Wii Internet Channel free from now on, the way it should be
By Joseph L. Flatley 
posted September 1st 2009 4:29PM
posted September 1st 2009 4:29PM
Hey man, you don't owe us an explanation. Times are tough, so maybe you just don't have the 500 Wii points (that is, five bucks) to get in on the Wii Internet Channel, and you missed the free launch event way back in 2006. Well, you're in for a treat: effective immediately, Wii owners can download the thing, free of charge, in perpetuity. And if you already shelled out the bones? Don't worry -- starting at the end of October, consumers who have previously exchanged 500 Wii Points to download the Internet Channel will get one NES game of their choice (of the same value) from Virtual Console. But that ain't all -- the Internet Channel has got a little upgrade in the form of Adobe Flash Lite 3.1, just the thing for all your YouTube needs. Hit the read link to get started.
gosh, this is a nice gesture but I'm sure glad I never bothered spending $5 on it. The browser itself is really quite nice but it's ridiculously constrained running at 480p, especially on a big TV. It would help if the menu bar on the bottom would autohide or something so you could make more use of those precious 480 lines of rez. It would be the bomb if the Wii did 1080p....
Unfortunately, Youtube XL looked pretty crappy, too. It doesn't need to look that crappy.
Press the 1 button to hide the toolbar.
The menu bar at the bottom DOES autohide. Check the preferences.
Wii Killer!
I've been hacking my wii recently since it's been hiding away for over a year, and found it pretty amusing to do so. Ironically I was playing FFVII on it xD
Now I'm trying to figure out how to make cooliris work on the wii by using a custom browser. If I knew how to recompile cooliris as a wad it would be the most epic app ever! Maybe it's already been done. Here's hoping!
PEOPLE! THERE ARE THINGS ON THE INTERWEBS OUTSIDE OF HULU!
there are more efficient ways of watching tv shows on your tv..
"consumers who have previously exchanged 500 Wii Points to download the Internet Channel will get one NES game of their choice"
I think you're making an assumption on this one. In the letter that Nintendo sent to the Wii Message Board it doesn't say anything about the NES game being any game of your choice, it just says you'll be able to download an NES game of equal value. It seems like they've left it open to be only a certain game or a small selection of games.
I'm not sure why they'd bother limiting the choice since there are no supply issues with digital distribution, but given the huge amount of time they've left before the offer goes live I'm assuming that they don't have the infrastructure in place to give these games away so it might be easier for them to get their side of the deal rolling if they limit your game selection.
wow- now i have a reason to turn my wii on again....