At long last, I had a chance to get hands-on with Guitar Hero III for Wii, which started shipping on November 14 for about $90. The game includes some improvements over earlier incarnations, but the biggest improvement is that it's available for all the major consoles and for PCs. That means Wii users like me can finally experience the carpal tunnel syndrome that PS2 and Xbox 360 owners have been enjoying for the past few years.

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I gotta say, the game makes genius use of the Wii's controller. Some assembly is required for the white plastic guitar controller (Gibson Les Paul style), which integrates the Wii Remote itself: Pop open the back cover, plug the Remote into the small connector, and then slide the Remote into the open slot. There's an opening on the front of the guitar that lets you access the Remote's buttons through the faceplate, so it looks as if the Wii controller is just a built-in part of the guitar. The Wii version of the guitar has a joystick for navigation (you can't just point at the screen as you normally would on the Wii), whereas the Xbox 360 version has a directional pad.

One cool feature in the new Wii version is the use of the Remote's tiny speaker. Hit a bum note and the speaker will let you know with a ping and a rumble.

If you're expecting that kind of innovation to extend to the graphics, guess again. But then, you aren't rea