Contributed to by N-Europe's Staff.

It's December 8th, 2007 and exactly one year ago, the Wii was launched and quickly sold out across Europe. We look back at the past twelve months.

Iun Hockley:

In all honesty, the Wii has had a good year all around the world. Only outsold by the Best Handheld Ever (TM), the Wii has made an enormous impact on the way critics and gamers alike perceive video games. But not only that: the simplistic and easy-to-get-into gameplay has opened up the previously murky world of video games to people who are traditionally non-gamers.
The Wii has had a good year, but not a great year, however. All too often the release lists have been crammed full of poor Wii Play and Wii Sports clones that push their half-baked ideas into badly executed motion controls. Mini game collections such as the abysmal Carnival games have flooded the market with inferior software that really has no point.
Worst of all is the fact that without these crappy titles, the releases lists would have been practically empty. Triple A titles have been scarcer than rocking horse poo since launch and it's no wonder that the "Hardcore" who have supported Nintendo though darker days are getting a little disgruntled. This new direction is leaving the old faithful with nothing to do but twiddle their Wiimotes and wait for the next new title several months away.
Thankfully, things are looking up for those craving deeper and more challenging titles. Developers are now shifting focus from rival consoles to the phenomenally popular Wii, many have already realised that shoddy games are costly and are upping their quality standards considerably. Plus, with the promise of Smash Bros Brawl and others in the near future, the future is looking fairly rosy for Wii owners.
Next year I hope that the Wii will cement its position as the best-selling home console and add more quality titles to ensure that this is the true Renaissance of Nintendo.

>>> For more of Iun's views on the Wii's anniversary and how Nintendo has fared, check out our Feature: Wiitrospective

Jordan Khoviteri-Zadeh:

If I'm honest? Extremely poor over all. I literally didn't play my Wii between April and August due to nothing out for it. This is all in comparison to the Xbox 360's first year, which was fairly incredible. Dead Rising, Lost Planet, Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter and Splinter Cell Double Agent, Gears of War. That's just to name a few.
This is not me saying Mario Galaxy and Metroid Prime 3: Corruption weren't good games, hell they were amazing games, especially the former. I just feel as if Nintendo could have put more money into software development, considering their current profit margins.
Next year is looking far more bright. Mario Kart Wii, Smash Bros. Brawl, No More Heroes and whatever new channels they decide to throw at us. Nintendo have momentum after this Christmas and if they drop the ball on releases, fans are not going to be happy.

Joao "Hellfire" Lopes:

I think Wii had a great first year. Just the fact that it got Zelda (which is my favourite game to date), Metroid and Mario all in the first year is remarkable. Three groundbreaking and breathtaking flagship titles seems great to me.
Games like Excite Truck, Sonic, Wario Ware, Mario Strikers and Eledees are incredibely fun and very well made and I still pick them up for a quick play session regularly, these are the games that never made me think there was a "drought", because they always kept me busy. Another very positive aspect the Wii brought is that it finally got my family playing, with titles such as Wii Sports and Wii Play, which proved, at least to me, that the "Wii is for everyone" motto isn't just PR BS.
On the downside, the lack of effort made by third parties is simply appalling. Most games had graphics that would be bad even for the GameCube, or tacked on motion controls and very little imagination. It's understandable that the developers spent most of their time figuring out the controller instead of concentrating on the graphics and I applaud that, but seeing that a lot of games were weak on both fronts, some (most) developers need a serious spanking. This isn't always the case though, even with PS2 ports: The Godfather and Scarface were good games, despite their graphics, the Wii Remote made them the superior versions. Eledees, Dewey's Adventure and Zack & Wiki (I know, I know, it's not out in Europe yet) for example make good use of the remote and have good graphics and even EA's sport games that are ignored by many have made great strides with motion controls proving that the remote can be successfully used in sports. On the bright side, judging from some titles that are announced for next year, I'm guessing we can expect an increase in quality and commitment from 3rd parties.
On the online side of things, it's pretty much what I expected for Nintendo's first foray into online with a free service: it's simple, but it does it's job for the most part. There aren't a lot of games that are online yet, still, from my experience with Mario Strikers once the short, but bothersome hurdles that are the friend codes are past, everything works very well and I had a lot of fun playing against friends or random people.
I've also had loads of fun with the Virtual Console, even though most people can play those games by other means (most of them illegal), it's great to have so many titles have my disposal and that I can just boot them up quickly when I feel like going down the memory lane or I want to try an old game I never played. The Channels are also entertaining to check out once in a while and I'm surprised at how addictive and fun Mii Contest Channel is.
Bottom line is, I don't remember any console that in the first year had so many games that I like. Maybe it's not the right console for those who have a craving for bald space marines, but it does the trick for me.
A "Happy Birthday" to Wii and a "Good Job!" to Nintendo. Let's see what the future holds.

Dominic "Domstercool" Sheard:

The Wii's first year was a bit of a mixed bag affair. At the start of it's newly womb released life the console showed off some interesting ideas, but mostly just wasn't done right. Wii Sports gave us ideas of what could be made with the system's new control scheme, but apart from that there weren't really many games that were great. Most of the release titles were average to decent, with only really Zelda THE game you had to own, and even that was just a Wii-fied version of a GameCube game (not that it stopped it from been immense).
After that it seemed to go as slow as hell in terms of what was coming out. The next game I got after the release titles was Sonic and the Secret Rings, which was a pretty decent game if somewhat annoying as well. After that I can't even remember what I got after, the release schedule was awful with nothing really great coming out whatsoever. I know Microsoft didn't release a game from end of January till August but at least it had the great third-party support releasing titles, here there just wasn't anything there. I never understood why the console was selling as well as it was because there just was not anything special any more to play on it. Obviously I misunderstood the impact of the casual gamer and his/her Wii waggling ways.
Though now the Wii is really starting to come into form. It took it's time, but then again, I'm just glad it's finally starting to come into its own. Metroid Prime 3: Corruption is a great conclusion to the series and Super Mario Galaxy is� well just look at Gamerankings, which says it all. It's an awesome platformer. I did say in the last roundtable that it wouldn't beat Super Mario 64 because Mario 64 was just created at the right time and that still remains true, so while Galaxy probably won't hold as many nostalgic feelings in the future, it is probably the best platformer to date now!
So it had a slow start, but now it is finally shinning, next year will be a true test though. It has the sales and it has started getting the games. It just now needs the games for the next year and keep on racking up those sells to prove that innovative gameplay doesn't need fancy power to make people play it. Apart from the games we know I hope Nintendo and 3rd Party developers have some great surprises up their sleeves and for god sale please give me my Wave Race sequel!

Tom "Tphi" Phillips:

It's been a great first year. Software-wise, Nintendo fans have been able to enjoy deep immersive titles such as Mario and Zelda and Metroid - with each of the three flagship franchises delivering a title with a case for being the best of its respective series to date.
These and Wario Ware, Mario Strikers, Super Paper Mario, even Wii Sports... the list goes on. The Wii has brought Nintendo back into the mainstream and some spectacular profit. Financially, the company has never been doing better. Admittedly, it's a shame that the hardware production issues are still not sorted, but with Wii production ramped up, Nintendo are working on it.
As others have said though, 2008 will be the make-or-break year for the Wii. We've had the big titles for the major franchises. We've had the initial surge of popularity and momentum. The beginning chapter of the Wii's life is now over, and Nintendo need to prove there's still more to come...

Fierce "Flinky" Link:

As a gamer who finds himself strapped for time, the Wii has really been a God-send. You know how it is, life, work, women take up all your time, so trying to fit in some quality Nintendo gaming time is really heavy going. Looking over at my game collection, there is only one title that has failed to hit my G-Spot (that's gaming spot to me and you), and that would be Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz. It was very soul-less compared to the first title, so it left me a bit disheartened.
However, there have been plenty of other titles that have left me happy. Excite Truck made me fall back in love with the racing genre. My first online experience on the Wii with Mario Strikers was also worthwhile, and there have been quite a few other peaches, too.
With titles like Super Mario Galaxy and Metroid Prime 3 being recently released, the Wii's true form and potential is only just starting to surface. We have had some good games over the last year, but now we are getting to see some of the great games. Games that you will remember for many years.
What the future holds for the Wii: I do not know. That is an exciting prospect. Not knowing what Nintendo will come up with next, especially in this day and age where surprises lurk around every corner. As a gamer, I cannot wait to be a part of it.

Franklin "Mokong X-C" Hughes:

The Wii's first year has indeed been a good one, especially from Nintendo's point of view as a business, neither them, the critics or even us gamers could have foreseen the massive demand of the little gaming wonder. The very fact that one year later it still sells out as soon as stock is delivered to stores and that for the second year in a row it is the most wanted gadget on Christmas lists is surely a first.
But for us gamers there is the feeling that we might have been left by the wayside in favour of the new "casual" market in terms of software. The initial launch line-up was pretty decent for a launch line-up, and we had Zelda on day one - what more can you ask for? Ok, it was technically a GameCube game, but still, a brand new Zelda on a brand new console it was.
Since launch we've had some good games but not much in the way of AAA titles. Games like ExciteTruck, Trauma Center, Mario Strikers, Super Paper Mario did keep me entertained but for the most part there was this long gap when it seemed like we were kept wanting. Third parties are to blame a lot also, trying to quickly cash in on the Wii's unexpected success by churning out multitudes of "mini-game collections" and very little else, with all their big name titles going to PS3, 360 and even DS.
But since October this has been changing. We've seen Metroid Prime 3 and Mario Galaxy both released, both games worthy of AAA status and it can be seen just how much care and attention Retro and Nintendo have put into these games and showing that the Wii is most certainly capable of a lot more graphics-wise. Hopefully we'll start to see this change in 2008 and Wii development will be taken more seriously by 3rd parties.
In the last three weeks now I have bought a game a week (Mario Galaxy, Guitar Hero 3, Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicals) and for the first time since launch day I find myself with little time to be able to play them all. Where for the most part of 2007 I would get a game and have plenty of time before my next expected purchase. It's almost like Christmas came a month early and I've now got to spread my time over 3 different games, which for me is great. I still haven't got all 120 stars in Galaxy, and it's nice to have other games to distract you so that you can savour that first play-through that bit longer.
If Nintendo can keep the big games coming and find the right balance for "hardcore" and "casual" markets respectively, next year should be even better, and with games like Zack and Wiki from Capcom and Nintendo's near holy grail that is Smash Bros. Brawl and Wii Fit for the casual market, 2008 will certainly be off to a great start.
Now if they could just sort out a few small issues like the Wii's memory and bite the bullet and give us an external hard-drive to help cope with all the VC games and forthcoming WiiWare titles, all will be well in the world of Nintendo.
There is however one thing that is concerning me, the current state of the Japanese market. Mario Galaxy hasn't made as big a bang there as we all expected (unless it's sales suddenly pick up before Christmas) which is quite worrying when you consider the same happened with Zelda: Twilight Princess over there. The only reason for this that I can think of the ratio of hardcore to casual Wii owners, which could be much more in favour of "casual" than we expected. It'll be interesting to see how Nintendo react to this in terms of software and how it might effect us "hardcore". Originally I expected them to attract "casual" gamers and try get them to start playing "hardcore" games, but what if we see them try the opposite due to the Japanese market?

Sam "The Peeps" Goodsell:

I think the Wii has had a phenomenal first year, breaking all kinds of records. I feel I must be strict though about the console I like most. So far, Nintendo seem to have been focusing their attentions on the mass market, the casual gamer. Obviously as a 'hardcore gamer', this annoys me. I want quality games and I want lots of them. The majority of games out on Wii have basically been the same mini-games with slightly different content. Wario Ware, Rayman, Wii Play, Sonic, MonkeyBall... A lot of wii games haven't had a great deal to offer to the hardcore gamer.
Sure we've had Metroid, Mario and Zelda titles all in the first year and we've got Mario Kart Wii and Smash Bros. Brawl to look forward to, but then what, Red Steel 2? The problem is, a lot of non-gamers bought Wiis purely for Wii Sports so Nintendo must cater for them as they are now the majority buyers. I'm glad that Nintendo is back on top but it wont really change things for the hardcore audience. With all that said the Wii is still, in my opinion, the best console of this generation and will deliver the usual Nintendo greats with a few gems along the way. I suppose I see it as a GameCube with a new control system, but I don't see any reason why that's not a good thing.

Dean "Cube" Jones:

In terms of games, the Wii's first year has been great - the biggest problem was the spread of them. The Wii was launched with the fantastic Twilight Princess (which I would call my "Best Game Ever" if it wasn't for Metroid Prime 3) and other decent games like Red Steel, Rayman Raving Rabbids and Wii Sports. It was one of the best console launches ever, if only for Zelda.
February gave us two more great games: Sonic and the Secret Rings easily became the best 3D Sonic game and was lengthy, played fantastically and the controls worked wonders for the style of the game. We also got Excite Truck, which had a good amount of levels, looked beautiful at times and was immensely fun. It had a fantastic difficulty curve, too. The handling was perfect and you could just play the game again and again. It's probably my most played Wii game.
After those two, the games weren't as good for a few months. We had a few good'uns, like Mario Strikers and Scarface, but the summer was characteristically empty. October brought us Metroid Prime 3, and it more than delivered. The controls showed us how good an FPS could be, the length was perfect and it improved on the original Metroid Prime in every way possible. And then there was Mario Galaxy.
Strewn around these two are other good games like Umbrella Chronicles, Guitar Hero 3, Tomb Raider and Mario & Sonic. So, the Wii has had a fantastic first year, and I'm very pleased with it.
So, next year? Well, there's Smash Bros. Brawl, Mario Kart, Wii Fit, Batallion Wars 2, Fire Emblem, Kirby, Zack & Wiki, Blocks, Eternity's Child, Harvest Moon, House of the Dead, King Story, No More Heroes, Okami, Samba de Amigo, Sega Superstars Tennis, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, Tales of Symphonia 2, We Love Golf! and Pro Evo... well, I think it's looking like a great year already.

Sam "SCG" Gittins

The first year on sale for the Wii has been a supremely successful one overall; featuring a solid launch line-up, excellent third party software support and an astounding responce from consumers. Crucially the main big three hitters have now been released and have been greatly recieved, it will be very interesting indeed to see how the console fares once the current shortage has been abolished and people finally get their hands on the next big first party game; will the Wii continue to be the sell-out success story that it currently is? Undoubtedly yes, so far cynics have been shunned and gamers have been wowed but this is just the start of things and if one things for sure it's that if this the first year of the console is anything to go by then roll on 2008 as we are in for one hell of a year and hopefully many more to come.

Nathan "Tellyn" Whincup:

In my opinion, the Wii has had a bloody fantastic first year, right from the moment I opened the box and sang to the heavens that the promised day had arrived to, erm, today. It's such a pity that most of the utterly fantastic games were only released towards the end of the year. I'll start with the magical moment when I opened the box. On December 8th 2006 (exactly one year to the day, as I sit typing this) I bankrupted myself in order to get my hands on the Wii with Wii Sports (obviously) and The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. The two games lasted me for ages (and I continue to play them), and provided the perfect mix of innovation and adventure.
January came, along with my birthday, and two more Wii games - Red Steel and WarioWare: Smooth Moves. Red Steel was a good first attempt at a Wii FPS by Ubisoft, but it was way too glitchy and inaccurate for my liking, whilst WarioWare: Smooth Moves was a simple yet devilishly entertaining new installment in the popular 'make a complete and utter fool out of yourself' franchise. 9-Volt's retro gaming minigames were the highlight of this one for me.
The next few months passed quickly, with Excite Truck, Eledees and Kororinpa being the few titles of note, until May. This was the month that Europeans (and me) laughed at their American chums and smugly rubbed Mario Strikers: Charged Football in their faces, the first online Wii game outside of Japan. Once we got past the infamous error code incident on launch day, the online mode proved to be addictively brilliant, and spawned a great N-Europe tournament.
I'll fastforward through the summer drought to Q4, which is where the party's at. I'll be brief: Metroid Prime 3, Lego Star Wars, Tomb Raider, Link's Crossbow Training, Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles, Super Mario Galaxy, Super Paper Mario, Endless Ocean, Mario and Sonic, Pokémon Battle Revolution, Cheggars Party Quiz. I was joking about the last one (or was I?), but what a line up. I'd go as far as saying that the Wii lineup has bettered every console on the market.
I must also give a special mention to all the Wii Channels and Virtual Console games that brightened up my year. Everybody Votes kept me going back to my Wii almost daily through the summer drought, and the Hanabi Festival did the unthinkable, and brought us Europeans heaping dollops of gaming gold in the form of previously unreleased games Sin and Punishment and Super Mario Bros 2: The Lost Levels.
Well done to Nintendo for a fantastic first year, may you bring us gamers many more. WII LOVE THE WII!

What do you think? What games did you buy? Leave us a comment below...