So, has anyone been reading about their main interface features?
Quite unlike Nintendo to do such an interface, but I think they're getting it right!
Players can create their own Miis, which are visual representations of themselves created with a simple UI similar to that of The Sims 2, which can be used as in-game characters (looks like it happens in Wii Sports for sure).
I am going to take a wild guess and assume that this is all really a friendlier global profile system that takes the boring labourious edge off of that word.
To give the Mii idea a bit more meat (seems like a soon-to-be-forgotten mini-feature so far, right?) the controllers all have built-in Flash memory so that a person's Mii can go with them wherever they take their controller.
Seems a bit weird carrying game controllers around, but I guess it works :)
What I really noticed here was that everything they've done with the interface is built to be kind of fun. Even tasks as boring as creating user profiles or displaying photographs can be made exciting!
Three surprising features in the photo/video clips channel.
-Firstly, it is possible to edit photos. I'm not sure how well this will work in the end, but it's definitely not designed for touch-ups! It is a rather amusing interface and I wish they'd shown more of it. I am worried about the preset images that can be slapped on top of things, though. Hopefully the library of presets is ever-expanding in a few ways so that it remains a fun thing integrated with games and the like instead of just a silly 5 minute feature.
-Viewing images, there are a few "fun" things that you can do. (Placed in the Fun menu, of course!). They showed two of these: One is some little effects that can appear over the image as you move the controller. Not really wonderfully exciting, but I guess it could amuse someone. The other one they showed is, in my opinion, pretty cool: An option which turns the image or live video into a jigsaw puzzle which must be solved. (And they even have a high-score list there!).
Something tells me SD was a bad choice for removable storage, since digital cameras seem to much more often be using CF and Transflash is undeniably the best.
They should really have offered a choice of either, or gone with the biggest since there are SD->CF converters.
Then there's the other little features which I haven't really seen much of like the web browser (yay, Flash support!), weather and news. A funny local message board thing as well, which is a lot like putting notes on a refrigerator. (Though pointless, since everyone has a refrigerator?). Games seem to talk to it as well (they showed an example with Animal Crossing), and it works over the Internet.
Looking at the images, I think they are still teasing us. There seem to be a few possibilities here which have yet to be addressed, and I may need to discover for myself...
Thanks for the Canadian price, Genexi!
It surprises me that they went with the actual US->CAN exchange rates of today!
Lots of companies still seem to go with the 75 cents per dollar.
Edit:
I'm also amazed that wii.nintendo.com finally steps away from Nintendo's obsession with Flash content!
The Flash links bar seems to have no alt text, but the links below it on the side of the main page content do the same thing anyway.
Unsurprisingly, the page looks better than it would with Flash.
Even Wii.com appears to be doing sort of proper Alt text.
Quite unlike Nintendo to do such an interface, but I think they're getting it right!
Players can create their own Miis, which are visual representations of themselves created with a simple UI similar to that of The Sims 2, which can be used as in-game characters (looks like it happens in Wii Sports for sure).
I am going to take a wild guess and assume that this is all really a friendlier global profile system that takes the boring labourious edge off of that word.
To give the Mii idea a bit more meat (seems like a soon-to-be-forgotten mini-feature so far, right?) the controllers all have built-in Flash memory so that a person's Mii can go with them wherever they take their controller.
Seems a bit weird carrying game controllers around, but I guess it works :)
What I really noticed here was that everything they've done with the interface is built to be kind of fun. Even tasks as boring as creating user profiles or displaying photographs can be made exciting!
Three surprising features in the photo/video clips channel.
-Firstly, it is possible to edit photos. I'm not sure how well this will work in the end, but it's definitely not designed for touch-ups! It is a rather amusing interface and I wish they'd shown more of it. I am worried about the preset images that can be slapped on top of things, though. Hopefully the library of presets is ever-expanding in a few ways so that it remains a fun thing integrated with games and the like instead of just a silly 5 minute feature.
-Viewing images, there are a few "fun" things that you can do. (Placed in the Fun menu, of course!). They showed two of these: One is some little effects that can appear over the image as you move the controller. Not really wonderfully exciting, but I guess it could amuse someone. The other one they showed is, in my opinion, pretty cool: An option which turns the image or live video into a jigsaw puzzle which must be solved. (And they even have a high-score list there!).
Something tells me SD was a bad choice for removable storage, since digital cameras seem to much more often be using CF and Transflash is undeniably the best.
They should really have offered a choice of either, or gone with the biggest since there are SD->CF converters.
Then there's the other little features which I haven't really seen much of like the web browser (yay, Flash support!), weather and news. A funny local message board thing as well, which is a lot like putting notes on a refrigerator. (Though pointless, since everyone has a refrigerator?). Games seem to talk to it as well (they showed an example with Animal Crossing), and it works over the Internet.
Looking at the images, I think they are still teasing us. There seem to be a few possibilities here which have yet to be addressed, and I may need to discover for myself...
Thanks for the Canadian price, Genexi!
It surprises me that they went with the actual US->CAN exchange rates of today!
Lots of companies still seem to go with the 75 cents per dollar.
Edit:
I'm also amazed that wii.nintendo.com finally steps away from Nintendo's obsession with Flash content!
The Flash links bar seems to have no alt text, but the links below it on the side of the main page content do the same thing anyway.
Unsurprisingly, the page looks better than it would with Flash.
Even Wii.com appears to be doing sort of proper Alt text.