Wii don’t like naysayers.

Well, we do like nay-sayers, for example, Sony has announced a price cut of the ps3 in the Japanese market…  before the console has even been released.  Microsoft added concurrent downloading to it’s 360 dashboard, although Uwe Bole is still making movies.  Naysaying keeps the gaming world afloat. 

It’s because of this that I wanted to take a look at the article by Adam Frucci, that has been incensing some of the Wii  fanboys, who are in a round the clock vigil awaiting the launch of one of the most interesting console offerings in the last 10 years.

In particular, Adam takes issue with the Wii channels, which is the Wii’s version of the dashboard, or the main interface you’ll see when you turn your Wii on.  From this main page, you can play a game, browse pictures, check the weather, check the news, play some classic games, browse the internet, or play with your “Mii.”

The “Mii” channel is the one that really get’s Adam’s goat.  It’s basically an avatar maker, that let’s you design a character that looks like you that will “live” inside the Wii.  To Adam this whole idea and implementation is half baked, since “[r]eally the only thing you can do with your Mii is use it as a player in Wii Sports, the free game that comes with the console.”

I’m not really sure what the gripe is.  Nintendo has been getting some bad press lately, or rather making some silly announcements, but I don’t think this is one of them.  They’re building a feature into the console at launch that allows you to insert your avatar into games that choose to use the feature.  The fact that the game that comes with the console makes use of it, is a sign of it’s potential, not it’s exclusivity.  By Adam’s logic, the Nintendo zapper should never have been included with the original NES, since at the time, only Duck Hunt, made use of the device.  There were a number of other games that ended up making use of the zapper, although none of them were available at launch. 

Just like the 360 has the gamertag, (which is not lame) the Wii has the Mii, which allows you to create a persistent avatar which will be used in games as the console garners more attention, and more titles.  I feel for Adam’s point, it’s hard to see how this feature is going to be used right now, but I can hardly call foul on Nintendo for doing their part to make the console more of a community device.  Now if only they’d get cracking on online multiplayer, and for crying out loud… some four player games!