Knockoff 'Vii' Could Take Joy Out of Joystick

Stanley A. Miller II - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Nintendo's Wii was a sensation this holiday season -- a hassle to find, expensive on eBay and pretty much on every youngster's holiday wish list.

The game system is still ridiculously difficult to find, making the half-news, half-rumor of a Chinese-made rip-off called the Vii all the more fascinating.

Mockingly called the "Chintendo Vii" by wise-cracking bloggers and Internet forum trolls, rumors of the device started circulating last fall.

The news didn't gain too much traction outside of technology and gaming circles, and admittedly, it could be a very intricate hoax perpetrated by some very bored geeks.

But the information is out there, posted by some credible technology blogs, including Engadget.com and Joystiq.com, as well as Youtube.com videos of the Vii being played, and even a few online auctions of Vii systems, starting at about $150.

And the idea of a Vii is plausible -- intellectual property piracy is rampant in China, and a successful product like the Wii has a big red bull's eye on it.

Could the Vii be the next hot thing?

Not likely.

Assuming it exists, the Vii looks like a thoroughly inferior bootleg of Nintendo's high-tech toy. Videos of the Vii in action suggest the motion-sensing technology is a bit unresponsive, although the players trying it out could just be very bad.

It's also a bit difficult to determine the quality of the graphics in the low-resolution videos posted online, although visuals aren't the strongest aspect of the Wii, especially when comparing it with game systems like Microsoft's Xbox and Sony's PlayStation 3.

And the games released for the system don't inspire much confidence. Some of the titles include "Smart Dart," "Happy Tennis" and "Fry Egg."

"Fry Egg"?

A Nintendo spokesman said he hadn't heard of the Vii, and the company didn't have any comment as to whether the device might infringe on any patents or copyrights tied to the Wii.

The system also doesn't appear to let players create the diverse Mii characters that Wii owners design to represent themselves in Wii games. Right now Vii players appear limited to a rabbit and a white rat.

A second version of the Vii, called the Vii 2, looks a bit bulkier. It comes with 11 "Wii-like" games, as well as a disc with seven others.

"I have heard about it, but I haven't seen it," said Daniel Brown, manager of Video Game Control.

Brown said none of his customers has asked about the Vii, although the Wii is still regularly requested.

The Vii sounds like "one of those things that people just wouldn't trust," he said.

"That is, if it is real," Brown continued. "It sounds like it is, but I don't know if it will attract the same attention. I think the Nintendo brand drives the Wii. The Vii will be one of those third- party things, and no one will make games for it."

Stanley A. Miller II covers personal technology for the Journal Sentinel. Reach him at smiller@journalsentinel.com.

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