It was a big day for Nintendo fans. Not only did we get some greatannouncements 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:
Navigate to text box with Wii remote
Enter text on keyboard
Navigate to enter/search button with Wii remote
Profit. Very slow and awkward profit, but better than a poke in the eye with ye olde sharp stick.
Besides the disc channel, of course, what channel gets the most screen time on your Wii? Are you a Mii-maker, or do you prefer to browse from the comfort of the sofa when you're not gaming? Do you like to get into the voting, or are you constantly window shopping for new Virtual Console titles? We'd like to know how you spend your Wii time.
Aeropause's Stephen Munn, reacting to a recent Everybody Votes Channel question about how people preferred to buy music, suspects that the Everybody Votes Channel may not be just about harmless fun.
He believes that this question is aimed at gauging interest in a future music download channel, implying that the Everybody Votes Channel has always been an attempt to get marketing data from Wii users and pretend it's a game. We're going to have to add this plausible theory to our our ownlist of Everybody Votes conspiracy theories.
What do you think? If this is true, are you outraged? Or does the intent of the service not matter as long as you're having a good time?
Nintendo recently filled the inboxes of Japanese Wii consoles with a message about the "Mii Popularity Channel's" upcoming release. According to Siliconera, Wii owners will be able to download the new channel and vote for their favorite Miis as early as April 29th. Whether or not this is the worldwide release date hasn't been confirmed, but channel updates tend to occur on the same day.
The Mii Popularity Channel (not the official name) was announced last week at Shigeru Miyamoto's GDC keynote. Similar to the Everybody Votes Channel, users will be asked to pick out their preferred Mii from a lineup. The Mii that wins the majority vote will not only be crowned the "most popular kid" at school, but will enjoy the benefits of a fashionable wardrobe, invitations to every weekend party, and dates with the best-looking jocks or cheerleaders. That's life.
How many channels do you have on your Wii menu, including downloaded VC games, and how many of those channels do you actually use? We're guilty of downloading games and letting them sit there for a while before we replay them (talking to you, Super Castlevania IV), and there are others that we rarely use at all.
It's probably also fair to say that the latest channel news has been pretty unexpected. We got a channel out of nowhere, and now we're slated to get another channel, the mysterious Popularity Channel. The Wii's only been out six months, and those menu screens are filling up. How many channels do you think will be added by the end of the Wii's first full year?
Are you burning with the need to share dozens of questions with Nintendo? Are you completely without patience? Then this week's video spotlight is bound to hook you up with everything you need. One intrepid Wii artist figured out that by advancing the system's internal clock, you can suggest as many questions as you want in a day. There is no limit when all of time is at your fingertips! *cue evil laughter*
Check out the (somewhat wiggly) video after the jump to see just how to pull this off.
Yesterday, we discussed the significance of the Everybody Votes Channel, and made some conjecture about how it relates to the future of the Wii online. We've discovered another theory we think is worth sharing, from a post made in one of our own comments threads last week! Our readers are so smart; we, of course, take full credit.
Reader Cole thinks that the Everybody Votes Channel is a sneaky way to test netcode for online play, getting players to interact with the system in a simple manner. It sounds plausible to us, and certainly goes a long way in explaining why a poll channel appeared out of nowhere.
One week has passed since Nintendo sneakily updated the Wii with the Everybody Votes Channel, and the polls are still open on the channel itself. We'd like to say it's been a success, but half the time we go in to try to vote, either massive wait times make us reconsider the idea of voting, or we suffer through just to participate in this democratic process only to be told there's an error. Oh well. We can only hope that it'll get better. After all ... hey, it's free, amirite? And it's not as though it's all been loading times and errors, because we've thrown our hats in on a few questions.
But since we've all had a week of opportunity to fiddle, we thought we'd spend some time talking about Nintendo's latest and what may be yet to come for the new channel.
Besides the disc channel, of course, what channel gets the most screen time on your Wii? Are you a Mii-maker, or do you prefer to browse from the comfort of the sofa when you're not gaming? Do you like to get into the voting, or are you constantly window shopping for new Virtual Console titles? 
Aeropause's Stephen Munn, reacting to a recent 
How many channels do you have on your Wii menu, including downloaded VC games, and how many of those channels do you actually use? We're guilty of downloading games and letting them sit there for a while before we replay them (talking to you, 
