Nintendo Wii Fanboy

In order to promote use of the Wii's online functions, Nintendo has announced that they'll start including a 3.5 minute movie on each Wii -- in Japan, anyway -- called "Wii de Dekiru Koto" ("Things You Can Do With Wii"). We expect that it will outline things like playing Mario Kart online, downloading Virtual Console and WiiWare games, browsing on the Internet Channel, and voting on frivolous topics. Because, you know, those are the things the Wii does online.

The best part of their initiative to get people online is that when one Wii owner helps another get online, they'll both receive 500 free Wii Points from Nintendo. We aren't sure how this information will get to Nintendo -- if it's as easy as sending a survey, then hey, free points for everyone!

The Internet Channel sits there in the Wii Menu with all the other loser channels (as in, all the ones that aren't River City Ransom), just waiting to accidentally be opened when you try to open River City Ransom. Or ... do you use the thing? We know you're not using it to watch TV shows on Hulu, unfortunately, because we tried. We're region-locked out of the BBC iPlayer, as well.

If you are actively Channeling some Internet through your Wii, what are you using it for? Occasional email checking? Obsessive awesome Wii blog checking? Italian Spiderman?

It still puzzles us that the BBC was so keen to make its (admittedly excellent and very popular) iPlayer catch-up service compatible with the Wii. Are there really that many Wii owners out there with internet-ready PCs who would opt to use the service on the Wii's slightly clunky Opera browser? Why not just use your PC to watch the latest editions of Gavin & Stacey and The Apprentice? You know: the one you're using to read these words, right at this very second?

Not only that, but the iPlayer on the Wii is hardly user-friendly. Text is so small that it's almost unreadable, loading times are hardly ideal, and the low resolution of the Wii's browser makes navigation awkward. Cue the intervention of WiiPlayer, a hacked version of the iPlayer that has been optimized for Nintendo's console, and is now available for use at http://defaced.co.uk/wiiplayer.

It won't work on your PC, and it goes without saying you'll still have to reside in the UK to use this, but WiiPlayer does do a sterling job, replacing the iPlayer's teensy text and browser-taxing layout with pleasingly chunky, Wiimote-friendly icons and a cleaner, less cluttered appearance.


[Via Tech Digest]

goo, a Japanese search engine and content portal (think Yahoo!, but without the silly na-- oh, never mind), has unveiled a content channel optimized for the Wii Internet Channel and featuring exclusive stuff for Wii users. Right now, the only new Wii-specific content is found in the far-left link, which goes to a series of quizzes. The other links just go to the kids' goo portal and the games content portal, respectively.

A bunch of Japanese quizzes may not be what English-speaking Wii owners want, but it's nice to see the nearly-forgotten Wii Internet Channel get some support.

The Wii now has the rarely-discussed ability to receive input from USB keyboards. You can type in the Wii Message Board and (most importantly) the Internet Channel using the charmingly quaint "hitting buttons with pictures of the letters you want to put on the screen" method instead of the vastly superior, futuristic "pointing at the letters one at a time on your TV" method. But are you?

Now we know what makes you people tick: the BBC. Our inboxes (and comments) have been flooded with news about the BBC iPlayer in one of our most-tipped stories ever.

If you're one of the five people who didn't send us this tip and don't know what's up, the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) announced today that their iPlayer, which allows viewers to catch up with BBC shows online, is now compatible with the Wii. And yes, that means you'll be able to watch Dr. Who, EastEnders, and other such programmes on your TV to your tea-drinking heart's content.

Should this venture by the BBC become successful (which we think it will -- after the news was announced, the number of people using the iPlayer rose significantly), we wouldn't be surprised to see other major networks adopt their services to Nintendo's console.

That's not to say that the BBC isn't running into some problems with the idea, though. Right now, the network is quarreling with ISPs over who should pay the extra service costs. Even so, the player can be used as soon as today, with more polished video quality promised in the future. You'll probably also be relieved to know that the service is free, although it will cost you money to download Nintendo's internet channel if you haven't done so already.

The other catch? The BBC iPlayer is only available in the UK, for the time being, but BBC Worldwide is apparently working on getting an international player up and running.

[Via TVSquad; thanks to everyone who sent this in!]

We normally don't use the terms "MMORPG" and "Wii" in one sentence, but well, there's a first (or second) time for everything.

HullBreach Online is a new browser-based MMORPG designed with the Wii's Internet Channel in mind. If you've ever wanted to create a starship pilot, explore the universe, and do other space-related things with your Wiimote, then here's your chance.

Interested? You can make an account and download the beta here. It seems pretty basic right now as far as MMORPGs go, but still cool. We don't doubt that this could suck up countless hours of our lives, as any proper game in the genre should.

It was a big day for Nintendo fans. Not only did we get some great announcements out of a surprise conference in Japan, but we were greeted by the friendly blue glow when we were able to tear ourselves away from said news and actually look at our beloved consoles.

While exciting on the face, though, today's update ends up being less than thrilling. Much-needed keyboard functionality came to the Opera browser, but it's still limited, and the Wii remote must be used to navigate through text boxes. Take the average search form as an example; at the computer, most of the time, you can type in your search terms and hit enter -- or at the most, tab to the search button and then hit enter. No such luck with the Wii's browser. It's more like this:

1. Navigate to text box with Wii remote
2. Enter text on keyboard
3. Navigate to enter/search button with Wii remote
   
4. Profit. Very slow and awkward profit, but better than a poke in the eye with ye olde sharp stick.