Nintendo Wii Internet Channel

I managed to get a Nintendo Wii when it was launched in the UK a couple of weeks ago. I’ll probably post about it when I’ve had more chance to play with it, but I wanted to do a quick post on the Wii Internet Channel (basically a version of the Opera web browser) that was released today.

On first impressions, I’m very impressed. It renders Carsurvey.org very well, has reasonably useful zooming, and works beautifully with the Wii Remote (the vibration as you move your cursor over a link is great).

However, I’m beating round the bush here. All that matters is that YouTube works, including full screen playback. For some people, a small wireless device like the Wii, which shows photos and plays YouTube videos on their TV, will be well worth buying, regardless of the fact that it also plays games.

12 thoughts on “Nintendo Wii Internet Channel

  1. Andy

    Hi, notice you have a Speedtouch 585 and a Wii – did you manage to get these to work together. I’ve tried nearly everything to get my Wii connecting, so i was wondering if you have any advice?!

  2. Steven Post author

    Hi Andy,

    I’ve had no problems with making the Wii and Speedtouch work together.

    My Speedtouch is a V6 running firmware 6.1.4.3. The Wii is connecting wirelessly to the Speedtouch. I’ve got my Speedtouch set to 802.11b/g, with 128bit WEP encryption enabled, and Broadcast Network Name disabled. I’ve left the Speedtouch running on its default 192.168.1.254 address, as changing that address seemed to cause DHCP problems.

    The Wii is set up to use DHCP, and has been working fine. WiiConnect24 is enabled. However, I used the Wii on a Belkin router before the Speedtouch, which allowed the Wii to install any initial updates. It’s possible that there was an issue that was patched before I installed my Speedtouch.

    Hopefully that’s of some help to you.

  3. Andy

    Hi Steven, thanks for that. I have already got the initial updates from a USR router which worked seamlessly. The only other differences are that I’m broadcasting network name, and that I’m using WPA encryption, but that worked fine on the USR router.
    What setting do you have your firewall on?

  4. Steven Post author

    Andy, a couple of suggestions:

    Have you got UPnP enabled? I do (no extended security), as that’s often required by modern devices that open lots of ports.

    How about your web browsing interception? Mine is disabled.

    You could try temporarily disabling the wireless encryption, in case that’s the issue.

  5. Andy

    Just incase anyone comes across this looking for an answer to the same problem, i finally found the solution!
    The normally undisableable (is that a word) Intrusion Detection System was kicking in for some bizare reason (even though the Wii was set to be allowed).
    So i telnet’ed in to mess about and try disable it, and now it works!
    Telnet into your router, type ids, then config state=disabled (or something like that – if you press ? it will tell you)
    Hope that helps someone!

  6. RobD

    I’m using speedtouch 780 with 6.1.4.3 with intrusion detection on. Wii updates work fine for me.

  7. Steven Post author

    The Wii Internet Channel is available as a free download from the Wii Shop Channel (until the end of June 2007).

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