WiiLink – Japanese Wii channels revived | Hacker News Reader

WiiLink – Japanese Wii channels revived

wiilink24.com

122 pointsmdwalters14 comments

These channels are part of my childhood memories. I would scour through the content in these channels every Friday night after school.

Furthermore, they illustrate Nintendo's capability in creating engaging UI/UX. Before iPhone apps became prevalent, Nintendo was able to design simple, pleasing UI with their own Nintendo personality. Unlike apps nowadays, the accompanying music was memorable; Wii Shopping Channel music remains popular on YouTube recommendation algorithms. Despite the rise of smart TVs later, they still haven't captured the magic one would feel touching a Nintendo Wii Channel. UI designers can learn much from engaging with them.

Very true. My family had our Wii since 2006 (according to the Wii Message Board), and we really loved it. I'm glad people are reviving these channels, it makes the Wii much more than a paperweight in 2023.

In some interview, Mr. Iwata said that he want Wii to be a part of living room[1], rather than a game console that may look out of place.

Comparing to other consoles around 2000, He accomplished this goal successfully.

[1] https://www.nintendo.co.uk/Iwata-Asks/Iwata-Asks-E3-2011-Spe...

C.f. "Xbox is the new water cooler"

THAT'S what that music is. Thank you.

If anyone is interested in making homebrew for the Wii: https://github.com/devkitPro/libogc is pretty good. Certainly not as easy as say GBStudio or any game engine but the Wii's graphics being fixed function makes things a lot easier.

Would also reccommend GRRLIB for games.

Similarly for WiiU/3DS, Pretendo: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37377078

How does WiiLink compare to RiiConnect24?

> Is your service a replacement for services such as RiiConnect24?

> No! This service is designed to be a companion to RiiConnect24, providing exclusive Japanese and streaming services, though some channels will be able to replace them (such as Mii Contest Channel and Everybody Votes Channel)

It's not a competitor to RiiConnect24, but they have been working on a small number of WiiConnect24 channels, such as Forecast Channel, and News Channel. I use the WiiLink Forecast Channel, as it supports my city, and has a larger support of cities than RiiConnect24. For everything else, I use RC24. Too bad they decided to rerun Nintendo's polls. I wonder what would happen when they run out...

I've seen a youtube video of someone using this with the food channel to order a dominoes pizza. (they're the only one added right now, because they have the simplest ordering API)

A very novel concept, I hope it can be expanded.

How about joysound Wii support?

Seems like someone needs to make a separate revival, WiiLink revives Japanese-exclusive channels from Nintendo themselves. And didn't Joysound launch outside Japan in 2012?

Reply on news.ycombinator.com