Nintendo Wii Price and launch date revealed

Wii User Interface

An example of a channel is the Disk Drive Channel, which shows what's currently in the Wii disk drive, be it a Wii game or a GameCube game. You'll also find a picture channel, which gives you access to the pictures located on your system, and a news channel, which uses the internet to access the latest news. To purchase Virtual Console titles, you access the Wii Shopping Channel.

Here's a channel by channel look at the Wii Channel service.

Disk Drive Channel
Go here to start up Wii and GameCube games.

Picture Channel
Access the pictures that are stored away on your SD Memory Card. The Wiimote is used to shrink and enarge pictures by moving the controller away and towards the screen. You also have access to image modification tools including paint brushes and paint buckets, and can view your images as a slide show.

Internet Channel
Go here to access the Opera internet browser. In addition to supporting flash (making this a step up from the DS browser), the browser uses the Wiimote to zoom in and out. The browser will normally cost money, but Nintendo will make it available for free download until June of 2006.

Weather Channel
This free weather service requires an internet connection. In addition to daily weather based on region, you also have access to a weekly forecast. The service gives you a view of the Earth, which you can rotate to access different regions.

News Channel
The latest news is automatically updated and viewable through this free service, which also requires an internet connection. The new channel is said to have "functions indicative of a game machine." Users can also change the font size for easy viewing.

Avatar Channel
In this channel, you create your own avatar, which is referred to as a "Mii." Your Mii is used in Wii games (as in Wii Sports) and can be transferred to your Wiimote and used on other Wii consoles. Nintendo chief software producer Shigeru Miyamoto commented at Nintendo's Japanese Wii press conference that this is a feature he's always wanted to have.

You'll also find channels for launching Virtual Console aps on the Famicom, Super Famicom and Nintendo 64. The interface also seems to allow players to assign shortcuts to Virtual Console titles, although it's unclear how Nintendo will be organizing all the games players will potentially have stored on their SD cards. Players will be able to view available software in various ways, selecting to view all Super Famicom games, for instance, or all games in the Mario series.

In addition to the individual channels, the Wii Channel interface gives you access to a message board, used for exchanging messages with your family members. Nintendo considers this similar to posting a memo on a refrigerator. In addition to writing text, you can also include images from your SD card in the body of messages. The message board service also gives access to the internet via WiConnect24, allowing those with whom you've exchanged friend codes to see your memos.

You might even see memos created by games like Animal Crossing...
 
sanblaster1 said:
So how many zelda games made it to the gamecube and which, if all, are worth purchasing? I saw a few that are $20 each now. I just enjoy the 2d zeldas more but may purchase a few of the 3d ones plus the g/f likes the link dude.

1) Majoras mask

2) ocarina of time

3) wind taker


1. Zelda Collectorers Edition that has Ocarina of time, Majoras Mask, Legend of Zelda and Links Awakening

2. Ocarina of time/ Master Quest bundle

3. Wind Waker

4. The Four sword adventures, whihc is a multiplayer game


I would get 1 and 3 because thats all the major Zelda Titles excpet a link to the past which you can get for the Game boy advance or if you still have a SNES
 
Donas64 said:
I'm seriously stoked for this game.

and supersmash bros brawl!

New Characters in Brawl:

KID ICARUS!!!!!!!

SOLID SNAKE!!!!

The thought of solid snake whoopin on pikachu just makes me smile

And i think there are more characters that there not telling us about yet
 
Thanks mang. So the collectors edition has all those games on one disk?

And then Wind Waker for pretty much the collection on gamecube. Thanks for the info.
 
sanblaster1 said:
Thanks mang. So the collectors edition has all those games on one disk?

And then Wind Waker for pretty much the collection on gamecube. Thanks for the info.

yup, no problem
 
-YellowMSP- said:
2.jpg


that is HAWT!!!!!!! think i am going to go lay a preorder down on my day off damn!!!!
 
i could see myself getting a ps3 if it was less the 500$$ i think that is the limit in most peoples mind... and honestly i could really give a s*** about blue ray... i have my 55" hdtv and love it and reg dvd's look damn good... i am sure blue ray and hddvd are going to look better but for the price is it worth it anymore??? you can get a very nice progressive scan dvd player for like 65$$ nowadays...
 
Exactly. Sony is trying to cram sooo much technology into the PS3 that they forgot what it really is. A VIDEO GAME SYSTEM. The most important part is for the games to be fun. Amazing graphics are awesome, but there comes a point where the price negates the fun you'd have playing it.
HD DVD and blueray only developed because manufacurers are seeing that dvd players are almost in every home in america, so they need a new gen system to keep profits up. Consumers don't need it yet.
 
Jeph said:
Exactly. Sony is trying to cram sooo much technology into the PS3 that they forgot what it really is. A VIDEO GAME SYSTEM. The most important part is for the games to be fun. Amazing graphics are awesome, but there comes a point where the price negates the fun you'd have playing it.
HD DVD and blueray only developed because manufacurers are seeing that dvd players are almost in every home in america, so they need a new gen system to keep profits up. Consumers don't need it yet.


one thing i heard about the PS3 is that once you put a game in the system it only plays on that system and no other PS3, which would suck alot of ass if its true
 
-YellowMSP- said:
one thing i heard about the PS3 is that once you put a game in the system it only plays on that system and no other PS3, which would suck alot of ass if its true

no way that can't be true. thats totally ridiculous. "Hey can' I borrow that? I wanna see if I wanna buy it?" NOPE!!!
 
Jeph said:
Exactly. Sony is trying to cram sooo much technology into the PS3 that they forgot what it really is. A VIDEO GAME SYSTEM. The most important part is for the games to be fun. Amazing graphics are awesome, but there comes a point where the price negates the fun you'd have playing it.
HD DVD and blueray only developed because manufacurers are seeing that dvd players are almost in every home in america, so they need a new gen system to keep profits up. Consumers don't need it yet.


yeah i think the project team got a little too carried away for sure... yes they are loosing money on it but look what nintendo is doin with this Wii its less then half the price and is another step forward with graphics from the cube deffinatly not on par with with ps3 (or at least it better not be lol) but it just screams more fun and isn't that what video games are about??? i would rather sony just package a video game system together and leave the rest of the technology out of it... i loved my ps2 but i have more fun on the cube...
 
gimpo2 said:
no way that can't be true. thats totally ridiculous. "Hey can' I borrow that? I wanna see if I wanna buy it?" NOPE!!!

i heard the same thing too from multiple people.but then again people will be spendin 600 bux on the ps3. wuts a miniscule 70 dollars per game gonna hurt peoples pockets.lol
 
Jeph said:
I think the Wii will do well.

Sony is more likely to end up like sega at this point. If the PS3 bombs then i don't think there will be a PS4, and if blue ray doesn't become the next gen standard, then i don't forsee sony being a very big player anymore...
Are you kidding me?? Sony will live on for at least 2 more consoles after the PS3 soley on name and reputation alone. Look how long Nintendo has lasted despite 2 complete bombs for their last 2 systems - they've survived on their reputation for years and Sony can easily do the same if need be.

The PS3 will sell well at $600. Christ people pay $300 for a stupid Ipod with video playback, so obviously there are tons of people out there with lots of money to blow.
 
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I think the Wii controller is going to SUCK for playing games. It's TOO interactive - makes you think about what you have to do physically rather than sit back and enjoy the game. It's like the gameboy's "WarioWare Twisted" game - that was a sequel to a GREAT game but had a gyroscope built in so you played the game by tilting it the gameboy. I don't know, it just WASN'T FUN. And that's how a lot of the Wii games will be too I'm betting - developers will be too focused on trying to figure out ways to use the controller rather than just making a good game that's fun.

The only saving grace for this Nintendo console may be its virtual console. Miyamoto recently said that he thinks most of today's games are too complicated for a lot of people and I think he's right - they need to get back to the basics and the best way to do that is to milk all of the classics from the old library as much as possible. The SNES was (and is) the greatest console ever made, so milking the SNES library is a very smart move.
 
girth said:
Are you kidding me?? Sony will live on for at least 2 more consoles after the PS3 soley on name and reputation alone. Look how long Nintendo has lasted despite 2 complete bombs for their last 2 systems - they've survived on their reputation for years and Sony can easily do the same if need be.

The PS3 will sell well at $600. Christ people pay $300 for a stupid Ipod with video playback, so obviously there are tons of people out there with lots of money to blow.

WRONG Nintendo I believe has still posted profits despite its last console bombing. One thing Nintendo does have going for it is the mobile game market. How many different versions of the gameboy have we seen? And each one is very good at what it is. They aren't surviving on their name alone...

Sony on the other hand has posted record LOSSES in its electronics department 4 out of the last 5 years. I know its not the playstations fault, but somewhere along the lines sony has lost focus on what the consumer wants.

They are soooo caught up in releasing a "video game console" superior to the one microsoft is producing that they've packed all this "potential" into it. It may be capable of better graphics, but how long until we actually see those graphics on our own tvs? 2-3 years down the line? By that time they are due for a new system anyways.

I hope blueray goes well for them because if it doesn't then i have a feeling that the once all powerful sony will not be the same as we all remember.
 

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