Yesterday Nintendo opened up a new page for it’s forthcoming Wii Video Service Channel “Wii no Ma.” The channel, which will be released in Japan on May 1st, allows you to populate a room with up to eight Mii’s to live in a real time virtual life while you watch and rate original videos that are delivered through the Wii’s internet connection.

But the “Wii no Ma” room isn’t just a stylish Japanese table and a slick flat-panel TV for your Miis to enjoy. You can also use the in room calendar to get information and trivia about different dates and holidays, and travel to different partner businesses (say a fast-food chain) to download coupons to your DS and use at an actual store, or even sign up for free samples to be delivered right to your door! (more…)

Mym6 of the Infendo Forums is currently experiencing a little problem with his Nintendo Wii and the way Channels Zoom in.

I’m curious if anyone else has noticed this.  Some channels will zoom in very slowly.  My Mario Kart and Nintendo Channels both zoom in very slowly compared to others.  If I move those channels to a blank screen they zoom quickly again.

I haven’t noticed this on my system but I’m wondering if anyone else on Infendo knows of a way to fix it.

Nintendo and Opera have chiseled out an updated Internet Channel.

According to GoNintendo, the new browser will utilize tabbed browsing and Wii Speak compatibility.

Users will be able to track up to six tabs with the “tab cube,” a floating on-screen cube showing an open site on each of its sides. The update will also include a new button layout for the navigation bar and a built-in mail client for Wii Mail access.

The updated Internet Channel will be available in December in the Wii Shop Channel and will be a free download for existing users. It will cost 500 Wii Points for new users.

Those of you that grew excited by today’s homebrew Wii DVD breakthrough might have felt that this was too good to be true. True. Before you pop in Alf: Season 2 there’s a few bugs that you might want to take note of. One major issue is audio synching with the video. When viewing some DVDs I noticed the voice, and sound effects were slightly off balance. I did not run into this problem with every movie, but nevertheless the sound issue stands. I have noticed a few minor video jitters here and there, but not enough to put you out of the movie.

Thankfully these problems aren’t plaguing every DVD viewing, but like all free stuff there will be bugs. Hopefully we can see these resolved.

Over the past two years the Wii, and by extension Nintendo, has enjoyed immense success. Massive sales, new avenues of consumer adoption, grannies boxing grannies, and soccer moms getting fit on a video game controller–it’s all here, and the impact is undeniable.

Why then, I ask, am I still so annoyed with this amazing machine?

Before I jump headfirst into flame land, however, here’s a brief explainer about what’s NOT on the list, and why.

First, shovelware. Like the PS2 and DS before it, the Wii is seemingly inundated with crappy titles, but that’s not going to be in this top 10. Why? Because no one is forced to buy shovelware. However, you are forced to endure the Wii Home screen load animation, and so it is on the list. Ditto for HD graphics, because I play the Wii for games, not movie experiences. Besides, Nintendo never advertised the system as an HD machine, so it would be selfish and exceedingly stupid to be annoyed about something that was never promised to me in the first place.

But enough about me, let’s bash the Wii, shall we? (more…)

Just a reminder to our friends across the pond…The Nintendo Channel has finally been released in both Europe and Australia. You should have gotten the glowing blue beacon this past Friday, but if you missed it be sure to download this info packed channel and get to rating your games (woo, what fun!). Not only does each country receive different DS demos, but each internal region gets a different batch each week.

A compiled list of regional DS downloads for Europe…

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Nintendo is hiding a little spy in the “Nintendo Channel”. That spy will share all your dirty little secrets to Nintendo. To find out how the channel is doing it, hit the jump.
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Was your Wii flashing blue this morning? Nope, it wasn’t another Mario Kart challenge .. the Nintendo Channel is now available to download! I hopped on my Wii, went to the Shop Channel, and started the download. Firing up the Nintendo Channel plays a short video preview of what the channel contains. After that, I downloaded a demo of Crosswords onto my DS, watched video previews for a couple Virtual Console games, and told Nintendo what I thought about Mario Kart Wii and Wrecking Crew.

It’s a fun channel to explore, so check it out and let us know what you think!

[Thanks for the tip, Roger!]

WiiWare launched today in Japan along with a handful of games and the reactions have been — if we’re going to reduce each to a word or phrase — muted, surprising and  “frackin’ expensive!” (more…)

Wii Fit is big in Japan (1.5 million sold in three months) and arguably will be as big if not bigger in the US when it goes live in a month or so (more people, more people who subscribe to new “weight loss” gimmicks, Wii’s existing momentum among people outside the now incorrectly described “core” or “traditional gamer”). But, just in case, Nintendo is allegedly preparing a massive marketing push to ensure the peripheral is seen and experienced by as many people as possible. I’m talking Oprah here people, Oprah. (more…)