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3DS can import your Wii Mii, too 'robust' to export them back
Connectivity used to be a big buzz word for Nintendo during the GBA/DS era. Yet, the 3DS is oddly lacking interoperability with a Nintendo home console. At launch, only one feature will be available that caters to owners of both a Wii and 3DS: transferring your Mii from the console to your handheld. But what if you want to send a Mii back to the Wii? "It's a one way transfer," NOA Product Marketing Manager Bill Trinen told Joystiq. "You can send your Miis from your Wii to your 3DS. But, because the Mii Maker on the Nintendo 3DS is a more robust program and has newer features, like hairstyles and eyes and things like that, the Miis you create there can't go back to the Wii." Too bad, because Mii Maker's ability to automatically create new avatars by taking pictures would expedite an otherwise lengthy process. Can we expect any other connectivity between the two Nintendo devices? Perhaps, but Trinen didn't even offer a tease. "Beyond that, that's the only Wii connectivity we've talked about."
Wii Warm Up: Mii or Meh
Mii making was great fun in the early days of the Wii. Somehow, I found myself engrossed in the process of creating big-headed caricatures of me, my family, celebrities, and such. My interest was renewed for a while with the addition of the Check Mii Out Channel. But I got over my Mii mania, mostly. I have a stable of go-to Miis for use in games that support them, and that's it. I rarely look at the parade or the Check Mii Out Channel anymore. I'm glad I have the Miis I have, but I don't really feel like putting time into Mii creation for fun anymore. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, as the point is to make avatars, and I've done that and now I have avatars.What about you? Have you continued honing your Mii-making craft? Have you become an artisan working in the medium of fake cartoon heads?
DS connectivity feature found in Mii Channel
Your Mii Channel holds a terrible secret: DS connectivity. We may not have the DS Personal Trainer: Walking (Aruite Wakaru Seikatsu Rhythm DS) yet, but our Wiis are apparently ready to connect to it. As this video demonstrates, you can unlock the DS connection feature in your own Mii Channel right now, by pressing A, B, 1, and then holding 2. The Wii will start looking for DS systems nearby capable of interfacing with the Mii Channel -- which pretty much means Personal Trainer, into which Miis can be imported. Even if the connection fails, your Mii Channel will now feature a "connect to DS" button.Sure, this may be useless, but it's like a cheat code -- for your system! How very cool. Has this always been there, or did it sneak in with the last update?[Update: Apparently the feature's been there since last year, or maybe before, but the method had yet to be documented.][Via GoNintendo]
Mii Spotlight: Take a look inside
It's Saturday, and obviously, that means another week in the Mii Spotlight! This week, however, we offer something a little different than our usual fare. Or, depending on how you look at things, it could be seen as exactly the same as our usual fare. Decide for yourself!
Mii City, Population: These Guys
Having broken out of the Mii channel's sterile confines, these characters were spotted at Canada's Anime North convention last May. One can only imagine what costumed horrors the blue-shirted Mii was subjected to that would leave his face in a permanent state of fright -- a heavyset guy with a ZZ Top beard dressed as Sailor Moon? Or a muscly Batman gyrating in a pair of speedos? Check past the post break for another photo of these two Miis hamming it up for the camera.
We want more Miis (Wii annoyance #012)
When we first read in the Wii manual that "up to 100 Miis can stay in your Mii Plaza," we weren't overly concerned. After all, how many different oblong-headed caricatures do you need on one system. Now that we're actually bumping up against the Mii limit after only a few months of use, though, we can't help but be annoyed at what seems to be an arbitrary restriction. Granted, most Wii users probably won't fill up their Mii channel quite this quickly. We're both blessed and cursed with friends whose obsession with Mii creation leads to new arrivals in our Mii plaza every other day. And sure, we could probably stand to clean out some of the less inspired Mii examples in favor of some of the dozens interesting creatures running around our Mii parade. But why should we have to? We have hundreds of blocks of space left on our Wii's internal memory, and nothing much to do with it unless we suddenly decide to download Urban Champion. It should only take a relatively simple system update to let us fill that unused space with hundreds more Miis -- enough to create a Where's Waldo? style scene of Mii inasanity. Even if technical issues prevent showing that many Miis on one screen, the over-100 excess could be placed in seperate rooms in the Mii plaza. We know we've had some harsh words for the Mii channel in the past, but really there's no limit to our enjoyment of the little character maker. That is, of course, except for the limit Nintendo places on it. Free the Mii Channel from your self-imposed shackles, Nintendo. You have nothing to lose but your chains. PS3 delights vs. PS3 annoyancesWii delights vs. Wii annoyancesXbox 360 delights vs. Xbox 360 annoyances
Mii Channel misses (Wii annoyance #008)
Don't get us wrong, we love the Mii Channel. We've spent hours tinkering around making versions of ourselves, our friends, our families, celebrities, strangers, that homeless man on the corner in front of our house, etc. Good times. But for all the fun of avatar creation, there are a few niggling issues with the system that we'd like to see addressed. More face building options - I know Nintendo claims there are, like, a gazillion possible unique Miis to be made on the Mii Channel, but despite the wide array of selectable facial features, there are still some important things missing. The first thing I noticed when trying to make a Mii version of myself was the lack of sideburns, meaning my Mii doesn't look a lot like me. Some of the other face parts, like the nose, lips and eyebrows, could also use more options to choose from. A Mii Lobby - Why is there no way for me to share my Miis with people besides those who I actively register as friends? I want to be able to free my Miis to roam the world at large, and I don't mean by uploading a picture to some online clearing house. And I want to be able to download Miis from strangers who choose to share them in some sort of Wii-accessible, searchable online database. I know your worried about little Johnny coming across a Mii named "PenisMan" or something, but parental controls can prevent this from being an issue. Editing others Miis: So my friend makes a Mii version of himself and sends it over. It's perfect in every way, except the mouth is a little too high. In an ideal world, I'd make a quick edit and send it back to my friend, possibly with a note making fun of his low-hanging mouth. Instead, I try to edit the Mii and get an annoying message telling me "you can't edit Miis you didn't create." I can understand not wanting to let people plagiarize other people's Miis, but it doesn't seem too hard to add an "originally created by" area to acknowledge the original Mii creator while still allowing for people to build on the works of others. We know the Mii Channel can be updated through the Wii's system update function. So how about it, Nintendo, how about making an already great feature even better?PS3 delights vs. PS3 annoyancesWii delights vs. Wii annoyancesXbox 360 delights vs. Xbox 360 annoyances
