For the GameCube, Nintendo decided to stay mostly out of the Internet business and only offered a dial-up or broadband adapter that was all but completely ignored by third party publishers. Nintendo is making a little headway into the Internet age that all the rest of us have known for years. Even now, however, Nintendo hasn’t gone far enough. Indeed several of the promised Internet features like the weather and news downloads and the Opera web browser, are not a part of the Wii launch (they are supposedly coming in the next few weeks). Right now the only major Internet feature that is working is the Virtual Console store which will allow people to purchase, download and play older Nintendo games. At the time of this writing only a few games from Nintendo are available (such as Mario Brothers, Super Mario 64 and Donkey Kong) along with a couple of Sega games (Altered Beast and Sonic The Hedgehog) and on Tuesday the first Hudson-TurboGrafx 16 titles showed up (Bomberman 93 and Bonk’s Adventure). It’s important to know that these games are straight ports and not “enhanced” with new graphics, gameplay content or things like leaderboards like Microsoft’s Xbox Live Arcade. Like Arcade, the Virtual Console uses a points system, but unlike Microsoft’s it’s a little easier to follow. $10 gets you 1000 points (that amount gets you 800 points on the Xbox Live Arcade scale). The games themselves range from 500 to 1,000 points (only Super Mario 64 is currently at the highest price). You can buy points online via the Wii and a credit card or buy a Wii point card at a retail store.
Internet connectivity is handled via the Wii’s included WiFi connection (again kudos to Nintendo and Sony for putting WiFi in their new consoles; we are still not sure why Microsoft didn’t offer imbedded WiFi in the Xbox 360). Most people who have a WiFi connection will likely go for the auto-assign feature but people who want to get down and dirty will be able to configure their WiFi connection manually with a number of options. In the few hours since we got the Wii we have had a little more trouble establishing an Internet connection than we have had when we first got our Xbox 360 and the PS3. We have had trouble maintaining a connection with several drop-offs. Furthermore, Nintendo made us download two updates before we could even go to the Virtual Console store; they took a long time to download and install (the better part of an hour in both cases). Hopefully Nintendo will be able to speed things up and improve their Internet service as time goes on.
The two biggest flaws in the Wii in terms of hardware are the lack of HDTV resolution (component cables will only get you up to 480p) and the lack of Internet multiplayer features out of the box for the launch. Nintendo has said they intend to have Internet multiplayer games for sometime in 2007 (and although not officially confirmed it’s nearly certain that one of them will be Metroid Prime 3) but launching multiplayer features late when Microsoft and Sony have these features ready to go now is a serious misstep. Nintendo likes to pride itself on its rabid fans but I bet these fans would appreciate the opportunity for better communication and better playing with online multiplayer. Hopefully Nintendo fans won’t have to wait too long but if Nintend can’t even offer a web browser for its launch we think we might have to wait up to a year before Nintendo brings on the multiplayer online games for the Wii in the states.
So far we have played around with the menu and played a bunch of Wii Sports, but will the big games help the Wii overcome some of its flaws? We will have our full review of the Wii (as well as the PS3) in the near future.
Gigabyte P55 Lynnfield-ready Motherboard Roundup
If you're in the market for a new P55 motherboard to go along with your new Lynnfield CPU you'll definitely want to check out today's article. Inside we've devoted over 7,000 words to four different Gigabyte motherboards. From high-end to low, it's all covered here!
Left 4 Dead 2 PC Review
Valve says Left 4 Dead 2 contains so much new content, it's worthy of a sequel rather than DLC. Is this true or false? Judge for yourself in today's review!
ATI Radeon 5970 Performance Preview
After a 10-month hiatus, ATI's once again got the world's fastest graphics card. The Radeon 5970 fuses two RV870 chips onto one board for max performance, and is built for OC'ing. See how this board fares in the latest games including Modern Warfare 2, Left 4 Dead 2, and DX11 titles like STALKER: Call of Pripyat in this article!
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 PC Review
With no dedicated servers, no lean, and 18-player cap for multi, does Modern Warfare 2 for PC live up to its predecessors? Most of the reviews online have praised Infinity Ward's latest shooter but those reviews were focused for console players -- how does the PC port fare? Find out in today's review!
Sapphire Radeon 5870 Vapor-X 1GB Review
With its custom vapor chamber cooling+heatpipes and factory OC'ing, Sapphire's 5870 Vapor-X is targeted towards gamers looking for a 5870 card with a little more oomph than the stock 5870 card can provide. Best part of all is that the card sells for just $10 more than the stock Radeon 5870. See how much cooler and quieter the Vapor-X card runs inside!
Phenom II Gets A New Revision: 125W AMD Phenom II X4 965 Performance Preview
Promising lower power consumption, lower temps, and most importantly for enthusiasts, more OC'ing, AMD is back with a new CPU revision for the Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition, which now boasts a 125W TDP. Is AMD able to deliver on their promises though? Find out in today's article!
Shattered Horizon Review
FutureMark, well known for their popular 3DMark benchmarks, is venturing into new territory with Shattered Horizon. This multiplayer shooter is perhaps best known for its system requirements -- the game supports DX10 only -- but there's more underneath the surface of this game than fancy visuals. Is it worth its $20 price tag though? Read Vandy's take inside!
Borderlands PC Review
Is it an RPG or is it an FPS? Borderlands blends the best elements of both in one entertaining package. Vandy has spent the past week playing the PC version of the game and came away rather impressed. Read his full thoughts on the game in today's review!
AMD Athlon II X3 435/Athlon II X2 240e Performance Preview
Today AMD is introducing 8 new Athlon II CPUs intended to service different segments of the budget CPU market. For HTPC users, new 45W dual, triple, and quad core offerings should deliver good performance along with low power, while performance junkies on a budget will want to look at AMD's new Athlon II X3 CPUs. See how the new chips stack up in terms of performance and OC'ing in this article!