It is the holiday season and many people are making their wishlist, either on Amazon or from that huge department store catalog. This wishlist is a little different, as I am not wishing for games, but for changes and improvements in the hardware and software of the consoles we play every day. The Nintendo Wii has been out for a year now, so it is a good opportunity to look back and see what has been improved since launch, and what still needs work.
User Interface: The Wii's user interface is clean and easy to navigate, it always has been. The UI has received some nice additions in firmware updates. It now displays the time, for example. I still, even after a year, like seeing how much time I played in X game, and overall for the day - even if it is sort of a novelty.
I would also like to see more slots available for additional Game Channels. This is a problem for some, and will become a problem for many as time goes on. As you cannot use channels that are saved to SD card, you must swap out the ones you want to use. This is quite the chore if you have a lot of Virtual Console games, or game save data, even.
I wish I could run channels off of the SD card, then we would not have this problem of the very limiting internal memory. Why have Nintendo limited channels to run from internal memory only? This is a glaring oversight in future-proofing the console.
Games: While the Nintendo Wii hardware continues to sell out, the software has left a little to be desired. The deluge of casual games is fine with me, but I draw the line when these games are buggy, boring, or both.
I wish that Nintendo, and third parties, would realize that the people who grew up playing the NES are still playing games (on the Wii, as well as other consoles) and have interests in games for people over the age of 10. While Brian wrote on this issue, my take on it is not as kind.
Simply put, there needs to be a better balance between games for "casual" and for "hard core" or "core" gamers. This problem does not exist only on the Wii, but the Wii does have the worst ratio of casual-to-core games.
Article comments
1 - wiggy
There IS an import category in the shop channel.
2 - Ken Edwards
My mistake. Now, why on earth would I have thought to look under Genres? Seriously, Import is not a genre. I am glad they havee it in the store, but it needs to at the main Category page. Thanks wiggy, I will update my column.
3 - Lewfkrad
Dumbest.....Artical....Ever
4 - Cowman
Great article. I fully agree on the news channel. It is such a great, clean interface for reading news (No visual noise - flash ads etc) and it would just be that much better if it had more news. It obviously isn't going to make them a ton of cash but is just inches away from being perfect.
5 - hilow man
i suspect there will be an external hard drive one can purchase considering there are 2!!! usb ports on the back of the console.
6 - Jamison
Hilow man... dont count on it. Wii is full or rumors. The external hard drive may not happen. I mean, if they couldnt fit a gig of solid state RAM in the Wii, I cant see them making an external HD. Funny thing, the USB ports are good for nothing. Nothing is recognized by them except a USB LAN adapter in case you don;t have wireless... odd odd.
Never the less, I love my Wii.
Lewfkrad, keep up the helpful and insightful comments.