tomhudson's Journal: [WII] Browsing with Opera and Super Mario World

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Opera

Once you've set up your Wii to go online, you can download stuff. Some of it is free, but most of it is in the $5 to $20 zone (you buy stuff with Wii Points, which cost a penny a point).

So, either get your credit card or a Wii points card, and load up with some points so you can buy things, then click on the "download the Internet Channel" link. It downloads a modded version of Opera that actually works ...

It works with slashdot, youtube, google and yahoo, so I think that covers the basics. There are about 20 levels of zoom, so you can zoom in/out to better see what you're looking at, and there's also a "single-column mode" that breaks on slashdot (no surprise there).

You can't save or upload files (you have to use the Photo sharing channel or Wii Speak channel to send pictures to your friends), but you can bookmark up to 56 sites. You can also update your blog from your Wii if you're so inclined (if you're into Facebook or Twitter, I guess).

While the onscreen keyboard actually works quite well compared to what I expected, you'll probably be better off in the long run plugging a usb keyboard into the console, or getting one of the mini-keyboards that plug into the remote.

Rating: It's worth the $5.00

Of course, now that you're shopping online, how can you resist trying out at least ONE old game (or for those who must, they have World of Goo downloadable for the Wii).

I picked Super Mario World (Super Mario Bros. 3). $5 later, it's now a channel on the Wii main menu. You can hold the remote sideways and play as if you have an old-style controller, or buy a gamepstyle controller.

It sounds the same, it looks the same, it plays the same. Considering that the original game cost around $50, 5 inflation-ravaged bucks (which makes it more like a buck or two in constant dollars) is a decent value. For someone who misses their old SNES or TurboGrafix16 or Gamecube, buying a Wii and a few $5 games might be all they want.

Rating: I got my money's worth - but it's definitely not like the newer games. Will probably disappoint people who never played Mario Bros.

Super Mario 64

[Captain Splendid]

Shoulda bought SM64. Still the one of the greatest games ever made, Mario or otherwise.

Re:

[tomhudson]

Thanks for the tip. I never played it, but I'll keep it in mind. I have a ton of games to work through first, though (I splurged so that anyone coming over will find something to their tastes), but if anyone asks for it,it's only a point+shoot away (though I'd rather they make a dvd with a bunch of them on it, like the Namco Museum Remix dvd, but I guess they know they can really milk the Mario franchise) ...

Re:

[RM6f9]

I've asked support about that very issue - "We have no plans to release any of these games on disk media: To download..." - my thought, either they're planning a larger HD or they're overlooking a LOT of potential revenue.

Re:

[tomhudson]

There's no "hard drive" - there's half a gig of flash memory for local storage, and you can stick a 2 gig SD card in the card slot for uploading and downloading. Hopefully, the next generation will include larger main storage, and support for larger memory cards. Not having a hard drive, it's QUIET, and it doesn't run hot.

Re:

[Captain Splendid]

Heh. After I posted, I went and downloaded a N64 emulator and the SM64 ROM. Playing it right now. Hallelujah for USB gamepads.

Re:

[FortKnox]

When we got my son a DS for christmas, it was the first game I purchased for him to play... yes there is a DS port to the game, and its just like the original (and, yes, he loves it).

WiiCade

[AKAImBatman]

It works with slashdot, youtube, google and yahoo, so I think that covers the basics.

You forgot WiiCade.

For the best experience, set Zoom to Auto and the toolbar to Auto-Hide.

Other great places to check out are WiiPlayable.com, video.stumbleupon.com, operasdk.com, and youtube.com/tv.

Re:

[AKAImBatman]

Oh, I almost forgot to point out:

Super Mario World (Super Mario Bros. 3)

Those two are different games. Super Mario World is an $8 game originally for the Super Nintendo. Super Mario Bros. 3 is a $5 game originally for the NES.

Check it:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Mario_World [wikipedia.org]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Mario_Bros._3 [wikipedia.org]

Re:

[tomhudson]

They just want more mof my money :-)

I wish they'd put them out on a disk instead of downoads.

Re:

[tomhudson]

I'll give it a try next weekend. Thanks.