An original idea utilized by the unique technology of the Wii. Actual Score: 7.6
Mii Channel:
The Mii Channel allows you to create a "Mii." A Mii is a representation of yourself that you can play as in several games. The customization is pretty wide, but several of the categories are limited. Nintendo can probably update the Mii Channel via WiiConnect24, so we can hope that they send out some more hairdos and accessories. The graphics of the Mii Channel are pretty smooth. They aren't meant to be realistic, sort of a cartoony style. You can also send your Miis on a "Mii Parade" to your online friends. Unfortunately, you need Friend Codes. Yes, they suck. But, Nintendo is Nintendo. Overall, I thought that the Mii Channel provided some unique customization tools that expanded on the Wii experience.
Mii Channel Score: 8.4
Photo Channel:
The Photo Channel allows you to send photos to your Wii via SD Card or email. You can play around with your pictures, draw on them, do filter effects, and do slideshows with them. The Wii can only accept .jpg photos, though. Also, through an SD Card, you can send music files to your Wii to play during slideshows. I had fun playing around with photos of myself and my sister. Overall, it was pretty useless, though. It just sat there doing nothing for a long time.
Photo Channel Score: 6.3
News Channel:
The News Channel provides instant worldwide news. Many of the headlines are interesting, though I don't use the News Channel much. It just seems to be second fiddle to just checking the news on the internet. Plus, I had to go through tedious loading times that got annoying. If you want to check the news, just check it on your computer. It's a waste of time to check it on your Wii.
News Channel Score: 5.5
Forecast Channel:
The Forecast Channel provides weather (duh) from your area. They don't have every city (had mine, thankfully), so you may not find your city on there. The most fun part about the Forecast Channel is spinning the little globe around. The thing about the Forecast Channel is that it really doesn't provide "forecast." The weather for my area was at least four hours behind the time that it currently was. Overall, it's fun to spin around the globe, but if you're going to check the weather from four hours in the past, I would get this channel.
Forecast Channel Score: 6.2
Wii Shop Channel:
The Wii Shop Channel allows you to buy from one of two categories: WiiWare or Virtual Console. Virtual Console is filled with games from classic consoles such as NES, SNES, N64, Sega Genesis, TG-16, and others which are being added. If you missed one of this consoles on its first run, now's your chance to pick up some of the best titles for these consoles. All of the titles have been improved slightly, but otherwise, they are perfect ports of the original titles. A new feature on the Wii is that you can go back to the main menu and your game will automatically save it exactly where you last were. Pretty nice feature, if you ask me. Especially nice for hard games such as Ninja Gaiden. The WiiWare section allows you to get various other channels, for example, the Everybody Votes Channel. Also in the WiiWare section, beginning in 2008, you will be able to buy games that small-time developers have made, and are selling for a price of their choice. A great idea on Nintendo's part. Overall, I've spent a lot of time on the WIi Shop Channel. I missed a lot of the classics their first time around, so it's been great for me to pick up stuff like Kid Icarus, the Legend of Zelda, and many other classics.
Wii Shop Channel Score: 8.3
Everybody Votes Channel:
The Everybody Votes Channel allows you to vote in polls currently being held by other Wii owners. You can also check on your percentage of how well you predict the outcome of a poll, or how often your vote wins. There were several things I disliked about this channel. First of all, all of your polls had to be accepted by Nintendo before put up on the channel, so you have a low chance of your poll being showcased. Second, you can only have a limited amount of Miis allowed to vote. Lastly, there are only two options for possible answers. If some of these things can be tweaked in a future update, it will be a big improvement on this channel. Overall, I haven't used this channel much. It's pretty fun, but it doesn't last long. It gets boring very fast.
Everybody Votes Channel Score: 7.3
Internet Channel:
The Internet Channel allows you to browse the web on your television. Unfortunately, there are several things wrong with it. First, you can't select text. There's no copying, pasting, dragging, or any other selecting oriented things. Second, it's the Opera browser (which I've used on the computer and it sucks). It should have been FireFox. Third, it's extremely slow. You'd be better off using the iPhone or PSP browser for gosh darn sakes. Lastly, it can't play a lot of pages like Java and Quicktime. It can play Flash, but it would have been nice if Nintendo made Java compatible. Overall, I say you should stick to your computer. The Internet Channel sucks (even the full version).
Internet Channel Score: 5.5
Metroid Prime 3: Preview Channel:
The Metroid Prime 3: Preview Channel showed us some videos of Metroid Prime 3: Corruption. This channel was what convinced me to get Metroid Prime 3. The videos are pretty high quality. There were a couple problems I had with it, though. When I downloaded it, it took nearly 15 minutes. When I watched the videos, they took forever to load. When I watched them later, however, they worked fine. It must have been a server issue, or my router. Other than that, they were amazing.
Metroid Prime 3: Preview Channel Score: 7.4