The Front Porch

[toxictwister00]

I know I'm probably one of a quickly dwindling number of people who still own a Wii and enjoy the voting and Mii contests, but when I found out today that the WiiConnect24 service will be shut down at the end of June my reaction was a mix of sadness and shock.

I've only owned my Wii for 8 months, but it's the little things that one grows to enjoy, and I've really enjoyed these little features.  If nothing else, even on my busiest days, I've always been able to find a few minutes to spend voting, making a Mii for the contest, or even just reading the news.  In about 9 weeks I won't be able to do that anymore. 

I still have a Wii, but the only time I use it now is to play games with my niece when she comes over. I never really used any of the features you mentioned. I didn't have the internet for the Wii even if I wanted to use those features. It's kinda funny that Nintendo is scratching their heads at why it's new gen. of the Wii is sinking in sales right out of the gate. The WiiU should have been the Wii to begin with. They were 6 years WAY too late in what it offers. (Except that Gamepad, I like the concept of that.)

[Eric]

Apparently, the Wii U hasn't been selling as quickly as they've hoped.  I guess by shutting down the Wii's connectivity they're going to try to "encourage" people to spend $300 for a Wii U.

I just bought my Wii 8 months ago, and I'm certainly not going to upgrade.  I'll just miss what I'll be losing but get on with my life.  Oh, and I'll be getting an Ouya when it comes out.  Look it up on Wikipedia - it seems to be very interesting and promising.

[toxictwister00]

Apparently, the Wii U hasn't been selling as quickly as they've hoped.  I guess by shutting down the Wii's connectivity they're going to try to "encourage" people to spend $300 for a Wii U.

I just bought my Wii 8 months ago, and I'm certainly not going to upgrade.  I'll just miss what I'll be losing but get on with my life.  Oh, and I'll be getting an Ouya when it comes out.  Look it up on Wikipedia - it seems to be very interesting and promising.

I read about this game console several months back, I wish it luck if it's going to be competing with Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony though.

[Metarvo]

How about all of these bugs that the warm weather brings out?  Aside from the heat and the risk of tornadoes, this is my least favorite part of spring and summer.  The mosquitoes are starting to rear their ugly heads, unfortunately.

[Mike M]

I know I'm probably one of a quickly dwindling number of people who still own a Wii and enjoy the voting and Mii contests, but when I found out today that the WiiConnect24 service will be shut down at the end of June my reaction was a mix of sadness and shock.

I've only owned my Wii for 8 months, but it's the little things that one grows to enjoy, and I've really enjoyed these little features.  If nothing else, even on my busiest days, I've always been able to find a few minutes to spend voting, making a Mii for the contest, or even just reading the news.  In about 9 weeks I won't be able to do that anymore. 

Wait, they're getting rid of their wifi service?

[Metarvo]

Wait, they're getting rid of their wifi service?

http://thenextweb.com/gadgets/2013/04/12/nintendo-will-be-closing-six-wii-channels-and-the-wiiconnect24-service-in-japan-on-june-28/

If I understood the above source correctly, it's only WiiConnect24 (an service that allows connectivity even with the system off) and six of the Internet Channels that are getting the axe.  I didn't see anything about online gameplay or general Internet access in there, so I assume the Wii will still be able to be used for those purposes. 

I found it interesting but stark that the Wii weather channel is one of the ones that is being gotten rid of.  I hope this isn't a harbinger of things to come... 

[WeatherSTARIII]

I know I'm probably one of a quickly dwindling number of people who still own a Wii and enjoy the voting and Mii contests, but when I found out today that the WiiConnect24 service will be shut down at the end of June my reaction was a mix of sadness and shock.

I've only owned my Wii for 8 months, but it's the little things that one grows to enjoy, and I've really enjoyed these little features.  If nothing else, even on my busiest days, I've always been able to find a few minutes to spend voting, making a Mii for the contest, or even just reading the news.  In about 9 weeks I won't be able to do that anymore. 

My brother and I both own one too. We had ours for nearly five years, and I too have always liked to look at the interactive features. One of the first Wii games that I owned ironically was Pokémon Battle Revolution (I originally got it as a Christmas gift back in 2007, despite of all the negative reviews of that game, but hey, I'm a Pokémon fan anyway).   I didn't knew they were eventually going to shut down the service.

[Eric]

I read about this game console several months back, I wish it luck if it's going to be competing with Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony though.

It's a competitor in one sense, but not a competitor in another.  After all, as far as I understand it, open source will be a big part of how the Ouya works.  Apparently, all games will be free to try, and can then be purchased to unlock the full game... though there may be games that will remain free.  Also, no discs or other physical media - all games will be downloaded to be saved in the console's memory or SD cards.

I think it's definitely worth the $99 to try it.  I'm looking forward to receiving it when it gets released.  I've already preordered it on Amazon.com, but I'm not paying extra to receive it on the release day.  I can wait another week or so for the free shipping. 

[Eric]

Wait, they're getting rid of their wifi service?

Unfortunately, yes.  Anything that depends on the WiiConnect24 to work will be disabled: the Forecast, News, Everybody Votes, Check Mii Out, and Nintendo Channels will stop working on June 28.  Also, the message board will stop working (except for your daily stats), since data/message transfers to other Wii users in your address book will be disabled, too.

Apparently, some games may still allow online connectivity, but no lists have been released yet.

[Localonthe8s]

I owned a wii from Christmas 07 to the end of 2008. I never caught the gist of it, all I had was wii sports on it. I ended up giving it away to a family friend the following Christmas. I also owned a gamecube prior to that but i sold it back in 8th grade I think. Just had no time for video games back then :/

[Metarvo]

I hope Nintendo's not turning into EA, but this kind of stuff here is so much like something they would do.  EA has been known for shutting down online play for older Madden games, for example.  I just hope Nintendo's not following suit.

[Eric]

I hope Nintendo's not turning into EA, but this kind of stuff here is so much like something they would do.  EA has been known for shutting down online play for older Madden games, for example.  I just hope Nintendo's not following suit.

On the one hand, the Wii is 7 years old, and Nintendo wants to focus on its current systems - the 3DS and especially the Wii U, which hasn't been selling as well as they'd hoped.  On the other hand, the Wii has been Nintendo's best-selling console, and I think it goes without saying that the majority of Nintendo's customers currently use the Wii.  I think Nintendo is doing a huge disservice to its largest share of customers by ending the Wii's online connectivity features, which were a major selling point for the Wii in the first place.

Basically, Nintendo is saying, despite the large number of people still using the Wii, that they're going to arbitrarily and artificially make the Wii obsolete, so that if people want online connectivity again, they're going to have to spend $300 for a Wii U.  Yes, the Wii U will play all of the Wii's games (but not GameCube, which some versions of the Wii are backwards compatible with), but people don't want to spend $300 for an upgrade, especially those like me who only just recently bought a Wii.  After all, the Wii is still sold right alongside the Wii U in most stores, and, obviously, many people prefer to spend less money for the Wii instead of the Wii U.

Nintendo has already started selling the Wii Mini in some markets (such as Canada and the UK), with a top-loading disc drive, no SD slot, and, most importantly, no internet connectivity whatsoever.  (Ironically, it still has 48 slots on the Wii menu, which, without internet connectivity, will never get filled!)

What I want to know is... how many Wii users actually know about this change?  It was announced on Nintendo's webpage, and then picked up by many other tech and gaming sites, but it has yet to be announced (if it will be at all) anywhere on the Wii - on the message board, Nintendo Channel, or anywhere else.  I actually found out about it two days later only at random - I did a search for something with the word "channel" and Google gave me a link to Nintendo's announcement.

[TWCJim]

Happy tax day!    I hope most of you who have taxes didn't procrastinate and have filed all of them correctly and on time. If not, you have until midnight tonight to do so    As for myself, I got my taxes done a couple of weeks ago 

[phw115wvwx]

Happy tax day!    I hope most of you who have taxes didn't procrastinate and have filed all of them correctly and on time. If not, you have until midnight tonight to do so    As for myself, I got my taxes done a couple of weeks ago 

Seriously, everyone ought to be able to do their taxes way sooner if you have little complexity.  I did mine way back on January 23 thanks to TurboTax, and all my transactions with the state and federal were finalized on February 4.

[TWCToday]

Happy tax day!    I hope most of you who have taxes didn't procrastinate and have filed all of them correctly and on time. If not, you have until midnight tonight to do so    As for myself, I got my taxes done a couple of weeks ago 

Ugh tax season sucks just about as much as the pollen.