Tip
Wii for Web, Not Just Mario
By Matt Mernagh at 4:38 pm on Thursday, April 1, 2010 // Post a Comment
Preparing for my monthly roundup of site statistics I came across a puzzling tidbit. Between Mario and WiiFit, Nintendo fans have found time to go online. They’re leaving the Nintendo store behind to experience, potentially, your website.
Serious. No April Fool.
These Nintendo Wiiers do represent less than one percent of my stats. Yet it’s fascinating people have used their Wii for web browsing time. Especially considering the allure of rescuing Princess Peach. It’s not shocking people have used their Wii to view gamer related sites. To get hints, learn about new games, seek out promotional giveaways. Yet none of the sites I gather, review and report statistics for anything remotely to do with Wii, Mario, fitness or gaming in general. Not a single keyword. Until I saw the stat blip I never considered using my Wii for web browsing. Now I’m thinking I should seriously Wii web browse.
The Wii uses a modified version of Opera. Making websites easier to view and navigate from your living room couch or favourite gamer chair. Opera supports CSS, Javascript, and Flash. Rendering almost all web sites like its desktop counterpart. According to Nintendo, “The Internet Channel will display video in Flash, version 8 or earlier. All other video types, such as QuickTime (.avi) and Windows Media Video (.wmv) will not display. Flash movies made in a version of Flash higher than 8 will not play.” Wiiers use their Wiimote to browse sites, something I’m not too keen on. A USB keyboard can be added to Nintendo Wii. Don’t worry your site doesn’t have to be gamer geared towards yet, but it has me continuing to question how people engage in the net and how it is dramatically changing. Something marketed as a game console is also, to a select few, (for now), access to the Interweb. I think it’s cool people have taken the initiative to go beyond Tetris.
