The Wii in itself is amazing, mostly because of the fantastic Wiimote, which makes for a completely unique gaming experience. I have also figured out how to set up the projector, it works perfectly now.

However, after a week of Wii Sports and Wii Play, I found myself faced with a rather long list of drawbacks and annoyances, most of them caused by Nintendo wanting complete control over what you can do with the Wii, seriously hampering interoperability with other technologies. It is like Apple times five.

• The Wii does not play back audio CD. That does not matter, as I do not have any, but why?
• It does not play back video DVD. Again, does not matter too much, and is probably just a way to avoid licensing fees, but would have been nice. It cannot be a technical problem, because the games come on (encrypted) DVD. Rumour has it that a DVD-enabled version is planned for November.
• It has USB ports, but no drivers for anything. I have lots of USB equipment that would make sense to hook up to the Wii: Keyboard, game pad, iPod shuffle, memory card reader.
• To throw in a positive remark, the Wii uses standard WiFi to connect to the Internet and Opera to browse the Web. In addition to the services Nintendo offers (most importantly the Virtual Console), Internet connectivity seems like the most promising gateway to open up the Wii to third-party content and alternative uses. There are already several sites specifically targeting Wii. Unfortunately, I do not have WiFi, and there is no built-in ethernet plug, so I may have to get the USB ethernet adaptor (or upgrade to WiFi, still balancing convenience versus health and security considerations).
• You need to buy a Gamecube controller to play Gamecube games (reasonable) and a Gamecube memory card to save them (not so reasonable, why cannot the built-in memory be used for this) ?
• Games are expensive. That is not a Wii problem, it applies to all systems. There is a healthy market for used games, but unless those are really old or unpopular, that is not much cheaper. I wonder if there is a rental service, like for DVD (which are also expensive).
• Games have region codes. This applies to Wii games, as well as Gamecube and Virtual Console games. Now this is a major hassle. For the more complex games, I would like an English-language version, but the US disks will not play here. More importantly, not all games are available in all regions. Japan is supposed to be the video game paradise, but I see that a number of titles that I would want to buy are not (yet, or maybe at all) to be had here:
  • Madden NFL 07: I need a serious sports game (Wii Sports is more of a party game). Madden 07 is a US launch title for the Wii, and has received rave reviews because of the innovative use it makes of the Wiimote. No Japanese version now, and I can see no announcements either.
  • FIFA 07 is a US-only Gamecube game. The latest instalment for the Japanese market is FIFA 03 (PlayStation2 did get releases, but not Gamecube). I tried to buy FIFA Worldcup 2002, but it is really hard to get Gamecube games in general. I know the previous console generation was basically just PS2, with Xbox and Gamecube far behind, but would not have thought it so bad. It is much easier to get twenty year old games for the original NES, than Gamecube titles.
  • Namco Museum for the Gamecube. There is nice US version with 16 games on it, but Japan only has versions for Gameboy and PSP. The Gameboy adaptor for the Gamecube is not compatible with Wii. Galaxian, Galaga, Pac-Man will probably appear on the Virtual Console some time, but why the wait?
  I cannot see the reasoning behind region codes. Making sure pirated versions and mod-chips are the only way to get to these games does not seem like a sound business strategy.

Having vented these frustrations, I feel much better now, and will probably go over to Akihabara again to resume the hunt for a good, used Gamecube game (Viewtiful Joe? Metroid Prime? FIFA 2002?) or just shell out the 6,800 yen for Zelda.