Wii
The Wii was unveiled on the 17th May 2005 at Nintendo's E3 press conference under the working title of Revolution. Nintendo's fifth home console abandoned the five-year model of improving graphics, focusing on providing a unique way of controlling games. The wireless Wii Remote is able to detect movement in all directions using a sensor placed on top of the television set. The Remote also has a port on the base through which any number of extensions can be added.
You can download channels from the Wii Shopping Channel onto the Wii home, including classic games through the Virtual Console, and all-new WiiWare games.
| Wii |
 |
19th November 2006 |
 |
2nd December 2006 |
 |
8th December 2006 |
Wii Games
New Play Control! Series
The New Play Control series consists of Gamecube games updated for the Wii Remote. Several of the games have also been updated with new gameplay elements.
Wii Channels
The Wii operating system is set up to resemble a bank of monitors, with 12 to a page. The first is always the Disc Channel, and the rest can be filled with channels to add functionality to your Wii system. While Virtual Console and WiiWare game downloads also count as channels, they are listed separately below.
| Name |
JP Release |
US Release |
EU Release |
| Check Mii Out Channel |
12th November 2007 |
12th November 2007 |
12th November 2007 |
| Digicam Print Channel |
23rd July 2008 |
x |
x |
| Everybody Votes Channel |
14th February 2007 |
13th February 2007 |
13th February 2007 |
| Forecast Channel |
19th December 2006 |
19th December 2006 |
19th December 2006 |
| Fortune Telling Channel |
2nd December 2008 |
x |
x |
| Internet Channel |
22nd December 2006 |
22nd December 2006 |
22nd December 2006 |
| Mii Channel |
2nd December 2006 |
19th November 2006 |
8th December 2006 |
| News Channel |
26th January 2007 |
26th January 2007 |
26th January 2007 |
| Nintendo Channel |
27th November 2007 |
7th May 2008 |
30th May 2008 |
| Photo Channel |
2nd December 2006 |
19th November 2006 |
8th December 2006 |
| Television Friend Channel |
4th March 2008 |
x |
x |
| Wii Room |
1st May 2009 |
x |
x |
| Wii Shop Channel |
2nd December 2006 |
19th November 2006 |
8th December 2006 |
WiiWare
WiiWare is an online service for downloading games and applications, available through the Wii Shop channel. Where the Virtual Console is a method of downloading classic games, WiiWare is promoted as a way for developers with small budgets to release original, smaller-scale games while bypassing typical publishers and retail channels. WiiWare games are purchased using Nintendo Points.
Wii Virtual Console
The Virtual Console is an online service for downloading classic games onto the Wii. Along with the NES, SNES and N64, you can also download games for the Sega Master System and Mega Drive (Genesis), the TurboGrafx-16, MSX, Neo-Geo, Commodore 64 and arcade. The service can be accessed by the Wii Shop Channel, and games are bought using Nintendo Points.
Famicom/NES Games
Super Famicom/SNES Games
Nintendo 64 Games