Wii News Channel is online
I just updated my Wii and the new Wii News Channel was available.
The pros
- Resizable text. It uses an animated word wrapping system that makes the iPhone jealous, no less.
- Interactive Globe UI that shows news stories by location. Not sure how useful it is, but it’s got an element of coolness to it.
- Once it’s loaded there’s zero wait.
The cons
- Man, does it take forever to load
- The articles occasionally feature URLs, but they’re not clickable.
- Pretty much just standard associated press articles with the occasional photo sprinkled in. It didn’t appear to have anything in-depth.
- Did I mention it was slow to load?
Overall it’s a cool little piece of technology, a great working demonstration of what the Wii can do outside of gaming, and it may appeal to the non-gamer that Nintendo has been chasing with the Wii. But with the exception of their interactive globe, the Internet is a faster and more interactive way to get the same news, hands down. I hope Nintendo isn’t putting effort into these types of channels at the expensive of games. The news channel is not going to convert anyone.
UPDATE: subsequent uses of it have been pretty peppy, and it seems to occasionally download news even when the unit is off, which enables its speed.
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