Wii setup and interface walkthrough video

We're sorry to have to put you through this, but we've got nearly twenty full minutes of footage of the Wii in the can. Hit it for initial setup, configuration, and a complete interface and menu walkthrough, including the creation of a Mii. (Sorry, online stuff is disabled for the time being, we'll hit you back on that asap.) We know it's a tad excessive, but we're hoping to keep the Nintendo fanboys in the house pleased while we silently and lovingly admire our congregation of consoles.

Download video
MP4 (h.264) - VGA, QVGA
AVI (DivX) - VGA, QVGA

[Chris @ Nov 11th 2006 12:48PM]

I seriously doubt you got this on October 10; I think you put in the system date wrong.

[Ryan Block @ Nov 11th 2006 1:23PM]

Yep, my bad!

[DidYouLoseASock @ Nov 11th 2006 12:51PM]

I had a nightmare last night. Some how I was able to buy a Wii early. I played with it a little and I did no like it and wanted to return it. Scary.

[james @ Nov 11th 2006 12:51PM]

Couldn't you have gotten a friend to help shoot the video while you hooked it up? The one hand juggle is funny, but not that funny.

[James @ Nov 11th 2006 12:59PM]

I'm actually more interested in how the controls are being used to navigate through all these menus. Is this all laser pointer style navigation?

The controls are still a bit of a mystery to me. Looking forward to seeing them in action!

[Ryan Block @ Nov 11th 2006 1:24PM]

Yep, it's pretty much all pointer style interaction. Once in the games, though, controls can be just about anything.

[Zach @ Nov 11th 2006 1:04PM]

call me crazy, but the menus are PURPLE? they look EXTREMELY kiddish :/

sigh... i had high hopes this time around.

[jon a. @ Nov 11th 2006 1:28PM]

Ummm, the channel interface is all in white and blue, the system menus are in black and white, and the channels themselves have different color schemes, but it all seem to be mainly white and blue.

Where are you getting purple from? Do you need to fix your monitor?

[Dominic @ Nov 11th 2006 1:08PM]

Do you guys at Engadget like to keep all the stickers on your HDTVs? Take them off!!!

[Drew @ Nov 11th 2006 1:14PM]

Question:What happened to the Starup disk?!
It didn't prompt for a startup disk. Was it even included?

[jon a. @ Nov 11th 2006 1:28PM]

I'm guessing the start up disk will replace Wii Sports when they quit bundling Wii Sports.

And Ryan, just so you know, online won't be turned on until the 19th, and it is November :).

[Ryan Block @ Nov 11th 2006 1:26PM]

No startup disc necessary! You saw it cold booted with no disc in drive. I don't even think there was one packaged with the console.

[Terry Blevins @ Nov 11th 2006 1:14PM]

Ryan - Why do you have two X360s?

[Jay @ Nov 11th 2006 1:16PM]

Dominic, youre telling me that if you had the 3 latest consoles out, 2 of which arent even released yet, you would rather peel the stickers off the TV then play them xD

@Terry: One might be a personal 360 and the other a Engadget 360.

[Dominic @ Nov 11th 2006 1:31PM]

I was just saying...I mean I took the stickers straight off when I bought my HDTV...kind of ruins the nice glossy finish of the TV...

[Jut @ Nov 11th 2006 1:19PM]

The photos are stretched because you put the wii into 16:9 mode but didn't put the tv into 16:9.

[Ryan Block @ Nov 11th 2006 1:26PM]

That television automatically resizes for widescreen, there's no reason it should have been as such. That said, everything else in the console was proportionate, so I still don't know why!

[mingistech @ Nov 11th 2006 1:21PM]

Odd.

You set up the system for 16:9 Widescreen and it kept a 4:3 ratio.

I've seen other people post their Wii setups already and their systems switched over properly.... any idea why this one didn't?

[Tom Boucher @ Nov 12th 2006 10:51AM]

Hey Ryan -

The reason your TV didn't resize was you were using Composite inputs. When using those no HDTV I've got knows what kind of signial is coming in so you have to manually change it using the normal/full/zoom/full zoom options (or their versions of it) that they have.

Like on my HDTV when on digital signals it does just fine, but if I watch Sci-Fi or another non-HD content I have to zoom it to get rid of the black bars.

[Marc @ Nov 11th 2006 1:26PM]

Ryan - What happens if you pop that disc in the wrong way with the nice printing to the left. Does the Wii spit it back out or does it play it?

[Ward @ Nov 11th 2006 1:55PM]

Pretty sure you're supposed to tell your TV to stretch the picture to widescreen, since the Wii doesn't output HD resolutions natively. Hence the aspect ratio being off on the photos.

At least, that's how the Gamecube widescreen features work.

[rafa @ Nov 11th 2006 1:55PM]

Do the graphics on the Wii look fuzzy (ala n64) because they're in 480i on a plasma? I ask because that's how they looked on the kiosk I played at gamestop. I don't mind bad graphics as long as the image is sharp.

[jon a. @ Nov 11th 2006 2:10PM]

Nintendo actually made Wii Sports look softer on purpose.

[Illuminated One @ Nov 11th 2006 2:00PM]

Wow, I could barely read anything on the screen from the overexposure. Couldn't you have set the exposure setting so it's on night mode, or candlelight mode. C'mon man, get with the program, you are a gadgets website.

[FSD24 @ Nov 11th 2006 2:03PM]

i saw the wii and the ps3 yesterday at the mall, played with it a lil

kinda funny how they are targeting youngsters but u have to have a drivers license to play it...
well the ps3 does look a lot better in real life, the graphics seem to be better than 360 but nothing dramatic
the wii has xbox graphics which i believe is its biggest flaw...+ the game they had for the wii wasnt fun at all...steering wheel thingy didnt work well for me.

[humpty @ Nov 11th 2006 2:16PM]

Really lame menu sound effects that will get annoying fast. And, it gives a slight rumble each time; there should be a way to turn all that off.

And, MIDI music/sound fx is so 70s.

[mark @ Nov 11th 2006 2:17PM]

"call me crazy, but the menus are PURPLE? they look EXTREMELY kiddish :/

sigh... i had high hopes this time around."

You're crazy. They're white/blue, the colors/brightness in the video are shitty.

[Matt @ Nov 11th 2006 2:19PM]

Why didn't you use a video capture card, or at least get the camera to actually capture the text.

[Jordan @ Nov 11th 2006 2:44PM]

Apparently, no one else noticed that you put in the wrong date. November is the 11th month, not the 10th, making it 11/10/06, not 10/10/06

[James @ Nov 11th 2006 2:53PM]

Good point, Jordan. Oh wait - who cares?

[macattacks10 @ Nov 11th 2006 3:14PM]

I take it you didn't read the first comment. Besides that, I want to know why the disc drive doesn't glow blue, that was cool looking.

[everrette powell @ Nov 11th 2006 2:50PM]

if you are looking for a camera man i am available

[Derek @ Nov 11th 2006 2:51PM]

What's wrong with brown?

[Jordan @ Nov 11th 2006 3:03PM]

No one, really, I just noticed it, and was surprised no one else did...

[Brian @ Nov 11th 2006 2:58PM]

Oh, I'm so sorry Ryan! You have that Motorola DVR too? Mine sucks... =[ Of course, it could be because I have digital cable.

[Ryan @ Nov 11th 2006 3:13PM]

the wii doesnt look bad. im looking forward for it to come out! oi and do you nagigate by just pointing at the screen or the numbchuck??

[madamrobot @ Nov 11th 2006 5:17PM]

I'm going to kill someone if I have to to get my hands on this thing. Like, murder, baby.

[jrot @ Nov 11th 2006 5:22PM]

Yeah, seriously, does the drive slot glow blue?

[DaveC @ Nov 11th 2006 5:53PM]

This is going to be my favourite blogpost/blog site until December 8th.

[Timerider @ Nov 11th 2006 6:25PM]

I can't load the video!

Curse my horribly slow dialup connection!

[Eddie @ Nov 11th 2006 7:08PM]

Is it just me, or does the console itself seem too bland? I also thought the disk drive would glow blue. We want more blue!

[Deiailis @ Nov 11th 2006 8:03PM]

I�d appreciate it if the post would also include a line mentioning that the TV wasn�t set up to 16:9? The TV doesn�t set itself automatically, unfortunately, but it would be nice if the article mentioned this fact. In fact, one of the text screens in the video specifically warns to set up the TV as such.

[ilovemrdoe @ Nov 11th 2006 8:25PM]

lol did you just connect to some randoms wifi?

[ark_v2 @ Nov 11th 2006 8:27PM]

I love the design of that tiny piece of equipment, unfortunately...the plastic looks cheap...and the interface...well, I won't be buying it just to play Super Smash Bros. Brawl, I'll stick to that stylish mimimalistic XMB.

[gamersunited @ Nov 11th 2006 11:26PM]

Whoa, how did you get a Wii already? You rock!:)

[Cody Turner @ Nov 11th 2006 11:57PM]

It vibrates when I put my pointer over the menus, its like a "real" menu!

[cloud811 @ Nov 12th 2006 12:27AM]

hahaha browns your fav color? nice. You seem like your having alot of fun....T_T i want in man. Wanna invite me?

[Sam Haakenstad @ Nov 12th 2006 1:23AM]

Does anyone else think that the Wii looks kindof cheap in build quality? I mean the Xbox 360 and the PS3 look like they are great in build quality, but the Wii looks cheap. Anyways, I think the interface looks nice, but I like the XMB and the Dashboard much better.

[Joe P @ Nov 12th 2006 1:47AM]

For the love of pete, play the gaaaaaaaaaaame!

[Mike F @ Nov 12th 2006 10:48AM]

Why did you choose a FON access point? You won't be able to connect to the net with FON unless you go into a browser and put in your username and password for FON. I've seen others talk about the networking and it worked for them out of the box. I think your choosing the FON point was why networking didn't take off.