Wii

Games designed to take advantage of Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection offer Internet play integrated into the game. Nintendo emphasizes the simplicity and speed of starting an online game when promoting its service. For example, in Mario Kart DS, an online game is initiated by first choosing the online multiplayer option from the main menu, then choosing whether to play with friends, play with people at the same skill level, play with people in the local region, or play with people around the world. After a selection is made, the game starts searching for available players. The Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection service for Nintendo DS can support up to eight players, e.g., Clubhouse Games. The Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection service for Wii can support up to thirty-two players, however some games use other online services.At the 2008 Game Developers Conference, Nintendo announced that while the Wi-Fi Connection will remain a free service, there are plans for additional services that will have to be paid for. The company is taking great pains to ensure that game players will not be misled into thinking that a WFC enabled game will be entirely free to play. Games with such premium features will include the standard WFC mark along with an additional mark indicating that there are additional services that will need to be paid for.”Friend codes” are generated from an identifier unique to a copy of a game and the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection ID of a DS or Wii system. Using a different copy of a game, or loading the same copy in a different system, generates a different Friend code.In order for users to become “Friends”, they must mutually add Friend codes, often obtained through online forums or chatrooms, and will be authenticated as Friends once both have gone online. These measures (mutual Friend code exchange, per-game Friend codes, and the pairing of the Friend code and system) are said by Nintendo to be conscious steps to preserve users’ privacy. If a DS or Wii game is sold, but not the system, there is no risk of the purchaser impersonating the seller. Similarly, one cannot add a user to their “Friends list” for the sole purpose of antagonizing the user online.Features enabled by becoming “Friends” can range from simply seeking each other out for online play (Mario Kart DS, Tetris DS), to voice and text chat (Metroid Prime Hunters). Unusually, most of the online features in Animal Crossing: Wild World are disabled unless users are Friends, with some exceptions, primarily due to the potential for vandalism of another user’s personalized “Town” in the game.Friend codes are twelve digits long. Codes for certain games, such as Mario Kart DS and Tetris DS, are six digits followed by another row of six digits, while other games like Animal Crossing use codes with three groups of four digits separated by hyphens. If a user needs to replace his or her DS system, then the old system’s Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection ID can be transferred wirelessly, to maintain the user’s original Friend codes on the new machine.

The Wii Remote uses two AA batteries as a power source, which can power a Wii Remote for 60 hours using only the accelerometer functionality and 30 hours using both accelerometer and pointer functionality.An official direct recharging option for the Wii Remote has not yet been revealed, but various third-party manufacturers market charging solutions for the controller (see section on chargers). According to an interview with Nintendo industrial designer Lance Barr, limitations of the Wii Remote’s expansion port make it unlikely that it will be used for internal battery charging.Although Nintendo discourages other rechargeable battery types such as lithium ion (Li-ion) and nickel-cadmium (NiCd), the company’s support website indicates that nickel-metal hydride (NiMH) rechargeable batteries may be used.A 3300µF capacitor provides a temporary source of power during quick movements of the Wii Remote when connection to the batteries may be temporarily interrupted.

The Wii Remote provides basic audio and rumble functionality. At the 2006 E3 press conference, it was revealed that the Wii Remote has its own independent speaker on the face of the unit. This was demonstrated by a developer as he strung and shot a bow in The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. The sound from both the Wii Remote and television was altered as the bow shot to give the impression of the arrow traveling away from the player. Another example of its use is in Red Steel’s Killer match, where the players will receive their objective through the Wii Remote. The volume can be changed or muted with the “Home” button and selecting the corresponding controller icon at the bottom of the screen.When the speaker is muted, the sound effects played through it will be rerouted through the television speakers. The rumble feature can also be switched on or off using the Home Menu.

The Wii Remote has the ability to sense acceleration along three axes through the use of an ADXL330 accelerometer. The Wii Remote also features a PixArt optical sensor, allowing it to determine where the Wii Remote is pointing.Unlike a light gun that senses light from a television screen, the Wii Remote senses light from the console’s Sensor Bar (model number RVL-014), which allows consistent usage regardless of a television’s type or size. The Sensor Bar is about 20 cm (8 in) in length and features ten infrared LEDs, with five LEDs being arranged at each end of the bar In each group of five LEDs, the LED farthest away from the center is pointed slightly away from the center, the LED closest to the center is pointed slightly toward the center, while the three LEDs between them are pointed straight forward and grouped together. The Sensor Bar’s cable is 353 cm (11 ft 7 in) in length. The bar may be placed above or below the television, and should be centered. If placed above, the sensor should be in line with the front of the television, and if placed below, should be in line with the front of the surface the television is placed on. It is not necessary to point directly at the Sensor Bar, but pointing significantly away from the bar will disrupt position-sensing ability due to the limited viewing angle of the Wii Remote.Use of the Sensor Bar allows the Wii Remote to be used as an accurate pointing device up to 5 meters (approx. 16 ft) away from the bar.The Wii Remote’s image sensor is used to locate the Sensor Bar’s points of light in the Wii Remote’s field of view. The light emitted from each end of the Sensor Bar is focused onto the image sensor which sees the light as two bright dots separated by a distance “mi” on the image sensor. The second distance “m” between the two clusters of light emitters in the Sensor Bar is a fixed distance. From these two distances m and mi, the Wii CPU calculates the distance between the Wii Remote and the Sensor Bar using triangulation.In addition, rotation of the Wii Remote with respect to the ground can also be calculated from the relative angle of the two dots of light on the image sensor.Games can be programmed to sense whether the image sensor is covered, which is demonstrated in a Microgame of Smooth Moves, where if the player does not uncover the sensor, the champagne bottle that the remote represents will not open.The Sensor Bar is required when the Wii Remote is controlling up-down, left-right motion of a cursor or reticle on the TV screen to point to menu options or objects such as enemies in first person shooters. Because the Sensor Bar also allows the Wii Remote to calculate the distance between the Wii Remote and the Sensor Bar, the Wii Remote can also control slow forward-backward motion of an object in a 3-dimensional game.Rapid forward-backward motion, such as punching in a boxing game, is controlled by the acceleration sensors. Using these acceleration sensors (acting as tilt sensors), the Wii Remote can also control rotation of a cursor or other objects.The use of an infrared sensor to detect position can cause some detection problems when other infrared sources are around, such as incandescent light bulbs or candles. This can be easily alleviated by using fluorescent lights around the Wii, which emit little to no infrared light.Innovative users have used other sources of IR light as Sensor Bar substitutes such as a pair of flashlights and a pair of candles.Such substitutes for the Sensor Bar illustrate the fact that a pair of non-moving lights provide continuous calibration of the direction that the Wii Remote is pointing and its physical location relative to the light sources. There is no way to calibrate the position of the cursor relative to where the user is pointing the controller without the two stable reference sources of light provided by the Sensor Bar or substitutes.The position and motion tracking of the Wii Remote allows the player to mimic actual game actions, such as swinging a sword or aiming a gun, instead of simply pressing buttons. An early marketing video showed actors miming actions such as fishing, cooking, drumming, conducting a string quartet, shooting a gun, sword fighting, and performing dental surgery.

The Wii Remote assumes a one-handed remote control-based design instead of the traditional gamepad controllers of previous gaming consoles. This was done to make motion sensitivity more intuitive, as a remote design is fitted perfectly for pointing, and in part to help the console appeal to a broader audience that includes non-gamers. The body of the Wii Remote measures 148 mm (5.83 in) long, 36.2 mm (1.43 in) wide, and 30.8 mm (1.21 in) thick.The Wii Remote model number is RVL-003, a reference to the project codename “Revolution”. The controller communicates wirelessly with the console via short-range Bluetooth radio, with which it is possible to operate up to four controllers as far as 10 meters (approx. 30ft) away from the console. However, to utilize pointer functionality, the Wii Remote must be used within five meters (approx. 16ft) of the Sensor BarThe controller’s symmetrical design allows it to be used in either hand. The Wii Remote can also be turned horizontally and used like a Famicom/NES controller, or in some cases (like Excite Truck and Sonic and the Secret Rings) a steering wheel. It is also possible to play a single player game with a Wii Remote in each hand, as in the ‘Shooting Range’ game contained in Wii Play.At E3 2006, a few minor changes were made to the controller from the design presented at the Game Developer’s Conference. The controller was made slightly longer, and a speaker was added to the face beneath the center row of buttons. The “B” button became more curved resembling a trigger. The “Start” and “Select” buttons were changed to plus “+” and minus “–”, and the “b” and “a” buttons were changed to 1 and 2 to differentiate them from the “A” and “B” buttons. Also, the symbol on the “Home” button was changed from a blue dot to a shape resembling a home/house, the shape of the power button was circular rather than rectangular, and the blue LEDs indicating player number are now labelled using small Braille-like raised dots instead of Arabic numerals, with “1″ being “•”, “2″ being “••”, “3″ being “•••”, and “4″ being “••••”. The Nintendo logo at the bottom of the controller face was replaced with the Wii logo. Also, the expansion port was redesigned, with expansion plugs featuring a smaller snap-on design.The blue LEDs also show how much battery power remains on the Wii Remote. By pressing any button, besides the power button while the controller is not being used to play games, a certain number of the four blue LEDs will light up, showing the battery life: four of the LEDs flash when it is at, or near, full power. Three lights flash when it is at 75%, two lights when at 50%, and one light flashes when there is 25% or less power remaining.

Wii System Software is an updatable firmware and software operation system on the Wii video game console. Updates, which are downloaded via the system’s Wi-Fi Internet connection (WiiConnect24), allows Nintendo to add additional features and software. When a new update becomes available, Nintendo sends a message to connected systems notifying them of the available update.Several game discs, not only first-party games (eg Super Mario Galaxy), but also third-party (eg Boogie), have included System Software updates so that players who are not connected to the Internet can still update their system. Additionally this can “force” an upgrade by requiring the player to perform the update, without which the new game cannot be played. Also, online games such as Super Smash Bros. Brawl have come with specific extra updates, such as being able to receive posts from game-specific addresses, so, regardless of the version of the software you have installed, it will install an update.

Internet Channel is a version of the Opera web browser for use on the Wii by Opera Software and Nintendo.On December 22, 2006 a free beta version (promoted as a “trial version”) of the browser was released.The final version of the browser was released on April 11, 2007 and was free to download until the end of June 2007. Since this deadline has passed, Internet Channel now costs 500 Wii Points to download.Users who downloaded the browser before June 30, 2007, can continue to use it at no cost for the lifetime of the Wii system.An update was recently added to this which allows the use of a USB keyboard.Features and fixes found in the final version include: improved zooming and scrolling with an improved font, reduced startup time, the ability to hide the toolbar, and preset buttons for typing phrases such as ‘www.’ and ‘.com’.Opera Software was previously responsible for the Nintendo DS Browser for Nintendo’s handheld system.Internet Channel uses whichever connection is chosen in the Wii Settings, and utilizes the user’s internet connection directly; There is no third party network that traffic is being routed through. It receives a connection from a router/modem and uses a web browser to pull up HTTP and HTTPS (secure and encrypted) web pages. Opera, the Wii’s web browser, is capable of rendering most web sites in the same manner as its desktop counterpart by using Opera’s Medium Screen Rendering technology. For most internet users, the Wii offers all of the functionality they need to perform the most common web tasks.The software is saved to the Wii’s 512 MB internal flash memory (can be copied to an SD card after downloaded). The temporary Internet files (maximum of 5MB for the trial version) can only be saved to the Wii’s internal Memory. The application launches within a few seconds, after connecting to the Internet through a wireless LAN using the built in interface or a wired LAN by using the USB to Ethernet adapter (sold separately).The Opera-based Wii browser allows users full access to the Web and supports all the same web standards that are included in the desktop versions of Opera, including CSS and JavaScript. It is also possible for the browser to use technologies such as Ajax, SVG, RSS, and Adobe Flash 7. Opera Software has indicated that the functionality will allow for third parties to create web applications specifically designed for the use on the Wii Browser, and it will support Widgets, standalone web-based applications using Opera as an application platform.The company has also stated that some Wii video games may implement the use of the browser.This channel was updated as part of the Wii update on October 10, 2007.

If a user inserts an SD card into the console, or sends photos (JPEG) or videos (MJPEG) via email, they can be viewed by means of the Photo Channel. The user can create a slideshow by simply inserting an SD card with photos and, if they want to add music, MP3 or AAC files (see note regarding December 10, 2007 update to version 1.1). The Wii will automatically add Ken Burns Effect transitions between the photos and play the music in the background. A built-in editor allows users to add markings and effects to their photos. Mosaics and puzzles can also be created with this feature. Edited photos can be saved to the Wii (the Wii will not overwrite data on the SD card) and sent to other Wiis via the message board. According to the system’s manual, the following file extensions (i.e. formats) are supported: Photos (jpeg/jpg), Movies (mov/avi), and Music (mp3/aac).JPEG files can be up to 8192×8192 resolution and in baseline format. Video data contained within the .mov or .avi files must be in an OpenDML compliant MotionJPEG use some variant of this format for their videos).Photos, even high resolution ones, are compressed and decreased in resolution.An optional update to the Photo Channel became available on December 10, 2007. It allows customization of the Wii Menu by letting users replace the Photo Channel icon with a picture taken from an SD card or a picture from the Wii Message Board. It also allows playback of songs in random order. MP3 support is replaced with AAC.Wii games that feature playback of MP3 files will continue to support the MP3 format, but will not be able to play AAC files. The update also added support for MPEG-4 encoded files in the .m4a extension. The new update also allows a person to assign his or her favorite picture as the main screen for the Photo Channel.Wii owners who updated to version 1.1 can revert to version 1.0 by deleting it from the Channels menu in the Data Management setup. Consoles released after December 10 will come with the version 1.1 update preinstalled, and cannot be “downgraded” to version 1.0.

The Mii (pronounced “me”) Channel is an avatar creator, where users can design 3D caricatures of people (Miis) by selecting from a group of facial and bodily features. At the Game Developers Conference 2007, Shigeru Miyamoto explained that the look and design of the Mii characters are based on Kokeshi, a form of Japanese doll used as souvenir gifts in Japan.A Wired News interview of Katsuya Eguchi (producer of Animal Crossing and Wii Sports) held in 2006 confirmed that the custom player avatar feature shown at Nintendo’s E3 Media Briefing would be included in the hardware. The feature was described as part of a “Profile” system that contains the caricature and other pertinent player information.This application was officially unveiled by Nintendo in September 2006. It is incorporated into Wii’s operating system interface as the “Mii Channel”. Users can select from pre-made caricatures or create their own by choosing custom facial shapes, colors, and positioning. In certain games (including Wii Sports, Wii Play, Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games, WarioWare: Smooth Moves, Mario Party 8, and Mario Strikers Charged) each player’s caricature will serve as the character he/she controls in some/all forms of gameplay. Miis can interact with other Wii users by showing up on their Wii consoles through the WiiConnect24 feature or by talking with other Miis created by Wii owners all over the world. This feature is called Mii Parade. Early-created Miis as well as those encountered in Mii Parades may show up as spectators in some games.Miis can be stored on Wii Remotes and taken to other Wii consoles. The remote can hold up to a maximum amount of 10 Miis. The Wii itself can hold 100 Miis.

The Disc Channel allows users to play Wii and GameCube titles. The Disc Channel displays the name of the Wii title that is present in the drive and plays a sound clip along with a short video clip. If a GameCube title is in the drive it displays the GameCube logo and plays the GameCube’s default startup sound. However, the channel does not display the game logo and identifying information that the GameCube does.It also treats discs from another region as unreadable. If no disc is inserted in the drive, the channel displays the image at the right. When a GameCube or Wii disc is inserted into the drive, the pictures of both discs spin until the type of disk is recognized. Once the disc type is recognized, the extra disc fades out and the recognized disc descends into a blue slot. When on the Wii Menu, when a disc is inserted, a disc will slide into the channel icon.This is the only immobile channel. It is always positioned in the upper left corner of the far left page.