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Wii

Several Online Wii Channels Shutting Down in June

by Tom Malina - April 12, 2013, 7:35 am EDT
Total comments: 19 Source: Nintendo, http://www.nintendo.co.uk/Wii/Wii-Channels/Wii-Cha...

After six and a half years, news, weather, contests, and opinion polls will be no more. 

Five channels and a number of online features on the Wii will be discontinued in June, Nintendo announced today.

The Nintendo Channel, Forecast Channel, News Channel, Everybody Votes Channel, and Check Mii Out Channel (known as the Mii Contest Channel in Europe) are all to be taken offline on this date, and will be inaccessible if a user tries to access them from the Wii menu.

Certain data exchange features will also be disabled, including transferring Mii characters and sending mail over the Wii Message Board. With the shutdown of WiiConnect24, online functionality in certain games may be affected as well.

These channels will be taken down on June 28 in Japan, Europe, and Australia. An exact date for North America has not been confirmed.

Other online channels, namely the Wii Shop Channel, Netflix, and for UK consoles, LOVEFiLM and the BBC iPlayer, will all remain available.

Talkback

Fatty The HuttApril 12, 2013

This news really made me sad. I honestly have a bit of a lump in my throat right now.
Goofing around with these channels is closely linked with spending time with my kids. The discontinuance is another indication, of many, that they aren't little anymore. Makes me a little sad and wistful.

KhushrenadaApril 12, 2013

Too bad. Even know when I use my Wii, I'll still take a look at the Weather Channel. Guess come June, I'll just delete it since it will be of no use anymore.

ejamerApril 12, 2013

Metroid Prime 3/Trilogy owners, get your trading done soon. Various unlocks require you to swap vouchers with a friend using WiiConnect24 - and it seems like that functionality won't be available much longer. If the ability to swap vouchers is gone, the only way to unlock everything will be downloading someone else's save file.

Bman87301April 12, 2013

Quote from: Khushrenada

Too bad. Even know when I use my Wii, I'll still take a look at the Weather Channel. Guess come June, I'll just delete it since it will be of no use anymore.

I'm pretty sure that and the News Channel are undeletable...

OblivionApril 12, 2013

Quote from: ejamer

Metroid Prime 3/Trilogy owners, get your trading done soon. Various unlocks require you to swap vouchers with a friend using WiiConnect24 - and it seems like that functionality won't be available much longer. If the ability to swap vouchers is gone, the only way to unlock everything will be downloading someone else's save file.

Only more reason to rerelease the trilogy on the Wii U.

pololmejorApril 12, 2013

uu Nuuu. :( Man that's sad, too damn sad!

CericApril 12, 2013

I personally was hoping the channels would just migrate to the Wii U.  Especially the Voting and weather one.

EnnerApril 12, 2013

Of the five, I'll miss the Weather Channel and the Nintendo Channel the most.

jvgsjeffApril 12, 2013

I can understand shutting down channels like the weather and the news, but why take away the ability to send messages and exchange Miis? That sucks if that part is true.

rlse9April 12, 2013

That really sucks, I still use the News channel regularly to catch up on the news.  I guess it's expected but it still sucks and it's part of what I don't like about gaming becoming so online dependent, it's something that will eventually get taken away.

GKApril 12, 2013

Quote from: rlse9

I guess it's expected but it still sucks and it's part of what I don't like about gaming becoming so online dependent, it's something that will eventually get taken away.

Feeling the same way.

Nintendo hates democracy. What's next, they're coming for the last copies of Earthbound?

smallsharkbigbiteApril 13, 2013

Knew this would happen at somepoint, but it feels too soon to me.  The Wii U will barely be 7 months old and they are shutting down all the services for the Wii?  I could partially understand it if the Wii U was going gangbusters and they needed the servers for that, but it seems they are shutting these servers down to make them inactive. 

funguy11April 13, 2013

What about Wi-Fi enabled games like Brawl?

TJ SpykeApril 13, 2013

Quote from: funguy11

What about Wi-Fi enabled games like Brawl?

The article says "online functionality in certain games may be affected as well.". My guess is that means online play may be ended (though some games may last longer).

GKApril 13, 2013

I think by "online functionality" they mean features like the use of the Weather channel for Nights: Journey of Dreams or the match replays, & custom stages being sent out for Brawl. Probably could affect Mario Kart Wii's channel as well.

UncleBobRichard Cook, Guest ContributorApril 13, 2013

This makes me sad. Not because I really use any of these features, but because I'm spending all this time playing Need For Speed and, one day, EA will shut down the online features of it and all my accomplishments will be worthless.  Sadface.

I think the big thing this will wipe out is Metroid Prime 3's trading.

So basically, nothing of value is lost.

ShyGuyApril 13, 2013

This is what Microsoft will do to EVERYTHING on the Durango.

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