Every (other) Tuesday, Mike Sylvester brings you REVOLUTIONARY, a look at the wide world of Wii possibilities.
Custom level creation in console games has come a long way. It used to be, if you wanted to share a track that you built in Excitebike, you had to invite friends over to play your creation on your cartridge, until you powered off your NES and the track was lost forever. Nowadays our levels can be saved to internal storage, and shared by removable media, or across the internet to survive for posterity.
It's a feature that's fully supported by all consoles this generation, and big games are highlighting it amongst their bullet points. System sellers like Halo 3, LittleBigPlanet, and Super Smash Bros. Brawl are trojan-horsing the concept of custom level creation into the consciousness of the console-consuming collective. Former Sony exec Phil Harrison popularized the term "Game 3.0," but we'll be taking a look at how it is playing out on Nintendo's platform.
Possible megaton alert! Cue the excitement -- or the yawns; your mileage with these announcements-about-announcements may vary. NoA President Reggie Fils-Aime dropped a not-so-subtle hint that we'll be seeing something special on our Wiis come September. A surprise, and just for us! He even says it'll be a good surprise; awesome, says us, because that's the best kind. It's probably not the Check Mii Out channel, because he was talking about that in the same breath in his interview with Game Head's Geoff Keighley. So what could it be? Perhaps an early peek at WiiWare? Some of you thought such a thing could be possible (though not quite that early). A channel we haven't heard about? Maybe demos? Get your speculation on.
It only took a couple of days before Nintendo was ready to respond to reports of WiiConnect24 damaging consoles. The response, which comes from a nameless UK source, states "we've had no reports in the UK of anything like this happening." Yes, but what about gamers in the other territories that are reporting issues?
Now, you guys know we're incredibly paranoid about our Wii, treating it as the beautiful piece of technology it is. But, surely many of you have been using the service with no problems whatsoever? Maybe some of you have developed problems? For us, we're just going to play it safe because, really, the service hasn't done that much for us, anyway.
Apparently, many a gamer are stating that leaving their Wii console connected to Nintendo's WiiConnect24 service is damaging the system. Now, we aren't ones to say "we told you so," but ... we told you so.
Perhaps our Wii is still very much alive and kicking because of our paranoia? Or maybe these folks just had bad consoles to begin with? Whatever it is, the ones reporting these issues of damaged pixels showing up on their TV (due to overheated GPUs) all have one thing in common: leaving the console in Standby mode.
Reuters has tossed their hat into the online argument arena, citing concerns many of us share in regards to the Wii and online gameplay. Mainly, the concern of when are we going to get to play our Wii online? And, in attempting to tackle the subject, they instead fall face first into the mud. What we found interesting about the piece was a little factoid that the article's author Kemp Powers tossed in.
He says that "more than 50 percent of Wii consoles in the United States are connected online." Of course, that means near 50 percent (as in just over) of these consoles are connected online, but can that be correct? That's a pretty big chunk of Wii owners out there and, frankly, it makes us that much more angry that Nintendo has yet to get us online and playing each other. It's really kind of embarrassing, if you think about it. But then again, that's not Nintendo's main focus, and we knew that going in.
Posted Mar 29th 2007 3:00PM by Eric Caoili Filed under: News
It breaks our hearts to see that only a few games on the Wii's roster support Mii integration and WiiConnect24. Nintendo's lack of third-party cooperation might be to blame, but at least the company will be implementing both features with Big Brain Academy for the Wii. Users will be able to import their Miis when creating a student profile, solving the game's reflex puzzles with their customized characters.
According to the latest issue of Nintendo Power, WiiConnect24 will allow other people's Miis to wander into your game, equipped with the student profiles of their creators. You will also be able to test your brain against theirs in any of the multiplayer modes. We're going to be pretty depressed if our friends' Miis turn out to be much smarter than us. At least we have our wit! There's always that, right? Big Brain Academy won't be coming out in the US until June 11, so there's still some time to hit the books and get your brain in shape. Jeux-France has several dozen screenshots of the game in action along with some Mii artwork. Check past the post break for a few of those images.
Turns out America isn't the only place that Nintendo is using the appeal of Mii creation to market their console. In Japan, Nintendo is enlisting the aid of Japanese celebrities Akashiya Sanma (the man with the immaculate cheek bones) and Shuuzou Matsuoka to generate buzz amongst the public.
Sanma, who is a comedian and TV celebrity, and Matsuoka, a one-time tennis pro, will both have their Miis sent to Japanese Wii owners through the WiiConnect24 service. Could Nintendo could be on their way to doing this in regions outside of Japan?
In the interest of science (and fanboy flame wars on forums), HCW compared the power consumption of the current crop of consoles and discovered that the Wii might just use less electricity than your electric can opener. Just for fun, they also tossed in a mid-range PC. As you can see from the above graph, the PS3, PC and Xbox 360 use incredible amounts of electricity, however the Wii comes out to about $1a month in cost if you leave it plugged in. If you have WiiConnect24 turned on, you're faced with a bill of around $7 a month.
We've all had, and still have, problems with friend codes. Nintendo's system of a string of convoluted numbers that differ from game to game on the DS has been the focal point of many a fanboy's rage. When we first heard the Wii was to have console-specific codes, we thought Nintendo was starting to understand our frustration. Then we were told that Pokemon Battle Revolution would have its own code, shattering dreams of easy-to-use online functionality.
What does this have to do with Square Enix? The company's Senior Vice President Hiromichi Tanaka feels our pain and, during an interview with Cubed3, states that such a system held the company back from bringing an online game (such as Final Fantasy XI) to the Wii. Tanaka exclaims that his company is currently in talks "resolving this point of contention."
Does this mean that we could see FFXI on the Wii? Sure, anything is possible, however it isn't likely. Even with the increased support Nintendo is receiving from the company once again, we doubt it'll be enough to make them change their ways. Here's to hoping Square Enix manages to talk some sense into Nintendo.
Don't get us wrong, we trust Nintendo. However, the idea of our system being in Standby mode frightens us to new levels of fear. We worry about going to bed with the Wii in Standby mode, only to be awaken in the middle of the night by a bright, horrible sight. One that has our Wii in flames and melting a slow, horrible death.
We're sure it's absolutely safe to leave the Wii "off" with a yellow light on the power button, but our irrational fears have caused us to make sure our system is totally off every night by first changing the Standby mode feature through the Wii's settings into the off position and holding down that power button until we see that beautiful red light.
That got us to thinking; could we be complete loons or are their others out there in the world who worry about the longevity of their system and the effects the Standby mode might have on it just as we do? Do you Standby?
So now we know that Elebits is going to have all sorts of WiiConnect24 features -- but what's it like? How's it look? We know how these questions burn inside you, because we burn, too. Luckily, we dug up a few screenshots of trades in action. Check after the jump for the electric (and devastatingly cute!) new screens.
Looks like the rumor was true! This WiiConnect 24 service we've heard so much about is getting its first compatible game in Elebits, Konami's find-em-all environmental hunting game thing releasing next month. We all knew what the game was about, but now we have a whole new facet of the experience for our mouths to collectively water over (that's a lotta drool!). Barring any interference from rich, crotchety old Dukes, the game's WiiConnect24 features will include:
Create and trade custom maps to friends online
Support for taking screenshots and sending them to friends
Not much, we know, but a promising precedent set that should pave the way for other developers to crack the shell wide open and allow us to savor the tasty nut within. We can't wait to trade our places with all of you upon the game's release! [Thanks Matt!]
While a story that didn't make much of a splash when it belly-flopped onto the internets, we are compelled to offer up our opinions on the latest conflict with the UK and the Wii. Basically, since the WiiConnect24 function of the Nintendo Wii would need the system to be on, in standby mode, 24/7, a new law where the British Government is pushing to have standby features taken out of electronic equipment during production could mean that the service would be altered, or even unavailable, for all UK consoles.
The cause certainly is excellent. We here at The Fanboy are behind the good fight against the waste of resources. Our offices don't even have air conditioning, and all of our equipment is hooked up to an exercise bike that must be ridden all day, every day. We do our part, world, so we understand.
Surely though, they wouldn't entirely cut the feature on UK consoles, instead just adjusting it so that UK residents could only download while the system is on. Would they even do that?
In a rather lengthy interview, Eguchi spills the beans on some other unannounced features for the upcoming Wii installment in the Animal Crossing franchise. While he reiterated what Iwata said in regards to the WiiConnect24 service allowing players to visit someone's town while they weren't even playing, he also went on to say that players could even be so bold as to send messages via cell phone and/or PC, which would be delivered to the recipient's town immediately. Also, it looks like the Friend Codes system will remain intact for the Wii's Animal Crossing, although it looks as if codes will not be transferable from the DS, leaving gamers with the task of acquiring a new code.
Possible megaton alert! Cue the excitement -- or the yawns; your mileage with these announcements-about-announcements may vary. NoA President Reggie Fils-Aime dropped a not-so-subtle hint that we'll be seeing something special on our Wiis come September. A surprise, and just for us! He even says it'll be a good surprise; awesome, says us, because that's the best kind. It's probably
Don't get us wrong, we trust Nintendo. However, the idea of our system being in Standby mode frightens us to new levels of fear. We worry about going to bed with the Wii in Standby mode, only to be awaken in the middle of the night by a bright, horrible sight. One that has our Wii in flames and melting a slow, horrible death.
