The lil' ii's in Wii. They represent "we" the people as well as the Wiimotes, but there's more...
I had a thought (before the Wii name was revealed) that Nintendo would pack-in some sort of Animal Crossing like app with the system to capitalize on the series' obvious appeal to the Japanese market. Nothing big, something simple that would put emphasis on communication/community as the series was originally categorized as such. An Animal Crossing like user interface, for example, is what I was thinking. The thing about the series is, it has charm to those in and out of the gaming "loop" meaning that while it's a franchise, the people are you the player & they're customizable as well. When Nintendo talked of Marionette, Stage Debut & an Animal Crossing sequel...I got the vibe that what they were going for was a non-game that had much customization as well as communication.
Enter Wii...right away at the press conference when Miyamoto was conducting an orchestra we saw these lil' "Wiiple" playing instruments on screen, then again we saw them in the WiiSports games. Near the end though, when the contest winner got to play Wii Tennis on stage, the on-screen "Wiiple" were generic representations of Iwata, Miyamoto & Reggie (sorta like the Stage Debut concept a while back). Like as if they were customized to be that way.
I know this really doesn't come off as amazing to some of you, but I think the idea of making my own "Wii person" for some games is cool. It has an appeal to me like Animal Crossing or Lego's or something creative/customizable like that. I think it's appeal will be universal as well, all while not coming off like a typical Nintendo franchise...why...'cos you yourself become the mascot. That is if the customization is artstic enough to let players "paint" thier own faces/clothes with the Wiimote which I'm pretty sure will be the case.
Okay, here's the meat of what I'm trying to say though: When the two NOA reps were out on-stage demoing Zelda and talking about the controllers features the guy said "we can now start to tell you SOME of the secrets of the Wiimote" or whatever...implying there was more beyond what they told. We all know that it has a speaker built-in, so that means each Wiimote will need a bit of memory built-in as well. Hmmm...then Miyamoto says something in an interview about how each person in your house would have *their* own Wiimote. He also talked about how if one person's Wiimote powers up the system that the UI might be tailored to whoever turned it on. Crazy...
So here's a theory: Each Wiimote comes with enough memory to not only stream sound files to, but also for individual user data. Give each Wiimote a "name" or I.D. making it your own. The customizable "Wiiple" data could be stored here as well...so if you use your Wiimote on someone elses Wii console YOUR "Wii Person" would pop up on screen like a lil' virtual "Yoo" (bite me) that you made yourself. Friend Codes could also be stored on each person's Wiimote as well, so (again) if you go to someone elses Wii console and access WiiConnect24, you don't have to re-enter your freindcode/password 'cos your personal Wiimote would be the "key" for bringing up your files on your system up on their system.
Think about it...with something like this being planned out, their whole "Wii" concept makes a lil' more sense. With this built-in Nintendo really expands their potential for WFC, WiiConnect24, the Wiimote and even NDS connectivity (you can use the NDS's touch screen to enter WFC data as well as drawing a face on your "Wii Person" and then save it to your Wiimote's built-in memory) all while giving it a psuedo-Animal Crossing "you are the mascot" customizable/communication appeal. And from a business side, having this lil' application pre-installed (along with whatever else they plan on packing in) really justifies not needing to pack in a full game...however, with the Wii name, it should mean that there's 2 Wiimotes packed in.
I had a thought (before the Wii name was revealed) that Nintendo would pack-in some sort of Animal Crossing like app with the system to capitalize on the series' obvious appeal to the Japanese market. Nothing big, something simple that would put emphasis on communication/community as the series was originally categorized as such. An Animal Crossing like user interface, for example, is what I was thinking. The thing about the series is, it has charm to those in and out of the gaming "loop" meaning that while it's a franchise, the people are you the player & they're customizable as well. When Nintendo talked of Marionette, Stage Debut & an Animal Crossing sequel...I got the vibe that what they were going for was a non-game that had much customization as well as communication.
Enter Wii...right away at the press conference when Miyamoto was conducting an orchestra we saw these lil' "Wiiple" playing instruments on screen, then again we saw them in the WiiSports games. Near the end though, when the contest winner got to play Wii Tennis on stage, the on-screen "Wiiple" were generic representations of Iwata, Miyamoto & Reggie (sorta like the Stage Debut concept a while back). Like as if they were customized to be that way.
I know this really doesn't come off as amazing to some of you, but I think the idea of making my own "Wii person" for some games is cool. It has an appeal to me like Animal Crossing or Lego's or something creative/customizable like that. I think it's appeal will be universal as well, all while not coming off like a typical Nintendo franchise...why...'cos you yourself become the mascot. That is if the customization is artstic enough to let players "paint" thier own faces/clothes with the Wiimote which I'm pretty sure will be the case.
Okay, here's the meat of what I'm trying to say though: When the two NOA reps were out on-stage demoing Zelda and talking about the controllers features the guy said "we can now start to tell you SOME of the secrets of the Wiimote" or whatever...implying there was more beyond what they told. We all know that it has a speaker built-in, so that means each Wiimote will need a bit of memory built-in as well. Hmmm...then Miyamoto says something in an interview about how each person in your house would have *their* own Wiimote. He also talked about how if one person's Wiimote powers up the system that the UI might be tailored to whoever turned it on. Crazy...
So here's a theory: Each Wiimote comes with enough memory to not only stream sound files to, but also for individual user data. Give each Wiimote a "name" or I.D. making it your own. The customizable "Wiiple" data could be stored here as well...so if you use your Wiimote on someone elses Wii console YOUR "Wii Person" would pop up on screen like a lil' virtual "Yoo" (bite me) that you made yourself. Friend Codes could also be stored on each person's Wiimote as well, so (again) if you go to someone elses Wii console and access WiiConnect24, you don't have to re-enter your freindcode/password 'cos your personal Wiimote would be the "key" for bringing up your files on your system up on their system.
Think about it...with something like this being planned out, their whole "Wii" concept makes a lil' more sense. With this built-in Nintendo really expands their potential for WFC, WiiConnect24, the Wiimote and even NDS connectivity (you can use the NDS's touch screen to enter WFC data as well as drawing a face on your "Wii Person" and then save it to your Wiimote's built-in memory) all while giving it a psuedo-Animal Crossing "you are the mascot" customizable/communication appeal. And from a business side, having this lil' application pre-installed (along with whatever else they plan on packing in) really justifies not needing to pack in a full game...however, with the Wii name, it should mean that there's 2 Wiimotes packed in.
