We won't know if Nintendo's attempt to capture new gamers and the mass market will truly be successful until the Wii console has been on the market for some time, but if early impressions are any sign, Nintendo is in fine shape. Most attendees of this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo were quite impressed with the Wii's intuitive and remarkably sensitive motion tracking controls, and while graphics found within games like Tennis in Wii Sports are somewhat disappointing there's no denying the fun to be had with the Wii and its games.

Apparently investors have been quite encouraged by the Wii debut as well. According to BBC News, Nintendo shares jumped over six percent to 19,710 yen having gone as high as 19,890 yen, which represents its highest level since April 2002. BBC News website technology editor Alfred Hermida said that the "Wii overshadowed Sony's much vaunted PS3 at the expo," and analysts seem impressed as well.

"In our opinion, the highlight of the show was the unveiling of Nintendo's Wii console, with hands-on demonstrations of the console's unique controller mechanism," said Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst Michael Pachter in his latest industry note. "Most of the attendees we spoke to found the Wii to be truly revolutionary, and the majority were quite impressed with the potential for the platform."

He continued, "We found the controller mechanism extremely innovative, and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. In our opinion, the Wii was the hit of E3, and we think that sales expectations for the console are likely to rise substantially now that retailers have seen how popular the device was with industry professionals... It did not announce a price point for the console, though we expect an announcement by September. Our estimate is currently $299, though we think it is possible that the Wii could launch at $249."

Pachter added that he wasn't impressed by what Microsoft and Sony had to offer. "Other than Wii games, we saw little that impressed us beyond stunning graphics. A few of the PC games were really interesting, in particular [Will Wright's] Spore, but the Xbox 360 and PS3 games on display looked like high definition versions of console games released over the last two years."

Editor's note

It's not our job here at GameDaily BIZ to offer up hands-on impressions of games (go to GameDaily.com for tons of E3 hands-on stuff), but we did want to briefly mention that we had the opportunity to try out a few Wii titles, including Tennis, Baseball, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, and WarioWare, and came away thoroughly excited for what the Wii has in store for consumers this holiday and beyond.

It's not hard to imagine parents and non-gamer friends being convinced to pick up the "Wii-mote" and easily getting engaged by a quick game of tennis or other titles. Sure games like Mario, Zelda and Metroid require a bit more of a learning curve than simple sports games, but Nintendo remains consistent in that it wants to appeal to people of all ages. Make no mistake, Metroid remains a game for the hardcore and is not likely going to be something your mother picks up. But that's precisely what Nintendo has promised—games for the hardcore and games for new players. We can't wait to see what else is on the horizon for Wii!