Wii Channel Menu

Nintendo has learned a lot from Xbox Live whether they care to admit it or not. A few years ago the company dismissed the whole notion of online gaming as unimportant. That was a big mistake because online is almost as important these days as what processor your console runs. Microsoft deserves credit for brining gamers into a service and serving up content they want. There's some serious money to be made by hawking all kinds of wares on consoles and Nintendo is officially on that bandwagon (to be clear they didn't just hop on with the launch of the Wii - they have been on the bandwagon on other platforms like the DS for a while now). Nintendo certainly has a lot to sell including a massive library of classic game titles.

So what is the Wii Channel Menu? The Wii Channel Menu is the epicenter of your console experience. It is your starting point where you'll do a myriad of interesting activities from playing games to surfing the web to creating your own custom avatar to messaging your friends and family. The Wii at launch consists of a handful of channels: Disc Channel, Mii Channel Forecast Channel, News Channel, Message Boards Channel, Photo Channel, Wii Store Channel, and Internet Channel.

One of the first channels you'll want to see will be the Disc Channel. This channel allows users to play either Wii game discs or your entire library of Nintendo GameCube discs out of the box. So if you want to play Super Mario Kart Double Dash or Zelda: Wind Waker, you still can with no problems. As we already mentioned, you'll be able to connect your GameCube memory cards and controllers to the system so you won't have a problem loading up your GameCube games complete with game data and with a controller that you are accustomed to.

One of the most interesting and important channels for gamers is the Wii Shop Channel, where gamers can get access to a catalog of classic (and eventually) original downloadable game content via the Virtual Console. In addition to being able to buy classic games from the NES, SNES, N64, Genesis and more, users can buy Wii Points or redeem them to download classic video games to the Virtual Console. Users also can use points to download the Opera browser used in the Internet Channel.

As you would expect the Internet Channel allows users to download the Opera browser with Wii Points and surf the web at any time free of charge (not counting the cost of the browser, of course). Then they can surf the Internet right from the comfort of their couch. They can visit their favorite game sites , book travel plans, shop, etcetera. The service is compatible with Macromedia Flash and most standard web technology.

After playing your GameCube or Wii games you'll probably want to create a custom avatar for use online or just for fun. This is exactly what the Mii Channel is all about. The Mii Channel lets gamers create custom tailored caricatured portraits (or avatars) that can then be used as characters across a variety of Wii software. Multiple portraits can be stored in a user's Wii Remote and taken to a friend's house to play on another Wii console and there's plenty of room for each member of the family to have his or her own caricature.

The Wii Message Board allows Wii users to leave messages on the consoles for family members or use WiiConnect24 to send messages to people outside the home. Wii users can trade photos and text messages with cell phone users and will eventually allow for incoming messages with attachments that can contain game content such as a new map or weapon for a game. Games can constantly be updated, thereby extending their playability as well.