Everybody Votes, one week later
One week has passed since Nintendo sneakily updated the Wii with the Everybody Votes Channel, and the polls are still open on the channel itself. We'd like to say it's been a success, but half the time we go in to try to vote, either massive wait times make us reconsider the idea of voting, or we suffer through just to participate in this democratic process only to be told there's an error. Oh well. We can only hope that it'll get better. After all ... hey, it's free, amirite? And it's not as though it's all been loading times and errors, because we've thrown our hats in on a few questions.
But since we've all had a week of opportunity to fiddle, we thought we'd spend some time talking about Nintendo's latest and what may be yet to come for the new channel.
Sure, the execution is not perfect. We definitely have some issues with the painfully slow task of navigating the channel, but it seems like that can easily be improved through the magic of glowing blue updates. There is, however, something of a schism in the fanboy community about the best philosophical path for the new channel. Some prefer the irreverence of random questions; we're all about the current war of red vs. blue that is currently raging on the Wii. Others see a different potential here ... the potential of millions of fanboy voices clamoring to tell Nintendo how they feel.
There are certainly issues that are continuing sources of disagreement between Nintendo and their staunch supporters, who stoically bear things like the Big N's dedication to safety in online gaming. The payoff is worth it. We get great games and usually dependable (and sometimes amazing) customer service. Even better, however, is the indication that Nintendo actually listens already. Despite the gems of the GameCube, that was a dark time for many Nintendo fans, but many of the biggest complaints seem to be addressed with the Wii -- at least, potentially. We're still waiting to see what will happen with the Wii and online gaming, but we've seen with the DS that free service can be pretty satisfactory.
But that's not all when it comes to the potential of the new channel. Others see the seeds of a WiiSpaceJournal fusion tying together a world of Nintendo fans. They're definitely giving us the tools for such a community, what with built-in photo tools and the streamlined browsing. Perhaps the Everybody Votes Channel is a baby step in that direction, and for once, the idea of an online social community seems tempting, since it will be peopled with Miis. On that note, we must say that the Mii animations in the EVC are too cute for words.
As it stands today, one week after it became available with no fanfare, the Everybody Votes channel is just an extra, a sometimes charming (and sometimes not) distraction, or a way to kill a few minutes while you're kicking around the Wii menu. We'll watch and see if it develops into anything else!
To all of you: where do you stand on the potential of the Everybody Votes Channel ... or is it even an issue for you? Certainly some of us aren't terribly concerned with the greater implications of occasional Wii community polls, and we'll take what we get on those days when we feel like polling. But if you see the new channel as a platform for the gaming community to speak out, then we'd love to know about it -- and just what it is that you want Nintendo to know.
