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Your Questions Answered

by Steven Rodriguez - November 27, 2006, 2:25 am EST

The mailbag is back! Everyone's asking all sorts of stuff about the Wii, so why not click and see?


Wait a minute, I can save my Wii files onto those awesome little portable flash drives I love so much? doesn't that mean it'll be super easy to download game files on my PC and put them on my Wii? Won't that kind of kill the insentive to beat my games myself, because I know in a matter of minutes I can go online and download a game file with all of the unlockables already unlocked on it? Too many questions? Will I really be able to get a SSBB game file with every character and arena unlocked...before I even buy the game? Is my understanding correct, or was I misinformed? Chicken or the egg?

You can't transfer save data on to flash drives, but they can get copied to an SD card, and then over to a PC, and then distributed on the Internet like any other file. It should be possible to download a 100% unlocked save file for any game (as long as it's out there to be downloaded) if you want to be a big fat cheater. But what's the fun in doing that?


I was thinking of purchasing my Wii points online so I can avoid the 14% sales tax I'd pay at retail. Do you know how international orders are handled through the Wii store channel? I mean, I'd rather pay $20 US, which comes out to roughly $22.75 Canadian, than get it at retail for $24.99 plus tax ($28.49).

Thanks!

Vincent

When I purchased 2000 Wii Points through my Wii with my credit card, it was a flat $20. No tax. I don't know if the prices are exactly the same for Canada compared to the United States, but I'll bet it'll be cheaper buying points directly through Nintendo via your console.


I was under the impression that Wii was going to have games forit at launch that were online capable. Then I heard that they wont be making any online games till march or april. I personally think that is a bunch of crap. They waited far too long to implement any oline for DS and despite the few games on there being pretty decent, very few 3rd parties have even taken advantage of it yet.

So My question is two fold, first when do the online games actually come out and which ones will be online? Second do you think ANY 3rd parties will even bother going online? It would really suck not being bale to play sports games or FPS games online against my friends. This is really bothering me as we play COD2 on Live at my friend shouse alot and its tons of fun. NOw I didnt get COD3 yet and was waiting till I get an answer on theonline depertment cuz if it is online Ill pick it up next week, if not Im going to be pissed and wait on getting it.

THE RAT

Nintendo kept sweeping the online gaming question under the rug up until the point where it was obvious the launch period games weren't going to have it, or at least the ones in North America and Europe. Nintendo is launching with Pokemon Battle Revolution in Japan, a game that is online from day one (December 2), so it's not as if the company is shunning it this time around. Wii online is going to be different than DS online, because unlike the DS launch, the online network launched with the Wii console and is very tightly integrated into it. As long as Nintendo provides the tools and support to developers, Wii online games will come.

Of course, that raises the question: Why aren't any of the U.S. launch games online? The only reason I can think of is that Nintendo didn't have the network APIs ready soon enough for companies to have online components in their games up and running in time for November 19. Or 2006, for that matter. The Wii release schedule is pretty clear up until April 2007, at which point Nintendo should be getting ready to announce more games from them and third parties. I'm assuming we'll hear more about online games and the rest of Nintendo's online plans at that time. At the latest, E3 07 in July is when Nintendo must have online games available for everyone in the world.


Hey guys. Great site, redesign could use some tweaking, but as a longtime fan, I'll still visit daily regardless.

Anyway, I don't have a question so much as a demand. I want the Wii disc slot light to be on. All the time. As of now, it blinks momentarily when I power up, then nothing. Zip. Zilch. Nada.

What's up with that??? That sucker should be on 24/7!

Drew Celestino

Ah yes, the blue light. It's a lovely little light, isn't it? A lot of people have asked this question, and I'll be happy to answer it.

The slot light comes up when your system is in WiiConnect24 off mode and you've got new messages or Miis. It's your system's way of telling you that you've got Wiimail, basically. After you turn on your system and see what you received, the light will turn off. As far as I know, there is no way to turn it on permanently. If you really want the thing on all the time, register your own email address to the console, turn it off, then send the Wii an email. The light will turn on every time you send an email. If you're daring, you can forward all your email to your Wii. Your light will be on a lot, and you can read it from the comfort of your sofa!


So here is my question. Are you guys having any problems with your Wii's? I waited in line and was totally satisfied with my purchase of the nintendo Wii. But when I tried to connect to the the virtual console I got a strange error. when I called nintendo about this they informed me that this error ment that my Wii was messed up and that I would have to ship it back and they would get me a new one. It had been caused by one of the updates I had downloaded. One of my friends had the same problem and I read on the nintendo forums that alot of people are having this problem. I was kinda pissed and really caught off gaurd. I had never known a nintendo product to be faulty. do you guy's think that nintendo is really ontop of this whole internet connectivity thing? or are they in over their heads?

Nintendo products are always reliable, but launch hardware is prone to these problems no matter who manufactures it. I'm not too surprised that there have been problems, but I maybe didn't expect to hear so many of them. Many, if not all of the issues that have been coming up are certainly due to Nintendo's lack of online console experience. As the weeks go on, Nintendo will learn more about what works and what's causing systems to break. These problems should go away as Nintendo irons out the kinks in their network and with the system manufacturing process, so don't worry about it too much. I'm not.


now you have Wii's and we in the Southern Hemisphere continue to rot away...would you be able to put up picture comparisons of Wii games running in 480i and 480p? People say it's worth it but I can't actually see the difference...Would really appreciate it if you did!

GameSpot has a wonderful screenshot mouse-over comparison of games running in regular 480i mode versus progressive scan 480p. Games using component cables look much sharper and cleaner, and in my opinion, is very worth it. Now if I could only find a set of them!


Just one question:

What is the length of the cable on the sensor bar? That information seems to be impossible to find...

By my eye, it looks to be about 10 feet long. For you foreigners, that's a little over 3 meters. Despite its ample length, I've been hearing reports that it's not long enough for some people's entertainment setups (and honestly, I can't see how). There is supposedly a third party extentiom cable coming, so I suppose you can look for that if you need it to be any longer.


What's your take on the Wii shortages? It seems that if you weren't willing to wait in line for many hours for the presale tickets or the actual system itself, you have not got one yet. I figured they would sell out quick at launch but there would be another plentiful shipment before Black Friday. But as I sit here today checking out the situation, most stores have have gotten less than 10 units since launch, many less than 5, if any at all. Again, you have to wait in line all night before a store opens to have a good chance at one. Nintendo boasted of 4 million Wii's to North America before Christmas. How many do you think have already been shipped? Yes, I'm bitter sitting here looking at my new Zelda game and new controller without a system to play it on.

WhoDey

Correction: There will be 4 million Wiis worldwide before Christmas. A little less than half of that should be available in the States by the new year. Until Nintendo issues their "most successful launch ever" press release, we won't know for sure exactly how many they shipped on launch day, or the week after. I bet they didn't quite hit a million on the first day, but after the second shipment (which did come before Thanksgiving) they might have surpassed that number.

Realize that no matter how many systems Nintendo ships, people will buy them almost immediately. If Nintendo does manage to ship out 2 million systems in North America by the end of the year, it won't mean the systems will be plentiful if more than 2 million people want it.


Hi,

I was lucky enough to get my hands on a Wii on day one. Although I don't find that Nintendo's decision to not go HD a deal breaker, I can't help but feel a bit alienated having an HDTV. Now this feeling is not a visual disappointment at all, but the fact that the Wii has been a bit frustrating to play due to game lag.

I won't bore you with the specifics, as you probably are already well aware of the issues and science behind game lag. Honestly, I probably should have done a bit more research before buying a new television. But I was excited to hear that the Wii was supporting progressive scan (480p) and widescreen. The problem here is that almost everyone that has a Wii and a HDTV will have some sort of a game lag issue. Since the Wii outputs at 480i (since we didn't have the option of component cables at launch...and for another few weeks by the looks of it), the upscaling that the television will have to do results in lag for most people. Some people won't have this problem with component cables since the TV has a bit less work to do upscaling from 480p than 480i, but others will still have a noticeable problem with lag depending on their tv.

I've scoured the internet for solutions, but all are either way too expensive (DVDO iScan), or simply hard to find/unavailable (Hori Upscan Converter 2, Micomsoft XGRB-2 ). Do you or any readers have any suggestions for a solution, or will some of us High-Def folks be left high and dry by Nintendo? Will people be forced to wait even longer to by a new set despite plummeting HDTV prices?

Cheers,

alan

For those who don't know, "game lag" is a phenomenon that occurs with game systems connected to LCD and plasma televisions. The video signal is put through the set's video processor(s) to better the picture quality, and the milliseconds of delay this process causes can make a game's controls feel disjointed with what's happening on screen. For passive entertainment, like movies, this delay is moot. However, when you need to press a button at exactly the right moment, the lag can become a large problem.

This problem, as it turns out, it completely the fault of the display you are using. It doesn't matter that the Wii is outputting in 480i. It wouldn't be as bad, but there's also lag with progressive video feeds, the hi-def ones included. The only type of television where you can get a guaranteed lag-free gaming experience is a CRT. That's the reason why I bought a CRT HDTV. Yeah, it's big and bulky and remarkably heavy, but the picture quality is terrific.

Don't bother getting exotic video upscalers or converters. For now, you should tough it out until you can get your hands on some Wii component cables. What you really should be doing is looking at getting a better television set, one that doesn't lag up your games as much. And about those plummeting HDTV prices? You get what you pay for, kiddies.


Hey Bag,

So i was wondering if there will be any downloadable updates that allow us to play dvds on our wii's? Is it plausible even?

Justin

My gut is telling me that it would take more than a firmware update to get Wii to play DVDs. If the hardware isn't capable of doing it in the first place, no software will make it so. Nintendo mentioned that they would be releasing a DVD Wii model in Japan (and only in Japan) in the future. If it was possible to add DVD playback to our regular Wiis, why would Nintendo need to release a different model to do so?


Hi,

I was wondering what you thought the chances were that Nintendo would ever actually include the Wii Mote and Nunchuk in one package? Do you think they'd ever do a deal where they include Nunchuck, Wii Mote and Classic Controller for 80 bucks with Wii Play or some Wii Points included? I don't mind them all coming seperate because not all games require both but I wouldn't mind buying them together for the right price or with a nice incentive either.

Thanks,

Brandon

Not going to happen for a looooong time. If Nintendo bundles controllers and offers them at a discount, that means Nintendo makes less money. If you were Nintendo, would you want to make less money, or more money? There is only one correct answer to that question.

For now at least, it makes sense that the different controllers are all available separately. Yeah, you might want them all, but the majority of people wouldn't. It sucks that we don't get that Wii Classic controller/2000 Wii Points combo that Japan is getting, but then again, they don't get WiiSports for free with the system. Oh well.


Hello mailbag, I was wondering if I could get some help with an ANNOYING wireless problem...

...I'm a staff member at a college and I have to live here in an apartment for my job. The wireless internet here is weird, it doesn't require a WEP key but if you want to use it you first need to open a browser which directs you to a sign in page. From there you need to sign into the network with your college username and password and you're all set for wireless. Problem is, the Wii and DS don't know what to do with this kind of setup. There must be SOME way around it, either by running some kind of program on my computer and running a router from the computer, or just setting some WEP/DNS/whatever setting on the Wii/DS to bypass it...but I know nothing about this stuff so I was wondering if you could offer any advice. Thanks!

Much love,

PoopyLoopy

Hm, that's a tricky one. I don't think the Wii or DS is capable of handling such a wireless Internet acceptance page. It's just as well, since they don't want any old device mooching off university bandwidth, I suppose. I would suggest you try the Nintendo Wi-Fi USB adapter if you have a computer nearby. With that, you can login to the computer and then use the dongle to get the Internet through the computer instead of directly. Other than that, you might want to try calling Nintendo's customer service department, since I can't think of any workarounds. Good luck with that!


Hello Mr. Rodriguez,

I enjoy your podcast and website. I've been a PGC fan since it was OPN, back in 2000 in the N64 days. I don't know but over the years as the oldest talent moved on, got 'real jobs' or families, etc, the website changed and I didn't renew my account.

But anyway, when I heard the discussion about Wii preorders, I was convinced. You had a fair discussion, with some nice thought. There was only one problem: you guys were wrong.

I'm not being overly critical here. My entire family was either in search of a Wii or PS3, the gamers anyway, and we came up with nil. My gut said "PREORDER!!!!!!" but my wallet agreed with . . . basically the whole 'Net. Stall, wait, get a discount near Christmas.

I can't say you guys were more guilty than anyone, but you did sway me, so I suggest that next time you simply put a little 'We aren't certain' type of disclaimer. I was responsible for not getting a Wii, but try and give your advice some more equity and remember people are listening to the podcasts.

-Senshi

We know people listen to the podcasts (a lot of them do!), and as such, we take our own advice. There are some folks on our staff that didn't pre-order (myself included), and too figured they could easily get one at launch or in the days thereafter. Guess what? Some of us got screwed out of Wiis. Most people thought that there would be plenty of systems out there, and looking at things after one week, it appears there are not. Is that because Nintendo is missing their target, or is it because demand is ridiculously high? Or is it a combination or both? Such is the unpredictability of new hardware launches.

Hindsight is 20/20, of course, and it's easy to say now that we were "wrong." However, when Nintendo said that there would be a million systems at launch, and the last game system to have that many at launch was the super-hyped up PSP—which only sold through 60% of their shipment in the first week, despite that super hype—can you blame us for thinking that the Wii launch might be similar? I wouldn't, and neither would our guys who are still without Wii.


So ends our very first mailbag! No, wait, I'm lying to you. This is like the 6819th mailbag or something. I've lost count. But it's definitely the first mailbag of the newly renamed Nintendo World Report! If you want to send in questions, and I wholeheartedly recommend that you do, use the new email link at the bottom of this page. It looks a lot like the old one, except that it's new! Wrap your head around that one.

You guys managed to pull me away from Twilight Princess long enough to prepare this update. Now I'm going to sleep. If it's your bedtime, I hope you would attempt the same maneuver!

It's time to catch some Zees.

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