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Wii update
I have some more thoughts on the Wii.
We seem to have gained a Wii email account, but there's no cost. It's a long number...let me see...w8803343913635475 at wii dott com. Although I'm not sure if you can just email that address; we might have to "register" your address in our address book first. I should test that.
They do charge for downloading games, of course - generally, between $5 and $8 per game, although a few are a little more. The games include some of the best TurboGrafx-16 games (I was amazed to see Military Madness, the only electronic strategy wargame I've ever liked), Nintendo 64 games such as Super Mario 64 and Star Fox 64, and some arcade classics like Donkey Kong and Super Mario Bros. According to Wikipedia there were 72 games available when the article was last updated, and approximately three new games are released every Monday.
The internet browser was free, although it's a beta version (based on Opera). I hear that the full version will roll out later this month, and will be free if you get it before June.
I also downloaded the "Everybody Votes!" channel, which was another freebie. Not bad, although so far not that exciting.
The weather channel is superior to online weather channels, I think. On the other hand, I wouldn't want to deceive you about the internet access: it has limitations, or at least the beta version does. It can't play videos; for example, when I use it to look at my journal, the embedded YouTube videos aren't visible at all, not even the still screens. And I think I've heard that it has problems with some Flash animations, too.
Another down side is that, for the first time I feel as if our TV (a 35" model, I believe) is too small. At normal viewing distance on the couch, it's very hard to read most text. You can zoom in, but then you have to look at only a part of the page at a time. A bit inconvenient.
The computer remains the best way to do serious work on the internet, and I imagine that it will remain so even when a keyboard accessory comes out for the Wii.
I also suspect that the connectivity is not entirely reliable. Once or twice it seemed to lose access to the net for a minute or so. Of course, that could be Cox's fault; who knows?
We seem to have gained a Wii email account, but there's no cost. It's a long number...let me see...w8803343913635475 at wii dott com. Although I'm not sure if you can just email that address; we might have to "register" your address in our address book first. I should test that.
They do charge for downloading games, of course - generally, between $5 and $8 per game, although a few are a little more. The games include some of the best TurboGrafx-16 games (I was amazed to see Military Madness, the only electronic strategy wargame I've ever liked), Nintendo 64 games such as Super Mario 64 and Star Fox 64, and some arcade classics like Donkey Kong and Super Mario Bros. According to Wikipedia there were 72 games available when the article was last updated, and approximately three new games are released every Monday.
The internet browser was free, although it's a beta version (based on Opera). I hear that the full version will roll out later this month, and will be free if you get it before June.
I also downloaded the "Everybody Votes!" channel, which was another freebie. Not bad, although so far not that exciting.
The weather channel is superior to online weather channels, I think. On the other hand, I wouldn't want to deceive you about the internet access: it has limitations, or at least the beta version does. It can't play videos; for example, when I use it to look at my journal, the embedded YouTube videos aren't visible at all, not even the still screens. And I think I've heard that it has problems with some Flash animations, too.
Another down side is that, for the first time I feel as if our TV (a 35" model, I believe) is too small. At normal viewing distance on the couch, it's very hard to read most text. You can zoom in, but then you have to look at only a part of the page at a time. A bit inconvenient.
The computer remains the best way to do serious work on the internet, and I imagine that it will remain so even when a keyboard accessory comes out for the Wii.
I also suspect that the connectivity is not entirely reliable. Once or twice it seemed to lose access to the net for a minute or so. Of course, that could be Cox's fault; who knows?