Top 5 Reasons For Wii Owners To Smile

Ever since E3 it has seemed like most of the gamers that I’ve grown to know, that own Wiis, have been nothing but skeptical. If you frequent video game forums across the internet, there are a wide variety of people who have done nothing but whine, and show doubt towards the House of N.

Nearly all of this changed after the Japanese & North American Fall conferences that occured yesterday, and the day prior. In light of this turning of events, I figured I should do a Top 5 list on why Wii owners should be all smiles as of now.

5. Nintendo Wii – DSi Compatibility – The #5 listing for today’s list could perhaps be seen as a negative if you spinned it a certain way. Until now there has been very few options in terms of connectivity with the Nintendo Wii, and Nintendo DS. It looks like it will stay that way until the Nintendo DSi makes its debut next year. Seeing as how Nintendo wants to make money off their new product, it’s highly doubtful we’ll see any other compatibility between the Nintendo Wii, and the current Nintendo DS.

Must Everything Have A Camera Attached To It These Days?

For current Nintendo DS owners, this could be stricken as bad news. In terms of the future, the news that was dropped about the Nintendo DSi, and Wii was a godsend. There were vague ideas mentioned, but the one that really struck a chord was, Mii integration.

I still think Nintendo is holding out on what they are planning to do with Nintendo Wii-DSi compatibility, but Mii integration is a perfect start. As any Wii owner will tell you, it’s all down hill after customizing your Mii’s. Can’t wait to get more information, because I know it’s out there.

4. ‘Useful’ Accessories Coming In The Next Year - If there was one saving grace of E3 this year, it was the announcement of a couple of accessories that gamers’ had been clamoring for. First was the surprise announcement of Wii Speak. At the Nintendo Conference, there was a channel announced that would coincide with the release of Wii Speak.

The Wii Speak Channel will be available to all who purchase the Wii Speak. The channel allows for up to 4 Wiis to connect and chat. This channel will also allow you to send voice messaged photos, along with short, personal messages.

The Wii Speak announcement was pretty casual, with it pretty much being announced as an Animal Crossing attachment. There have been questions as to how the device works, as it’s pretty much a massive microphone that picks up voices in an entire room. How will it be able to do that without picking up interference? Who knows.

The other announcement that most saw coming was Wii Remote MotionPlus. This device was what most gamers had been calling for since the Wii had first come out. 1:1 controls is all that needs to be said about it.

3. Hard Drive Issue Has Future Fix - Today’s #3 pick like #5 could be construed as negative if looked at in a way. I think we all breathed a sigh of relief, when Iwata said that SD cards would be the answer to the memory space problem. The only problem with the announcement is that we won’t be getting the fix until Spring of next year.

HALLELUJAH…HALLELUJAH…HALLELUJAH…ok i think that’s enough

So, we might all be scratching our heads as to why this fix will take so long, but let’s enact some patience. I’m pleased with the direction that Nintendo has taken in addressing the storage issue. It would probably have been more profitable for them to release a proprietary hard drive, and charge exorbitant prices for the device. Instead they will let gamers use their SD cards for expanding their Wii memory. You can theoretically store your games, and save data on a SD card but it’s useless because the Wii can’t execute the programs.

When the update hits us in the spring this will all change, and the Wii will finally be able to read downloaded games from the SD Slot. This alone should be giving you all ear-to-ear grins (I know it did it for me).

2. Club Nintendo - Europe, Japan, South Africa, Australia; these are all places where Club Nintendo already resides. For those who aren’t sure about the service, Club Nintendo is a cool way for the company to give back to its fans. Up until now Club Nintendo wasn’t available in the US.

North America Wasn’t Cool Enough For The Club…Until Now..By ‘Now’ I Mean Later This Year

The way Club Nintendo works, is you take surveys and register your products which all goes towards points for your Club Nintendo account. Once you accrue enough points, you become eligible to purchase Nintendo products. Here’s a small list of freebies that have been listed for Club Nintendo in other countries:

Wii Points Card (100)
Wario Land Wallpaper
Wii Fit Cooling Bag
Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising
Mario Kart Stopwatch

That’s just a small taste, but it gives you an idea of what we can look forward to when Club Nintendo comes stateside.

1. Game Lineup For 2008-2009 - For the top spot on today’s list, I’m not going to write some elaborate, wordy post like usual. Instead I’ll let the facts speak for themselves. So here’s the lineup for the rest of the 2008 year, and what we have to look forward to in 2009.

Sam & Max: Season 1
Dokapon Kingdom
Wii Music
Spider-Man: Web of Shadows
MySims Kingdom
James Bond 007 in Quantum of Solace
Monster Lab
Call of Duty: World at War
Mushroom Men: The Spore Wars
Star Wars: The Clone Wars — Lightsaber Duels
Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World
Animal Crossing: City Folk
Skate It
Castlevania Judgment
Sonic Unleashed
Tomb Raider Underworld
Deadly Creatures
Secret Files: Tunguska
Animales de la Muerte
Dead Rising: Chop Til You Drop
Fatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Crystal Bearers
World of Goo
Little King’s Story
The Conduit
House of the Dead: Overkill
MadWorld
Onechanbara: Bikini Zombie Slayers
Punch-Out!!
Rune Factory: Frontier
Tenchu 4
Sonic & The Black Knight
Wii Sports Resort
Bob Ross: The Joy of Painting
Disaster: Day of Crisis
Sadness
Sin and Punishment 2
Spyborgs
Tecmo Bowl: Kickoff

I really don’t think anything else needs to be said, other than the list I just presented. With the games to come in 08-09, we should all be smiling.

So are you all smiles after Nintendo’s conference? Are you still frowning? If so, why so blue panda bear?