Online Browsing on Wii

Happy New Year Wii fans! As the New Year rolls in, I can't help notice in that it has become acceptable to say "I have to have a Wii" in a conversation without fear of a barrage of urine-related attempts at humour!

I've just installed the Beta Opera Browser on my Wii and I must say I'm quite impressed with the result. Not only does it take two minutes to set up if you have a wireless network in place but Flash and Ajax sites render perfectly too. Navigation is straightforward - you can zoom in on the page with + and scroll with B if your TV is too low res (which it probably will be). Nintendo really need to bring out a keyboard though as even typing in web addresses with the Wiimote/onscreen keyboard is a challenge! It seems that regular keyboards will not plug and play with the console so it would appear that Nintendo want to release a first party keyboard of its own or it will release drivers at a later date. If you own a Wii-related website look out for the user agent:

Opera/9.00 (Nintendo Wii; U; ; 1309-9; en)

in your logs to see if anyone has navigated to your site with a Wii.

So what sites are worth browsing on the Wii? Well, the blogosphere seems packed with posts along the lines of - "wow, surfing porn on my Hi-Def TV through my Wii is so much better than before." (I won't be so foolish as to debate the merits of that argument here) Indeed Google Blog Search for Wii Porn yields over 10,000 results suggesting that this is a popular point of discussion, much of it related to a rather exaggerated story decrying the Wii as a "porn gateway" for kids.

Here's an interesting site I stumbled across during my online adventures - Wiicade.com. The premise is simple - a collection of mouse-only flash games to play on the Wii. My personal favourite is Tactical Assault. While it isn't Red Steel, its a stylish, fun flash shoot-em-up. Check it out.

SmashMyWii.com - Interesting Social Experiment or Just Plain Silly?

I've gotta hand it to the folks over at smashmywii.com. They sure know how to get attention. In their own words:

We will be one of the first people to get our hands on the Nintendo Wii. After we do, we will destroy it in front of all the Nintendo fanboys waiting in line to get theirs, on the launch day. This is only a social experiment, for the entertainment of the donors, and visitors of this sit.

Hmmmm. Well, their video is certainly amusing but it does leave you with a slightly sick feeling in the pit of your stomach. These guys decided to dress up as Mario and Luigi and smash the Wii with a large mallet. I must say I choked up with laughter when some dude they interview on the video suggests these guys are seriously in need of getting laid!

Watch it below in all its glory (the guy smashing the Wii, not getting laid):

Mission Accomplished: Got my Wii on 23rd December

I thought it was time to start a Wii blog about anything Wii related that's out of the ordinary. I got my Wii quite easily in the end at Gamestop on Henry St. in Dublin on the 23rd of December - quite nice timing if I may say so myself . No preorder, just plain luck! And this was during a week when Wii's were averaging €500 on eBay (I paid €180 or round $225).

Yes, I was briefly tempted to resort to blatant profiteering by peddling my newly purchased console on eBay, but I resisted and ended up developing an addiction to playing Wii Sports golf with my Michael Jackson Mii and moon-walking/saying Cha'mone whenever I got a hole-in-one. (Which wasn't often enough!) Check out how to make the MJ Wii here!

And here's a video of a few other famous Miis including Ghandi, Hitler, Jesus, Donald Trump, George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Saddam Hussein and Kim Jong Il. Quite amusing!