Topic: Wii Channels: Worth It?

[Halbred]

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/blogArt.cfm?artid=16083

  I'm a sucker for Wii channels. I think I have them all except the Internet Channel, and that's only because my computer is mere feet away from my Wii. But seriously, I've got the Mii Channel (MC), Everybody Votes (EV), Check Mii Out (CMO), Weather, News, Nintendo Channel (EC), Shopping, Mario Kart (MK), and Wii Fit (WF). But do I really need them all? Honestly, I probably don't, especially considering that my Wii's internal memory is beginning to wane. If Nintendo doesn't release some kind of a hard drive sooner rather than later, some of the Wii channels will probably have to go...    

So which ones should I cull? Certainly, the MK and WF channels are mandatory. If I ever just want to play some Kart at lunch, I can just boot up the channel and take part in a tournament or race a friend. I can see how I compare to other Kart players around the world and with my friends (I'm about average). That's all I need to do at lunch. The WF channel is great for when friends come over and want to try the game, or I'm in a hurry and just want to see my Wii Fit age. I love these game-specific channels, because they have practical functionality.    

Likewise, I love the Mii Channel. Not so much for CMO (see below), but because I like seeing my address book friends on my system and in my games. And creating Miis is fun, if a little limited. Besides, Miis form the heart of Wii Sports, Wii Play, Wii Fit, and to a certain extent, Mario Kart Wii. So I love the MK, WF, and MC because they all have good practical value. The other channels? Not so much.    

Case and point: The Nintendo Channel. The NC makes me sad, because it's really just the advertising channel. Aside from the slew of Wii Fit videos, it's just a breeding ground for commercials--commercials I have no interest in seeing. Oh look, a behind-the-scenes look at the "America Ferrera Plays New Super Mario Bros." video. I started it, gagged on the scripted propoganda, and turned it off. The only thing saving the NC right now are the DS downloads, which are kind of cool, but there aren't nearly enough of them. I imagine that the NC could be pretty awesome if there was educational stuff on there. The "How the Wii Fit Balance Board Works" video is a good start. But I'd like to see videos about how a game is made, or how a character is created.    

Check Mii Out has become stale since users have just begun copying each other. When I saw a parade of identicle Abraham Lincolns parading down the winning square, I got scared. It's fun to make your own Mii entry, but will it win? Probably not. Will it place highly? Not anymore, not if it's unique. Judging contests is boring because most users just throw upload a random Mii, without making any effort to create a new contest-specific one. I never really click on CMO anymore, and it, along with the NC, is on the chopping block.    

I can't let go of my Weather Channel, though. It's so satisfying to fly around the globe and see what the temperature is in Greece or Antarctica. And the local five-day forcast on the Wii is, sadly enough, more accurate than our newspaper! The Anchorage Daily News keeps claiming it's gonna rain, but it never does, and the Wii has predicted "overcast" for the last week, without a hint of rain. Similarly, the News Channel is something I probably won't give up. I like reading it more than the newspaper, especially on Thursday nights, because a lot of Friday movie reviews are on the News Channel by Thursday night. It's also awesome to see where in the world the story originates. Oh, and I'm a sucker for news crawls, and every time I turn on the Wii, I wait for the top stories crawl to run across the channel itself.    

The only channel left over is Everybody Votes. I'm on the fence with this one. On the one hand, I like the process of voting on a question and then, a few days later, finding out how many people agree (or disagree) with me. On the other hand, a lot of the questions are stupid. One of the most recent ones, for example, asks: "Do you still own a record player?" The possible answers were, "Yes," or "No, what's that?" Well, I know damn well what a record player is, but there was no "No" (period) answer. A lot of questions are like that--kind of snarky and assuming. Overall, I like EV, but there's not a whole lot to it.    

So I could probably get rid of a few channels and increase room for Virtual Console and WiiWare titles. Now, I certainly like seeing my Wii's front page filled with Wii-specific channels, but when my Wii's internal memory limit is at stake, it's time to do some pruning. What about you readers out there in Readerland? What are your favorite (and least-favorite) Wii Channels?

[Maverick]

I find most of my extra channels are completely useless for me as well.  If I was in a memory crunch and needed to get rid of some, the only ones I would keep would be the Mii Channel, News, Weather, Store, Internet, and Photo.  Those I at least use every now and then.

[Morari]

Everybody votes definitely needs a third option on questions. A "yes/no/maybe" type of thing. And you're definitely correct about Check Mii Out. I semi-regularly submit Miis, but rarely judge. The judging process is tedious because so few of the submitted Miis even fit the theme. Then, somehow, the results all end up looking exactly the same. Such a lack of uniqueness is to be expected from certain contests (Mario without a hat on, for example), because there is a predefined look to the character in question. However, all too often even the most subjective of contests end up with the same character filling each and every spot in the top fifty. I'm not entirely sure how it happens either, as the Miis I vote on (and often submit) generally make it pretty high up that snowy peak.

The Weather Channel, News Channel, and Internet Channel are never used on my console. I have a computer for all of that. Regardless, it is kind of neat to pause at the menu for a moment and see the current forecast pop-up. Likewise with the aforementioned News Channel. If I were to get rid of any channels, it would be these and possible the Mario Kart Channel. I like Mario Kart, and I like the idea of the channel, but I'm just not dedicated enough to the contests and such to want to conveniently check out my score without loading the game. I do use the Wii Fit Channel for quick body tests when running short on time however.

Come to think of it, I don't often use the Photo Channel either. Except for sending goofy Pokemon Snap photos to people, it doesn't see much use at all. I really wish I could use an animated GIF or MJPEG as the channel icon though. Pretty animation might help it out.

[UltimatePartyBear]

I'll probably delete the Check Mii Out channel next time I need to make room.  It pains me to mark a Mii I like because I can't know whether the person who submitted it actually created it or simply copied it, and I can't stand the thought of increasing the "artisan" rank of a copycat.  If it had been available from the beginning, this might not have been a problem.

I like the Everybody Votes channel well enough, even if there are some questions I logically can't answer.  It also annoys me that you can't see the results of the ones you don't answer.  For all its faults, it manages to be entertaining enough to keep around.

[animecyberrat]

I don't think you can get rid of the Weather, News, Mii or Shop channel they are all built in it would seam. The rest are manageable in the memory but those don't even show up.



There are workable solutions out there, you just have to be willing to take the time to set it up, then once set up your good to go.

[Jonnyboy117]

The news and weather channels are built in with new Wii systems, but those of us who got a Wii at launch had to download those channels when they were released.  I know the system memory had reserved spaces for these two channels, but I don't know if you can delete them and gain access to that space.  I do know that you can download the channels again from the shop channel (for free).

[MegaByte]

You can delete them using homebrew solutions.

[NWR_insanolord]

You can delete them using homebrew solutions.

I'm dying for blocks, could you please direct me toward information on how to do this?

[BranDonk Kong]

You can delete them, but they don't take up a lot of space to begin with. You can delete them even on non-launch systems. Insanolord, if you want to do this the (I suppose) legal way, you need to dump your Wiis NAND, then build a .WAD file of the channels you want to delete, then use the WAD manager to uninstall them. Alternatively it is possible to delete them by finding a dump of the channels online (they're all the same, so it would be the same thing you get if you dump your own flash memory) for each region (NTSC/PAL/NTSC-J), and only use the WAD manager. Wiibrew.org should have all the stuff you need, or hackmii.com - neither of those sites contain anything illegal, btw.

Back to the original topic - most of the channels are pretty stupid, and are basically full of crap that could all be condensed and be the real "Nintendo Channel", as in Check Mii Out, Metroid Prime 3 Preview, Everyone Votes, Wii Shop Channel, and the Nintendo Channel itself. The only channels I care about nowadays are the Wii Fit Channel, Mario Kart Channel, and the Homebrew Channel.

[animecyberrat]

Well i got mine at launch and I thought they were always there, but I didn't pay much attention to anything then I just rushed home, hooked everything up and proceeded to enter my Wii Points information.

[BranDonk Kong]

They were there, but they didn't do anything.

[animecyberrat]

I still thought you couldn't delete the Mii channels either, maybe I was wrong.

[stevey]

You can delete them, but they don't take up a lot of space to begin with. You can delete them even on non-launch systems. Insanolord, if you want to do this the (I suppose) legal way, you need to dump your Wiis NAND, then build a .WAD file of the channels you want to delete, then use the WAD manager to uninstall them. Alternatively it is possible to delete them by finding a dump of the channels online (they're all the same, so it would be the same thing you get if you dump your own flash memory) for each region (NTSC/PAL/NTSC-J), and only use the WAD manager. Wiibrew.org should have all the stuff you need, or hackmii.com - neither of those sites contain anything illegal, btw.

Or just run Duplicate Channel Remover for a different region and "accidentally delete the channels from your Wii's native region".

[AV]

CHECK Mii OUT.

Fun for laughs and to get some good miis onto your wii so that you get a good mix and its fun to see what up. I say download it once every 3 months and check out whats new, than delete.  6/10

Everyone votes channel

this is so pointless yet addicting thing to play if you have friends or family who join along. I had the best statistic but after a while it gets tedious to gather everyone for something so stupid. God addicted for a few months and now delete and i'm happy about that. 3/10

Nintendo Channel:

Excellent channel that provides videos of new wiiware and upcoming games. I check it every monday to see what is new and if its worthy of my money. I very much enjoy DS downloads even if they are not always great games. 9/10

Internet channel:

I pretty much only use this late at night when I am horny and don't want to get out of bed to go to the computer room. I found a few porno websites that work great on it, and sometimes it might be fun to watch youtube videos on it. 7/10

Forcast Channel

Worthless since it doesn't update that frequently and doesn't give real time data.
3/10

News

pretty worthless since i have a small TV so reading is hard on it, but not a bad idea I rather use that than pay for Newspaper subscription. 5/10

Mii Channel:

I have it maxed out with 100 miis, but still I think its a good tool and I like the miis in game. 7/10

disk channel:

serves only 1 purpose and does it without problem 10/10

Wii Shopping:

Occasionally they update the channel but a real update is needed to download faster and maybe even back round download stuff. I very much like the idea they have info and update every monday both Wiiware and Virtual console I thought nintendo would drop the ball and release it whenever they want.
7/10

Photo Channel

Not bad channel since I do have an SD card with pictures on it, the problem is even as JPG file they don't always show up or they show up than disappear. I didn't like they took off the mp3 support, but if you got a sd card full of pictures and want to show it off this is very easy and nice way to do it.

6/10

Metroid Prime 3 Preview Channel

Nice to see some exclusive content but it wasn't full screen nor was it great quality and only lasted a little while. 4/10

I don't own either WiiFit or Mario Kart so I can't say anything about those channels.

Overall I like the channels, even if some are more useful than others

[Dasmos]

Internet channel:

I pretty much only use this late at night when I am horny and don't want to get out of bed to go to the computer room. I found a few porno websites that work great on it, and sometimes it might be fun to watch youtube videos on it. 7/10

[size=9]PERV[/size][/color]

Also I have no idea why you rated Nintendo Channel a 9, it's useless. That's crazy. You're crazy.

[blackfootsteps]

Also I have no idea why you rated Nintendo Channel a 9, it's useless. That's crazy. You're crazy.

Definitely. I deleted it after using it once or twice. Anyone with the internet can get a far better experience than the Nintendo Channel offers. I suppose my opinion may have been different if there had been worthwhile DS demos.

[AV]

Also I have no idea why you rated Nintendo Channel a 9, it's useless. That's crazy. You're crazy.

Definitely. I deleted it after using it once or twice. Anyone with the internet can get a far better experience than the Nintendo Channel offers. I suppose my opinion may have been different if there had been worthwhile DS demos.

The demos do change you know that right. Also the videos are updated with exclusive content that CANNOT BE FOUND elsewhere on the net. It's very nice to see virtual console games and than see movies and more easily judge if its worth your while

[animecyberrat]

Oh really? It doesn't take long for someone to capture the video from the Nintendo channel and upload it to the internet. I am too lazy to check cuz I don't have time but I am sure they can be found.

[Plugabugz]

The nintendo channel is useless here, still. The last game to be updated (and i looked last week) was Ninja Gaiden and all else they have is Smash Bros tutorials, Mario Kart tournament vids and Miyamoto discussing Wii Fit.

Then there's older stuff like Mario Kart DS and Picross (which i've already tried). USELESS.

[blackfootsteps]

The demos do change you know that right.

Ahahahahaha. Not in Oz they don't.

[animecyberrat]

Also if you don't have a DS then that feature is kinda pointless anyways.