely interested in it, but I literally cannot see a place to put it in my stereo cabinet if someone gave me one tomorrow. I had no problem putting four Wiis side-by-side though during the brief time I had that many.

Okay, I think that requires some explanation. Four Wiis?

Let me. One PAL, one JAP, One is softmodded and one is broken.

Why? Well...

Heh, close. One PAL, one JPN, one North American and one debug unit.

I've sold the NA one and sent the debug one over to James because I can't give as much time to the site as I used to due to work/family committments. Since I sold the NA one to NL, James actually has both of those!

What would you be debugging...?

^It plays preview code. No fixing or anything, just so we can give hands-on impressions with, say, WiiWare before a game is released without having to go to Poland.

Because it doesn't have the BS the other consoles have. Goes to the point clean and cut.

Lol.

It because when they designed it, they wanted it to be no bigger than 3 DVD cases (and they succeeded).