So, if I've done my math correctly, Nintendo moved at least four million Wiis in the November-December Christmas shopping season. That's four million new Wii owners popping up, pretty much overnight. (You guys are all gonna read my site, right?!)
Now, a lot of those Wiis are moving into households where they'll occupy a privileged position in the family's living room, to be enjoyed by all. Despite this, a lot of parents are making a cheapskate mistake that probably dates back to their own limited experiences with video games back in the 80's: they're trying to get by with just two controllers, usually the system pack-in and then the one that comes with Wii Play.
No, no, no. If you ever intend for your Wii to be played by groups of people, buy four controllers. Yes, this tacks on about an extra hundred dollars to the cost of the Wii. Yes, you won't use that third and fourth controller every day, and could've bought two (or more) games instead. Still, when you've got gobs of company or your kids have friends over, you'll really wish you had those extra two Remotes. Consider the Guitar Hero World Tour saga of sadness, if you must find some way to justify the purchase.
When you own four Wii Remotes, there are no unpleasant surprises with the Wii. Virtually no games outside of Virtual Console call for any more. You can get by with only two Nunchuks easily, though it's not really prohibitively expensive to own four and certain party games easier to set-up for everyone. You only really need two Classic Controllers, at least for now. If your family seems likely to enjoy a lot of Mario Kart Wii or Super Smash Bros. Brawl, it is frankly not a bad idea to have up to four GameCube controllers sitting around.
Any parents reading this are probably looking at that pile of controllers and just seeing a big mountain of dollar signs. Well... yeah. Video games are a pastime where expenses are all front-loaded into the price of your game-playing widget. Take these expenses into account when deciding to buy your Wii, and you'll be fine. If you try to get by in a ridiculous situation like having two Remotes to go round for your three kids and everyone else who drops by and wants to play, your Wii is just going to be a source of endless frustration.
Individual Wii titles tend to be entertainment bargains, but only if you've got all the best controllers for that particular title. Playing Wii games is an experience that can draw a family together, but you'll find everyone is more eager to play when they know they'll have their own controller. Your kids will have more fun, you'll have more fun, and you'll deal with a lot less in the way of fights, crying, and unpleasant surprises.
The trend in video game design, since about the mid-90's, has been a move toward four-controller systems. Only the Xbox 360 has bucked the trend since the Dreamcast hit with its built-in multi-tap, and I'm sure that's only because USB hubs are pretty cheap compared to the expensive, neglected multi-taps of decades past. The only way you can justify owning a console and only one or two controllers now is if you know you'll never be engaging in offline multiplayer of any sort, and if you're that guy, you don't want a Wii to begin with.
