Welcome to the first of our soon to be regular feature; the WiiDS.co.uk Staff Roundtable!

The way this feature works is this: a question asked to each of the staff members, and they each write their own opinions in reply. The outcome can be quite random at times, but is definatly worth a read!

In the first episode, we ask: “What channels would you like to see on the Wii, and why?”

Limpit

For me there are two channels I’d love to see appear on the Wii:

Wii Game Demo Channel

Don’t know what fantastic Wii game to get next from your local games retailer? Simply select a game from the Wii Demo Channel to let the WiiConnect24 service download the demo and make it available for your judgement on your own Wii. This channel could have demos of games available now, or a demo of a future game, but either way is available free of charge.

I do miss the days of getting a demo disc on the front cover of certain gaming magazines, and it is something I don’t think Nintendo have ever really bothered about. Having a channel dedicated to just demos would be great.

Wii Community

Yeah, they’ve got the Wii Message Board, but that only really works when you have magically exchanged Wii Numbers with someone, or live in the same house and share the same console.

Why not make a community channel, where gamers can get to know other gamers, either locally, nationally, or internationally. The channel could have some sort of forum system, or chat room functionality. It would also act as a catalogue of Wii owners in your area, and act as a great place to swap those Wii Numbers with other gamers, which at the minute seems more trouble then it’s worth.

-Me-

VoIP Channel

Having used the Internet for years to email and instant message people i think that VoIP is a great technology that is rarely used anywhere but the business environment. Personally i think this is because the average household isn’t set up to accommodate this service without the aid of a PC. Wouldn’t it be amazing if your friends and family could actually call you on you Wii via some sort of plug in/wireless attachment to the console. This could also tie in with the online games planned for the future.

DVD Playback

If i say this once i will say it a million times - I want DVD playback on my Wii! I love the idea of one stop shop gadget and by giving the consumer the choice to have this via downloadable software, Gamers dont have to have loads of devices all hooked up to their TV!

GoldyK

OK, I can only think of one, but I think it’s a good one(also, I was in the mind frame thinking of stuff like this and I saw Cheng’s post about Wi-Fi gaming and it just popped into my brain, so… yeah)

DS-Hub channel

We all wish a few games had Wi-Fi, Advance Wars DS, Meteos and a few other games. My idea was this: a channel, when turned on, lets you transmit Local Wireless DS data across the internet to anyone on your friends list who are also connected to this channel. It’s just like using the Wii and the internet like a giant extension cord. There are possibly few things that could limit this: one being lag, but most people who connect to the internet with their Wiis have fairly decent connections. The other, is that the servers used as the hub would be slow, cause something like this would be really popular.

*Note, even though I call it a “Hub” it would probably act more like a router*

Cheng

I haven’t purchased a VC title ever since I bought the Wii, and I’m not sure if I want to in the near future. People noted that each game takes up it’s very own channel on the Wii menu screen, which didn’t sound right to me. While I can’t muse how many channels there are off the top of my head, I can tell one thing…there won’t be enough.

VC Channel Dedicated to All VC Titles

Imagine a obsessed old school fan that just discovered the Wii can download classic games. He will probably try to download a million titles. But what will be the problem? There won’t be enough space. All the other free blocks are not all dedicated to only VC games. Nintendo will soon release unmandatory channels through the Wii Shopping, and all that will do is build up until everything is eventually full.

What Nintendo has to do is create a channel, or series of channels dedicated to VC games. One block can hold…all your SNES titles, while another can store Turbographix. That way the Wii page can be used for other media.

Okay, while I’m a huge Nintendo fan, I’m not exactly giddy over their online plans for the Wii. Apparently they feel it’s their best judgement to stick with the *Friends Code* setup. This disables the use of easy contact with other Wii players around the world, and will only focus on getting codes from specific people you are aquainted with. I almost feel as if Nintendo is trying to dispel gamers from going online because their setup is sloppy and unprepared. But my idea may help those who feel alienated by this frustrating online plan.

Channel Dedicated to Wi-Fi Gaming

I have an Xbox Live account and I’m able to seek through everyones’ identities to see the myriad of gamers around the world, online and on the 360. Apparently Nintendo took a completely path and decided to not go for a simpler online plan. So this channel will help group Wii gamers together. It will work like the internet browser so everyone will be dedicated to see each other. And this channel can be enabled on the computer internet so gamers can add their profile, set up matches, etc. And maybe third party publishers can work with this to enhance their Wi-Fi options on their games.

Other than these two channels, I’m happy with how the Wii is set up. if Nintendo can enhance their console to include these features, I’ll praise them.

FreakyLime

Videogame Music Channel

Wouldn’t it be something if instead of going to video game music site, you just open the channel, pick a game, and listen to its sound track. You could jam out to intense fight scene music, or keep it mellow with open field roaming music. You could change the scene of your house!

Not only that. It should feature a basic “editor”, where you can speed up, slow down and play music backwards and have a bunch of distort functions. Then you can save them and send to friends! Just imagine getting Zelda’s theme music and slowing it down while playing it backwards. No more confusing PC worries!