Flash Developer’s first impressions of Wii’s “Internet Channel”
My Slot was glowing this morning(SFW), and I realized what it was right away. I rolled out of bed and immediately hit the power button on one of my Wiimotes.
I hit the Wii Shop and made my first “purchase” although it’s free for now.
(I have a feeling that the rumors about other free purchases, on Christmas morning are True, because that’s how great Nintendo is)
The download was suprisingly quick, and even before I loaded the Internet Channel up, I had my first location in mind. I went straight to Youtube, and hit Video, to get to the Most Viewed Videos of the Day. Now it wasn’t real easy to read the 10 or 11 point Text without zooming in, but I knew where the link for “Most Viewed Videos of the Week” was, and was able to hit it on my first try. So pointing is accurate and it’s easy to navigate the web with this browser. Within a Minute of opening the Web browser, I was reviewing valuable information about how to give my dick in a box for christmas.
So the next step was to see how site’s I’ve built run on the Wii. This is where I realized something I wasn’t real happy about: The Wii only has Flash Player 7 on it.
I’m sure no body really understands what that means. Basically, the Wii is a little behind the times as far as Flash is concerned, but not much. This version of the Flash Player was released in 2004 and since then we’ve gotten to Flash Player 9 on all normal computer systems, including Mac and Linux.
To be honest, there hasn’t been a lot of new features in the newer versions of flash that most people care about, aside from the one that basically made Youtube possible. Flash 8 has much more robust Video Capabilities that are pushing Real Player and even Windows Media Player into relative obscurity.
Now you are asking: “Wait but you said Youtube Works” and you are right, Flash 7 will play youtube videos, but they don’t look as good or stream as well as when you look at them in Flash 8 or higher on your PC. The Dick in a Box video looked pretty decent on my normal 32 inch TV, but it did get real jaggy when I zoomed in. I’m eager to hook my Wii up to my parent’s HD TV later and see what videos and small text look like on there.
Overall, I’m really excited about the Internet Channel and I’d bet I’ll be using it on a somewhat regular basis, if only as a novelty act. It did load webpages as fast as an average PC, it was easy to use and is fun to look at the internet on your TV.
Lastly, after seeing the Wii Browser (I still think they should have named it “Web Bowser”) I realized that I could create a simple yet fun game in Flash Player 7 for the Wii, and I’ll give it and 8n5 theme.
Can Someone tell me/give me the font you used in the Logo?
Friday, December 22 10:46 am
I also tubed 8and5 this morning. I haven’t tried to post using it yet (that’s for tonight). Gmail froze three times in my experimentation so there needs to be some fixing. I would like some d-pad support and I dislike the persistent tool bar on the bottom (if you know how to get rid of this let me know). Typing was pretty easy but the autofill after a ‘.’ is typed got old real fast.
I think we’ll need to reformat 8and5 to make it more wii accesable. I’ve seen some things about single column browsing, but I’m not sure if that’s something that opera on the wii can do yet. As it is our top article is too broad to be easily readable.
If possible I’d prefer a change of format to our site that makes it more wi-friendly without having to support a separate format. I’m not sure how it could look but I know Justin loves to design this sort of stuff and it’s been a while since he’s redone the site… eightandfive 3.0 now wii-friendly.
Unrelated: Sojo was loading zelda last night and hit erase instead of load when selecting her save. Since she was distracted she also managed to confirm it… put her back into the water dungeon when she had already completed the Arbiter’s dungeon. It was amusing but sad at the same time.
Friday, December 22 11:07 am
I completely agree with you… although I guess I didn’t even consider checking my gmail… it would be a pain to type an email with the onscreen keyboard, but it would be nice if they’d let us hit the gmail mobile version of something from the wii.
As for eightandfive I’d guess there might be a way to detect the wii and give it a different css, like you can do with print versions.
Info on there here:
http://www.tufts.edu/webcentral/tutorials/printcss/
but I’d guess it’s more complicated then a media attribute on the stylesheet link… probably some Javascript is in order here…
http://molly.com/articles/markupandcss/1999-09-route.php
Friday, December 22 12:16 pm
JZ is the man to ask about the font.
Friday, December 22 12:45 pm
Am I constantly gonna feel like the ginger kid that nobody wants to play with because Nix and I don’t own a Wii? I was gonna try to do an article on my jumping ship from Sony to the Gate’s camp with my purchase of a 360 a few weeks ago, but I feel kinda lame for not working for the Wiikend like the rest of you schmoes… maybe if I get a “real” job in a year, we can be wii’d; but the change is super short for now…. I love reading this stuff and keeping up with it, but I don’t have any local wii hookups yet. (Sigh). Okay, I feel a little better. Not really.
Friday, December 22 1:26 pm
Not buying a PS3 was a good move in my opinion (only game left that’s exclusive is Gran Turismo which sounds like a royal ripoff based on their new pricing model). I think I’m going to try to score a 360 by the time halo 3 hits–although if Katamari comes out for the 360 before the wii (it’s on it’s way for both) that may be enough for me to sell my kidney to get a 360.
Don’t feel bad about your decision. It sounds like the wii will be dropping in price after christmas and be available in more colors… there are also some ugly rumors about upgrades but I’m not buying into them.
Friday, December 22 2:10 pm
[...] http://eightandfive.com/2006/12/22/flash-developers-first-impressions-of-wiis-internet-channel/ [...]
Friday, December 22 2:18 pm
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Friday, December 22 2:27 pm
No worries B-rad. I am also Wii-less. I may not purchase a next-gen console at all.
If I do, I would get the Wii only for price constraints and the workout.
I only play with Oscar and Sara’s Wii. Sometimes, if I play with their Wii too much, it gets all sweaty and slips out of my hand.
Friday, December 22 3:14 pm
Dear Nintendo,
You are not as genorous and giving this Holiday Season as We’d Hoped, but I’ve got the cash to buy myself several of the Virtual Console Games I’ve been waiting for on Christmas day.
http://www.nintendo.com/newsarticle?articleid=PnyQUd_Hs7Bwrotg6q4Z_ClRUh84PvOL&page=
Atleast you did better then I thought you’d do at choosing releases… Road Rash and Wizardry soon please.
Love,
Jake
Friday, December 22 3:16 pm
P.S. and Micro Machines.
Friday, December 22 3:47 pm
The second I get my hot, sweaty little hands on Gears of War I’ll do a review. Like there aren’t enough out there already. Thanks for the reassurance, guys.
Osc- funny story: when I hit Best Buy to get my 360 it was the morning of the PS3 launch; one dude sitting outside of his tent on the sidewalk muttered to me as I walked out of the store with the white box in hand: “goddammit if I don’t feel like you’ve made a wiser decision than I’m about to…”
I shit you not.
Friday, December 22 5:16 pm
Sony blew it.
Monday, January 1 4:03 pm
I still want one. If Devil May Cry, tekken and Final Fantasy are the only remaining exclusives worth buying the system for that’s enough IMO. The thought of not being able to play the next iterations of those games alone is killing me.
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