Mii? I'm Excited

So, the Wii press conference was yesterday (link to coverage). Everyone now knows when the Wii will be out (November 19), and how much it will cost ($250 USD). They also know that it will be bundled with Wii Sports, have 30 titles right away, as well as 30 Virtual Console titles to start (ranging from $5-$10). Excited yet?

If you are saying, "this is news to ME!" then you need to find a better news source. This is not the right place.

What really got me interested was the demonstration of the Wii Channels. The concept of channels makes a lot of sense (as has been pointed out by much more astute persons than me, the controller is, afterall, a Goddamn remote control). It also means that there will be content, easy to navigate, and provided without deep searching, to the consumer. I like that Virtual Console games you buy become their own channels. I like that they are providing a source for news and weather. I like that there will be pictures.

Most of all, I like the ideas that the Mii Channel brings. If you missed it, part of the Wii will be a social experiment. You will be able to create little 3D avatars. These avatars can then populate your Wii, your friends' Wii, your Mii enabled games (such as Wii Sports, and Warioware), and your Wii Remote. This is a very real first step to a universal save game. While it was indicated that the majority of content will be designed to be saved to SD cards, there is room to grow. The Wii Remote will have 6K of storage. Not much in these days of multi-gigabyte games. Practically nothing compared to the e-mail load you get every day.

But it is enough room to store your favourite Mii's, and your gamer information. It is enough to make taking your controller important. It is enough to get the ball rolling.