Difference between revisions of "Nintendo Wii"

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Nintendo Wii

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The Wii is the 5th console developed by Nintendo and was released worldwide in late 2006. ^[1]

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Overview The Wii is the 5th video game console developed by Nintendo and was released worldwide in late 2006. (https://money.cnn.com/2006/09/14/technology/personaltech/nintendo/index.htm) The Wii was released as a part of the seventh generation of video game consoles, in primary competition with Sony’s Playstation 3 and Microsoft’s Xbox 360. The Wii’s successor, the Wii U, was released in 2012, following which, the Wii was discontinued in 2013. The Wii’s services started being slowly shuddered throughout the next few years, with all online services for the Wii being discontinued in 2019. (https://www.ign.com/articles/2012/09/13/wii-u-price-release-date-announced ) (https://www.polygon.com/2017/9/29/16386918/wii-shop-channel-closing-nintendo) The Wii was unique from other video game consoles of its time due to its gameplay mechanics, utilizing motion controls as a primary method of input. Selling over 100 million units throughout its lifetime, the Wii remains one of the most successful video game systems ever sold.

Development Development on the Wii began in 2001, under the concept name “Revolution”. The console was not developed to be radically more powerful than Nintendo’s previous console, the GameCube, but was intended to stand apart due to its use of motion control technology. In conjunction with the development of the Wii itself, Nintendo also developed a technologically advanced controller, the Wii Remote, which was notable for its motion tracking technologies and its ability to support accessories. (http://scf.usc.edu/~jeffcui/itp104/final/wii.html) These motion controls were especially appealing to a non-traditional video game crowd, otherwise known as casual gamers. This emphasis on motion controls rather than power alienated some core video game-playing demographics.

Release The Wii was released in the United States on November 19, 2006. It initially retailed for $250 and included one controller and the game Wii Sports. (https://www.cnet.com/tech/mobile/nintendo-wii-release-details-nov-19-250-with-a-game-included/) The Wii’s release was exceptionally profitable, and supplies ran low. Nintendo sold over 600,000 Wii consoles in its first eight days on the shelves in North America. The demand for the console far surpassed the supply. (https://www.networkworld.com/article/2301419/nintendo-sells-600-000-wii-consoles-in-eight-days.html) The high demand created substantial shortages in supplies of the Wii, causing the console to be difficult to find for many years. This also stimulated demand, as the low supply meant the Wii continued to fly off shelves. One component that contributed to the supply issues was the fact that the audience for the Wii was a radically different audience than would typically purchase a gaming console. Wii consoles remained hard to find in stores through 2008. (https://www.wired.com/2007/11/wii-shortage/).

Hardware The Wii was not designed to outcompete its competitors in performance. The Wii was constructed using preexisting technology and focus was placed on software and gameplay. The Wii system was designed to be "small, quiet and affordable," according to Nintendo. The Wii was 8.5 inches long, 6 inches wide and less than two inches thick (the exact dimensions are 157mm x 215.4mm x 44mm.) The console was roughly twice as powerful as its predecessor, the GameCube. The console's central processing unit was an IBM PowerPC-based processor named Broadway, with a clock frequency of 729 MHz. The reduced size of Broadway—based on a 90 nm process compared to the 180 nm process used in the GameCube's CPU—resulted in 20% lowered power consumption. The Wii's GPU is a system on a chip produced by ATI and named Hollywood; the core processor runs at 243 MHz, 3 MB of texture memory, digital signal processors, and input/output functions. Additionally, the GPU included an additional 24 MB of 1T-SRAM and an additional 64 MB of 1T-SRAM on the motherboard, totaling to 88 MB of memory for the console. (https://web.archive.org/web/20061028073931/http://wii.ign.com/launchguide/hardware1.html)

The Wii Remote was the primary controller for the Wii. Equipped with an accelerometer, Bluetooth connection, and an infrared sensor, its technology was designed to support the motion controls which most of the software ran on.

Software The primary graphic interface for the Wii was referred to as the Wii Menu. Applications for the Wii are presented as “Wii Channels”. The channels are called such because they are presented to appear like a row of television each set to a different channel, for the user to choose between. Besides the disc channel, from which content inserted into the system’s disc drive could be accessed, other channels available from purchase included the Photo Channel, Wii Shop Channel, Forecast Channel, News Channel, Internet Channel, and Mii Channel.

The Mii Channel enabled users to create custom avatars called Miis. Many games supported the ability to use Miis within the gameplay, either as a playable character or a non-playable character. Miis became culturally impactful on their own, as it was the one of the most popular avatar creator interfaces and the most prevalent of its time.

Throughout the Wii’s lifespan, third party media apps were given support for the Wii, enabling streaming services such as Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, and more to be downloaded as channels for the Wii.

Online connectivity The Wii was able to connect to the Internet through its built-in 802.11b/g Wi-Fi or through a USB-to-Ethernet adapter. Either method would yield access to the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection service. Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection enabled many games to be played with people over the internet. It also enabled for downloadable content to be available through the Wii Shop Channel. Any downloaded gamed would be accessed through the Virtual Console, which enabled players to play games available on previous Nintendo consoles.

Internet use was incorporated into the Wii in other ways as well. WiiConnect24 was a feature which allowed the Wii system to remain connected to the internet even when the console was in standby mode. This enabled the console to receive data even when not being actively used. Additionally, the Wii was able to surf the web with a downloadable browser. The Wii ran a version of the Opera browser using its internet connection.

https://kyleskornerblog.wordpress.com/2018/02/02/is-your-wii-wii-u-safe-on-the-internet/

1. ↑ https://money.cnn.com/2006/09/14/technology/personaltech/nintendo/index.htm