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You know how the Wii controller works. You know what it can do. You’ve seen the press shots and read the games previews. But how does the controller actually feel?

No matter how many Wii game previews you read, finally getting your hands on the controller in December (or November, if you’re a super-keen importer) will be a totally new, slightly unusual feeling. But we analysed, poked, prodded and playtested the controller to death in a recent hands-on session with Wii to bring you these detailed impressions of exactly what the controller is like and how it performs.

Please note, Nintendo was quick to stress that the controllers we used were not final retail units, and so may still differ slightly from the end product you’ll be excitedly plucking off the shelves. But apart from a couple of the controllers still being hard-wired to the consoles (instead of being fully wireless), they felt pretty near to complete to us.

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Hardcore gamers are split on “Wii Music.”

It’s not “Rock Band” or “Guitar Hero” — it’s something entirely different. Given the accessibility of “Wii Music,” however, it seems especially designed to engage the younger crowd.

A few weeks ago, I was speaking with Nintendo Treehouse employee JC Rodrigo, who was demoing “Wii Music” all day. He’d recently attended the Austin City Limits music festival in Texas and spent several hours with kids checking out “Wii Music.”

What kind of music did kids create with their Wiimotes?

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Hot on the heals of news that Sony’s been idea-shopping its so-called “PS4″ to developers, the grapevine has it “from multiple sources” that Nintendo’s started talking up its official successor to the Wii. What They Play “parents guide to video games” co-founder John Davison says he’s heard it from several folks in the games dev and publishing biz that Nintendo’s started showing “what’s next” and buzz-calling it the “Wii HD,” though it’s apparently any one’s guess whether that would be the final name or not.

Think Game Boy to Game Boy Advance, says Davison, or “same candy shell, more powerful not-so-chewy center.”

Tasty bits:

- High definition visuals.

- Greater priority given to digitally distributed content.

- Local storage (for said digitally distributed content).

- A game link for the Virtual Boy.

One of those is only 99 percent false, while the other three fall somewhere in the “who knows, but let’s make a wish!” range.

Of course it’s always possible that Nintendo’s imminent press conference could include a wink or nod toward new hardware. Not likely, but possible. They’ve certainly got plenty of other dots to connect, like announcing their long rumored new Nintendo DS handheld, which an MCV source now “guarantees” is coming.