James Wynn

Everything I’ve seen lately about Nintendo’s new Wii and all the new games they are putting out for both it and the DS are getting me totally pumped. At first I wasn’t a big fan of the Revolution’s new name, Wii, but it has already grown on me. Though it does make for some grammatically awkward sentences, “Wii Rocks,” “I Love Wii.” And of course thats aside from the bathroom humor.

So lets recap some of the features of the Wii we already know. Revolutionary (not ment as a pun) new motion senseing controller, wireless connectivity (pretty standard at this point), ability to play a huge selection of old Nintendo, Super Nintendo, Nintendo 64, GameCube, Sega Genesis, and TurboGrafix games along with lots of downloadable content.

Features recently reveiled include the WiiConnect24 service which allows the console to be connected to the internet and serve up content along with allow other people to interact with you EVEN WHEN THE CONSOLE IS TURNED OFF. They also released information about a more conventional controller which works along side the original that plugs in similarly as the joystick ‘nanchaku’, presumably for retro games. A new Light-gun has also been shown, but little has been said about it. Shigeru suggested a lot of very interesting ideas that Nintendo is working on for making the Wii and DS play together and also that the Wii’s controller will have allow for customized experiences based on who is using it, that each member of the household could have their own personal controller.

As for games, a total of 16 Wii games have been announced and around half of them already have trailers available. There ones I’m anticipating the most are: Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, Metal Slug Anthology, Wii Sports, Super Mario Galaxy, WarioWare: Smooth Moves, and of course Smash Bros. Brawl. These games are so awesome, I dont feel I have to give them much description as the titles pretty much speak for themselves. And it is my understanding that most of these games will be using the new controller in new innovative ways too.

The DS has a long list of awesome games that are either out, or will soon be out, some of which I have already seen on the shelf here in Kyoto. The New Super Mario is absolutely fantastic looking and is now the guarantee that I will buy one very soon. Nintendo’s dedication to pulling new gamers into the arena can definitely be seen here in Japan. There are a number of new ‘brain games’ that can be found, from learning English, to studying math and playing intellectual games like Sudoku. If they had a Kanji game I would buy it in a heart beat.

Nintendo may have its critics, but I think they will come out on top in the current console war. It’s not a question of faster processors, and flashier graphics; it’s a question of playability and enjoyability.

It appears that there has recently been a leak of a new version of Google Talk.  This new version doesnt seem to have a lot of new features, which is probably why it isnt a public release.  The new version sports support for avatars and a little icon at the bottom that displays the number of unread emails you have.  This is kinda cool in itself, but I wish they would spend their time working on other things.

It seems I’m not the only one that thinks Google’s time could be better spent.  Some people at Festoon have released a plugin for gTalk that adds support for video chat.   And I’ve heard from over at Reseize.com that there is a company making a VOIP plugin called Talqer that allows you to make outgoing and incoming calls similar to Skype’s and Yahoo’s services, albiet at a cheaper rate.

Ok, perhaps its unfair to say that the utility sucks.  It is the only peice of software available that can migrate your photos from gallery to flickr and it just doesnt do it very well.  I dont know how many people use it, but it took me 2 hours of messing with this utility so I could do about 2 hours of work to migrate my pictures.  Time I COULD have been using to take NEW pictures.

So, if I get a chance I think I will update the script and add a little much needed documentation.  Maybe even add a little front end for the sad little thing.  I mean, it works, but so does a one legged panda on a unicycle.  Its just sad to watch it go.

Google Calendar seems to be very near now.  I can’t wait to get my hands on this application.  From what I can tell from the leaked information, along with Google’s awesome track record, this may be the killer calendar app to have.

I will rant more later.