Nintendo Wii Fanboy

We've heard many a tale about people flinging their Wiimotes into expensive HDTVs. Despite Nintendo's precautions, some folks still manage to let their controllers fly. Because of this, Panasonic has decided to release idiot-proof Wii-proof plasmas, with panels that protect the screen by resisting up to four joules of energy.

We can't imagine there being a huge market of people wanting this model, with the exception of the truly paranoid. Even so, Crave writes that it won't take too much effort for Panasonic to beef-up certain plasma screens, since they're generally more durable than LCD panels.

Sure, a stronger screen might be useful for other reasons (not all of us have kids, and for all we know, they like to throw stuff at TVs for fun). If you're considering this purchase for Wii purposes, though, might we suggest you simply use protection?

[Via Destructoid]

Every (other) Tuesday, Mike Sylvester brings you REVOLUTIONARY, a look at the wide world of Wii possibilities.

It is the year 2008 and we've all got jet packs to carry us from our front door to the flying car in our driveway. Our friends can leave us telepathic thoughtmails when we're summering in seclusion on the dark side of the moon. Skynet fought back and the treacherous Decepticons have conquered the Autobots' home planet of Cybertron. Everyone is basking in the realer-than-reality goodness of their HD television sets. Wait a minute ... scratch that last bit. Not everyone's got an HDTV or even a DTV, so that broadcast switchover to digital transmission that the FCC mandated for the years leading up to 2007 wound up getting postponed until 2009.

Nintendo engineers are patting themselves on the back (no doubt with fat stacks of cash) for predicting the relatively slow transition to HD, which allowed them to keep production costs down on the little white wonder. It's a point of contention to some, but seniors, girlfriends, your parents, and most Wii fanboys aren't giving it a lot of thought. Many people aren't even aware that it's not an HD console, so this edition of Revolutionary is intended to clear up any misunderstandings about the Wii's resolution ... -ary.

Every Tuesday, Mike Sylvester brings you REVOLUTIONARY, a look at the wide world of Wii possibilities.

It may be time for Nintendo to concede that we've entered the HD-era. Anyone looking to buy a new television will have an increasingly difficult time finding a "classic" SD tube amongst the pristine plasmas, elegant LCoS, lavish LCDs, dazzling DLPs, and (soon-to-come) sexy SEDs. And the technologies behind today's televisions are benefiting greatly from economies of scale, making it easier for consumers to consider going big on their next TV purchase.

For too long, big screen gaming had been confined to dollar-munching arcade machines and reruns of Silver Spoons, but more and more people are finding out what it feels like to have a truly super Mario kicking gargantuan goombas across the Mushroom Kingdom. If you haven't yet been bitten by the big bug, today I'll make you feel the itch.

Many who've downloaded the Virtual Console's Punch-Out!! release are reporting that the boxing game isn't playing well with their HDTVs. Timing is paramount if you want to dodge punches and have your own jabs connect, but the HDTV response lag that sometimes occurs has a habit of knocking Little Mac's bloodied face onto the canvas, leaving him too dazed to even focus his eyes on the mouthguard dropped inches away.

Gamers with SDTV's haven't been experiencing any lag between their controllers and the onscreen fight, and explanations for the decreased response time lean towards blaming the televisions, so Nintendo doesn't seem to be at fault this time. Have you noticed any HDTV lag with Punch-Out!! or your other Virtual Console purchases?

(We know that Mike Tyson isn't in the VC release of Punch-Out!, but we saw the above comic at The Librarianist, and couldn't stop ourselves from using it!)

Of the download services for the new consoles, Nintendo's Virtual Console provides the most faithful representation of older games. ToeJam & Earl on the Wii looks like ToeJam & Earl on the Genesis-- no borders, no filters, no "enhancements." We appreciate Nintendo's decision not to try to improve on the resolution or anything, since we see the VC as a form of preservation.

It is especially maddening, then, to hear that VC games default to widescreen when played on HDTV's. This seems to fly in the face of what the VC is about. We're sure some of you are HDTV owners, and we want to know: does this bother you as much in practice as it bothers us in theory (no HDTV here)? Or have you gotten used to switching the aspect ratio every time you want to play Vigilante? Or ... are you playing in a non-archival resolution? Don't tell us if you are. We don't think we could take it.

[Thanks for the idea, RD!]