This holiday season, "next-generation" video game consoles are flying off store shelves.

VIDEO: 'Gadget Guy' Rates Nintendo Wii

Sony's initial U.S. shipment of only 400,000 units of its highly anticipated PlayStation 3 only fueled the frenzy, with large crowds and injuries reported at stores as consumers fought to claim the few available gaming consoles.

But as Sony and Microsoft's Xbox 360 system slug it out for cutting-edge gaming supremacy, Nintendo has entered the fray with an unconventional offering -- the new Wii -- pronounced "we" -- system.

While the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 boast faster, more powerful hardware than the Wii, Nintendo is banking on its revolutionary controller design.

Rather than the now-familiar two-handed game pad, the wireless Wii controller uses a motion-sensing bar with few buttons that is meant to be held in one hand. The controller somewhat resembles a TV remote control, and to control game play, players swing the remote about like a sword, baseball bat or as a boxing glove, depending on the game being played.

When Nintendo launched the Wii on Nov. 17, the units were quickly snapped up, and it's still relatively difficult to acquire one for the holidays. In fact, the only reason I've had the chance to play a Wii is because my roommate's cousin camped out in front of a store in Chicago the night before they went on sale to purchase a system on my roommate's behalf.

But Nintendo fans are known for their unwavering loyalty, and each new system release is an event for longtime fans of the company.

It's clear with the Wii's unique control features and its offering of game titles that Nintendo is angling for a different audience than the 18 through 30-year-old male target audience that Microsoft and Sony have staked out.

A Nintendo news release said that the idea is that "Wii will break down that wall that separates video game players from everyone else."

That target audience includes young children, older adults and female gamers. Rather than getting into a costly arms war with Sony and Microsoft to create the fastest system with the most advanced graphics, Nintendo has apparently chosen to veer off into a different direction and capitalize on a different set of strengths -- such as continuing to develop and expand upon its popular Mario and Zelda franchises and an offering of more family-friendly games.

With a retail price of about $249.99, the Wii is a cost-conscious alternative to the PS3 -- which is selling for more than $600 (if you manage to find one) -- or the Xbox 360, which is going for about $400. What it lacks in raw power, however, the Wii looks to compensate by offering titles like "Legend of Zelda: The Twilight Princess," one of the best-reviewed games of the year.

"It's rare to find a launch game that truly justifies the purchase of a new console, but this is precisely that," wrote a reviewer for 1Up.com about the new Zelda game.

In addition to one controller, the Wii comes with a Wii Sports game, which offers a no-frills sampling of tennis, golf, baseball, bowling and boxing games. The games are startlingly basic, with graphics that are almost condescendingly bad and bobble-headed characters, and it's probably best to view these games as an introduction to the Wii's controller.

As such, the tennis game offers by far the best control, and it can be fun challenging friends to matches -- that is if one's able to find a second controller on store shelves. The tennis game made me look forward to when Nintendo or other companies develop a proper tennis game with decent graphics and more nuanced game play.

The boxing game, on the other hand, features the least-responsive control from the Wii remote and is the weakest of the bunch. That said, with all the vigorous punching and blocking, I broke a sweat soon after I started playing -- a unique and not altogether welcome experience while playing a video game. After all, I play video games to unwind, not to tire myself out.

In the end, I'm not yet completely sold on the new Wii controller. Sure, it gets points for originality, but, to me, one of the most crucial issues for many games is the level of and accuracy of control. In my experience, pressing a button is often more effective and preferable to the novelty of swinging and pointing and jabbing motions.

For instance, in the "Call of Duty 3" game for the Wii, a player's gun sight/view is controlled by the motion of pointing the remote at the TV screen to look in various directions. After an extended campaign of rooting Nazis out of rural French villages, I started to get a hand cramp; and as I unconsciously rolled out and stretched my wrist, I noticed the view on the screen go berserk, quickly reminding me that I hadn't yet gotten over the steep controller learning curve for that game.

That said, I broke in the Wii Sports package with several friends, and we ended up playing late into the night and having a great time. Some tennis matches got pretty heated and furniture did have to be moved to allow two people to stand in front of the TV and have room to swing. I can see the potential for accidentally smacking someone with a controller while playing a multi-person game in close quarters, but my friends and I didn't have any problems or injuries.

I did, however, awake the next morning with an unexpected case tennis elbow from a night of continuous swinging and wrist-flicking. Holding and using the Wii's controller works muscles and tendons that many gamers might not have used in awhile, which can be uncomfortable if one is looking to simply play a relaxing game.

Also, there is no way to look cool while playing a Wii, but standing in front of the TV, swinging enthusiastically, brings to mind a certain childlike sense of wonder that complements Nintendo's image and the system itself.

Much has been made of reports of excited gamers losing their grip on the Wii's controller or smacking their arms into nearby objects. People have apparently had trouble holding onto the remote while playing, and TV screens have been cracked by Wii controllers that were accidentally thrown while playing.

Based on my Wii-playing experience, these instances seem overblown and somewhat perplexing. Would you throw a tennis racket while swinging it? Do these people also throw their keyless entry devices at their car while trying to unlock it?

The Wii games I've played don't respond to the relative strength or power of your windup or swing -- only the timing or angle. That is, a simple flick of the wrist will do fine and probably register better in the game than a full-blown swing.

With its recent launch, there is still a relatively small amount of available games for the Wii. Notably, the Wii marks the first Nintendo system launched without a Mario franchise game.

Based on what I've seen so far, I'm definitely looking forward to games like Mario Tennis or Mario Kart -- games that were such a blast on the Nintendo 64 -- getting an updated treatment on the Wii. When that happens, I'm planning on inviting some friends over and kicking off the party.