news via engadget



We've had our Wii kicking around the office for a little while now, but we had to hold off on answering your many questions about it until last night when they rolled out their launch update. Trust us, it definitely changed some answers, so let's get to the FAQ. Oh, and thanks for the questions. Feel free to leave your followups in the comments.

1. How loud is the Wii?

We'd say of the next gen consoles, the order of loudness goes: Wii, PS3, and Xbox 360. Though that's not necessarily fair since the Wii and the PS3 are both pretty much completely silent from more than a foot away. To put it in perspective, the only console we can tell whether it was left on is the Xbox.

2. Can you connect and play media from a USB hard drive?

Our USB drive turns on when we plug it in -- it's obviously USB -- but nothing happens. Right now there's no support for USB storage, including playback of photos, music, or movies, nor saving channels or games to the device. Bummer.

3. Is it possible to attach an external keyboard, mouse, etc. to the USB ports on the back of the Wii?

Yeah, you can attach them, but they don't actually do anything. Kind of a bummer, too, since using that on-screen keyboard of theirs is kind of a pain -- we often aim off our letter when pressing the A button to type.

4. Does the Wii upconvert non-Wii games?

If you've got the component cables you can "upscale" old games to 480p / EDTV. Not that it's going to look any better, but the display doesn't change back 480i or anything.

5. Which audio / video / image formats work with the Wii?

The manual states it works only with JPEG images, MP3 audio, and motion JPEG movies. We found it worked with all of the above, and unfortunately nothing but. We tested pretty much everything, including BMP, GIF, TIF, PSD, and PNG images; OGG, AAC, AAC lossless, WMA, WMA lossless, MP3, FLAC, AIF, and WAV audio; and XviD, WMA, H.264, and every other variety of movie could think of to throw at it.

6. When you insert an SD card into Wii with photos and videos on, do they need to be converted to display/save onto Wii?

Nope, but it does only read JPEG, MP3, and motion JPEG (MOV) files.

7. What are the load times for the games?

Nothing at all unusual for a disc-based console. Considering it's loading less data than the PS3 or Xbox 360, we might've liked to see those load times shaved down a bit. But it's nothing unreasonable, and doesn't clock into the minutes territory.

8. Is the sensor bar setup tough (does it require a level or anything like that)?

Not at all. Just rest it on top of or below your TV. If it keeps falling off (like ours did) you can use the double-sided tape on the bottom and stick it into place.

9. How does the Wii work on a smaller TV?

Very well; we hooked it up to the smallest TV we could possibly find, a 13-incher, and even put the sensor bar way off to the side and it worked beautifully.

10. Is it hard to aim on the smaller TV?

Not at all! It's like playing any games on a smaller screen: you're never going to be able to pick up the same level of detail and accuracy as on a larger display, but it still works great.

11. How decent is the callibration for the Wii?

Very decent, and extremely easy. In fact, there's no calibration at all, just put the sensor bar on or below your TV, set the option for its location, and you're off.

12. Is the sensor bar really that distracting?

Huh? Not really, it's pretty benign; we didn't even notice it. You might pay more attention to it if it's mounted on a wall (if you're using a projector), but it's very low profile and unobtrusive.

13. What happens if you put a disc in upside down?

Nothing in the channel page; in the Disc channel, however, you get a simple cannot read disc error message. Our discs came out fine and unscratched.

14. In the unboxing video, what were those "decals" plastic things?

That's actually a sensor bar stand and a clear Wii stand (in case you didn't want to use the larger plastic variety in box).

15. How long do the Wii batteries last? Are they rechargeable? Nunchuck change the battery life much?

They just take AA batteries, so your mileage may vary. They're not rechargeable out of the box, and the nunchuck feeds off the Wiimote's power. We've been playing for a week or more now on the stock batteries with no problems, but who knows if they'll die today, tomorrow, or two ...

news via engadget



We've had our Wii kicking around the office for a little while now, but we had to hold off on answering your many questions about it until last night when they rolled out their launch update. Trust us, it definitely changed some answers, so let's get to the FAQ. Oh, and thanks for the questions. Feel free to leave your followups in the comments.

1. How loud is the Wii?

We'd say of the next gen consoles, the order of loudness goes: Wii, PS3, and Xbox 360. Though that's not necessarily fair since the Wii and the PS3 are both pretty much completely silent from more than a foot away. To put it in perspective, the only console we can tell whether it was left on is the Xbox.

2. Can you connect and play media from a USB hard drive?

Our USB drive turns on when we plug it in -- it's obviously USB -- but nothing happens. Right now there's no support for USB storage, including playback of photos, music, or movies, nor saving channels or games to the device. Bummer.

3. Is it possible to attach an external keyboard, mouse, etc. to the USB ports on the back of the Wii?

Yeah, you can attach them, but they don't actually do anything. Kind of a bummer, too, since using that on-screen keyboard of theirs is kind of a pain -- we often aim off our letter when pressing the A button to type.

4. Does the Wii upconvert non-Wii games?

If you've got the component cables you can "upscale" old games to 480p / EDTV. Not that it's going to look any better, but the display doesn't change back 480i or anything.

5. Which audio / video / image formats work with the Wii?

The manual states it works only with JPEG images, MP3 audio, and motion JPEG movies. We found it worked with all of the above, and unfortunately nothing but. We tested pretty much everything, including BMP, GIF, TIF, PSD, and PNG images; OGG, AAC, AAC lossless, WMA, WMA lossless, MP3, FLAC, AIF, and WAV audio; and XviD, WMA, H.264, and every other variety of movie could think of to throw at it.

6. When you insert an SD card into Wii with photos and videos on, do they need to be converted to display/save onto Wii?

Nope, but it does only read JPEG, MP3, and motion JPEG (MOV) files.

7. What are the load times for the games?

Nothing at all unusual for a disc-based console. Considering it's loading less data than the PS3 or Xbox 360, we might've liked to see those load times shaved down a bit. But it's nothing unreasonable, and doesn't clock into the minutes territory.

8. Is the sensor bar setup tough (does it require a level or anything like that)?

Not at all. Just rest it on top of or below your TV. If it keeps falling off (like ours did) you can use the double-sided tape on the bottom and stick it into place.

9. How does the Wii work on a smaller TV?

Very well; we hooked it up to the smallest TV we could possibly find, a 13-incher, and even put the sensor bar way off to the side and it worked beautifully.

10. Is it hard to aim on the smaller TV?

Not at all! It's like playing any games on a smaller screen: you're never going to be able to pick up the same level of detail and accuracy as on a larger display, but it still works great.

11. How decent is the callibration for the Wii?

Very decent, and extremely easy. In fact, there's no calibration at all, just put the sensor bar on or below your TV, set the option for its location, and you're off.

12. Is the sensor bar really that distracting?

Huh? Not really, it's pretty benign; we didn't even notice it. You might pay more attention to it if it's mounted on a wall (if you're using a projector), but it's very low profile and unobtrusive.

13. What happens if you put a disc in upside down?

Nothing in the channel page; in the Disc channel, however, you get a simple cannot read disc error message. Our discs came out fine and unscratched.

14. In the unboxing video, what were those "decals" plastic things?

That's actually a sensor bar stand and a clear Wii stand (in case you didn't want to use the larger plastic variety in box).

15. How long do the Wii batteries last? Are they rechargeable? Nunchuck change the battery life much?

They just take AA batteries, so your mileage may vary. They're not rechargeable out of the box, and the nunchuck feeds off the Wiimote's power. We've been playing for a week or more now on the stock batteries with no problems, but who knows if they'll die today, tomorrow, or two ...

news via engadget



We've had our Wii kicking around the office for a little while now, but we had to hold off on answering your many questions about it until last night when they rolled out their launch update. Trust us, it definitely changed some answers, so let's get to the FAQ. Oh, and thanks for the questions. Feel free to leave your followups in the comments.

1. How loud is the Wii?

We'd say of the next gen consoles, the order of loudness goes: Wii, PS3, and Xbox 360. Though that's not necessarily fair since the Wii and the PS3 are both pretty much completely silent from more than a foot away. To put it in perspective, the only console we can tell whether it was left on is the Xbox.

2. Can you connect and play media from a USB hard drive?

Our USB drive turns on when we plug it in -- it's obviously USB -- but nothing happens. Right now there's no support for USB storage, including playback of photos, music, or movies, nor saving channels or games to the device. Bummer.

3. Is it possible to attach an external keyboard, mouse, etc. to the USB ports on the back of the Wii?

Yeah, you can attach them, but they don't actually do anything. Kind of a bummer, too, since using that on-screen keyboard of theirs is kind of a pain -- we often aim off our letter when pressing the A button to type.

4. Does the Wii upconvert non-Wii games?

If you've got the component cables you can "upscale" old games to 480p / EDTV. Not that it's going to look any better, but the display doesn't change back 480i or anything.

5. Which audio / video / image formats work with the Wii?

The manual states it works only with JPEG images, MP3 audio, and motion JPEG movies. We found it worked with all of the above, and unfortunately nothing but. We tested pretty much everything, including BMP, GIF, TIF, PSD, and PNG images; OGG, AAC, AAC lossless, WMA, WMA lossless, MP3, FLAC, AIF, and WAV audio; and XviD, WMA, H.264, and every other variety of movie could think of to throw at it.

6. When you insert an SD card into Wii with photos and videos on, do they need to be converted to display/save onto Wii?

Nope, but it does only read JPEG, MP3, and motion JPEG (MOV) files.

7. What are the load times for the games?

Nothing at all unusual for a disc-based console. Considering it's loading less data than the PS3 or Xbox 360, we might've liked to see those load times shaved down a bit. But it's nothing unreasonable, and doesn't clock into the minutes territory.

8. Is the sensor bar setup tough (does it require a level or anything like that)?

Not at all. Just rest it on top of or below your TV. If it keeps falling off (like ours did) you can use the double-sided tape on the bottom and stick it into place.

9. How does the Wii work on a smaller TV?

Very well; we hooked it up to the smallest TV we could possibly find, a 13-incher, and even put the sensor bar way off to the side and it worked beautifully.

10. Is it hard to aim on the smaller TV?

Not at all! It's like playing any games on a smaller screen: you're never going to be able to pick up the same level of detail and accuracy as on a larger display, but it still works great.

11. How decent is the callibration for the Wii?

Very decent, and extremely easy. In fact, there's no calibration at all, just put the sensor bar on or below your TV, set the option for its location, and you're off.

12. Is the sensor bar really that distracting?

Huh? Not really, it's pretty benign; we didn't even notice it. You might pay more attention to it if it's mounted on a wall (if you're using a projector), but it's very low profile and unobtrusive.

13. What happens if you put a disc in upside down?

Nothing in the channel page; in the Disc channel, however, you get a simple cannot read disc error message. Our discs came out fine and unscratched.

14. In the unboxing video, what were those "decals" plastic things?

That's actually a sensor bar stand and a clear Wii stand (in case you didn't want to use the larger plastic variety in box).

15. How long do the Wii batteries last? Are they rechargeable? Nunchuck change the battery life much?

They just take AA batteries, so your mileage may vary. They're not rechargeable out of the box, and the nunchuck feeds off the Wiimote's power. We've been playing for a week or more now on the stock batteries with no problems, but who knows if they'll die today, tomorrow, or two ...

news via spong

Today in the US, Nintendo launched the Wii console, not that you'd know it watching the news. In contrast to the lead-story coverage generated by last week's PlayStation 3 launch, mainstream news has largely ignored the Nintendo release.

Although the machine is a sell-out in most areas of the US, Nintendo lost vital publicity that it had hoped would hit its target of lapsed and non-gamers. These consumers, typically disinterested in gaming, simply heard that a new PlayStation had arrived and everyone seemed desperate to buy one. They have probably missed the fact that a Nintendo machine has also been launched, a machine they might very much want to play or at the very least investigate.

Calls to branches of Target, Best Buy and Wal-Mart today painted a picture of quiet and orderly satisfaction. Although actual allocation figures are well-guarded, it appears that regional Wal-Mart stores received 20 units, Target and Best Buy had around 60 available per outlet. In contrast to the PS3 launch, queuing began hours, rather than days, before stores opened.

Only Wii's New York launch event gathered a healthy amount of publicity, including mentions in the mainstream media's entertainment and tech pages. The coverage Sony enjoyed is not present, even though more machines reached more users.

In-store pre-orders for Wii sold out in minutes of going on sale. Follow-up pre-orders were available online only and comprised $700 bundles, and also sold out within minutes. Online actions saw pre-orders sell for around $1,000 in some cases and as far as anyone could see, the Wii was almost as hot at the PS3. However, allocations for both machines went in opposite directions, and the laws of supply and demand came into play.

The fact stands that more people have had a Wii today bought PlayStation 3 on Friday. More people have one hooked up to their SD televisions playing a greater library of games, some of which are actually very good. So what happened?

Despite its a $600 price tag, limited supplies of PlayStation 3 resulted in pre-orders selling at thousands of dollars over the RRP on auction sites. The US was initially expecting over 400,000 consoles to hit retail, but this figure diminished and by mid-week, it was largely accepted that only 250,000 units would be available at launch. This drove people onto the streets and by Thursday night, retail outlets across the country were besieged by little shantytowns comprising an estimated 70% scalpers and 30% gamers.

Compared to the last big camp out for the Xbox 360, more was at stake with the PlayStation 3 launch. It is a console that promises more than any other, it commands a higher retail price than any other, it is in desperately short supply and promises to be for many weeks.

PS3 also represents the best overnight investment ever in a games machine, with people netting thousands of dollars within hours of launch. Transactions were taking place in car parks, with scalpers seeing big returns for a working week out in the cold. There were sporadic shootings, stampedes and fights around the country, although SPOnG witnessed a standard trouble-free launch here. It was enough to drive blanket media coverage of the PlayStation 3 in almost every single news outlet coast-to-coast. Starting on Tuesday and building to a crescendo on Friday evening, anyone picking up a newspaper, turning on the television or tuning in their car radios was well aware that the PlayStation 3 was such a hot item. The result: Non-gamers and lapsed gamers became aware that everyone wanted a PlayStation 3. That's quite a seed to plant...

Stay tuned for some on-the-spot coverage of Nintendo's New York launch soon on SPOnG and be sure to let us know how you feel things went right and wrong in the US over what has been an amazing weekend for gaming. ...

news via spong

Today in the US, Nintendo launched the Wii console, not that you'd know it watching the news. In contrast to the lead-story coverage generated by last week's PlayStation 3 launch, mainstream news has largely ignored the Nintendo release.

Although the machine is a sell-out in most areas of the US, Nintendo lost vital publicity that it had hoped would hit its target of lapsed and non-gamers. These consumers, typically disinterested in gaming, simply heard that a new PlayStation had arrived and everyone seemed desperate to buy one. They have probably missed the fact that a Nintendo machine has also been launched, a machine they might very much want to play or at the very least investigate.

Calls to branches of Target, Best Buy and Wal-Mart today painted a picture of quiet and orderly satisfaction. Although actual allocation figures are well-guarded, it appears that regional Wal-Mart stores received 20 units, Target and Best Buy had around 60 available per outlet. In contrast to the PS3 launch, queuing began hours, rather than days, before stores opened.

Only Wii's New York launch event gathered a healthy amount of publicity, including mentions in the mainstream media's entertainment and tech pages. The coverage Sony enjoyed is not present, even though more machines reached more users.

In-store pre-orders for Wii sold out in minutes of going on sale. Follow-up pre-orders were available online only and comprised $700 bundles, and also sold out within minutes. Online actions saw pre-orders sell for around $1,000 in some cases and as far as anyone could see, the Wii was almost as hot at the PS3. However, allocations for both machines went in opposite directions, and the laws of supply and demand came into play.

The fact stands that more people have had a Wii today bought PlayStation 3 on Friday. More people have one hooked up to their SD televisions playing a greater library of games, some of which are actually very good. So what happened?

Despite its a $600 price tag, limited supplies of PlayStation 3 resulted in pre-orders selling at thousands of dollars over the RRP on auction sites. The US was initially expecting over 400,000 consoles to hit retail, but this figure diminished and by mid-week, it was largely accepted that only 250,000 units would be available at launch. This drove people onto the streets and by Thursday night, retail outlets across the country were besieged by little shantytowns comprising an estimated 70% scalpers and 30% gamers.

Compared to the last big camp out for the Xbox 360, more was at stake with the PlayStation 3 launch. It is a console that promises more than any other, it commands a higher retail price than any other, it is in desperately short supply and promises to be for many weeks.

PS3 also represents the best overnight investment ever in a games machine, with people netting thousands of dollars within hours of launch. Transactions were taking place in car parks, with scalpers seeing big returns for a working week out in the cold. There were sporadic shootings, stampedes and fights around the country, although SPOnG witnessed a standard trouble-free launch here. It was enough to drive blanket media coverage of the PlayStation 3 in almost every single news outlet coast-to-coast. Starting on Tuesday and building to a crescendo on Friday evening, anyone picking up a newspaper, turning on the television or tuning in their car radios was well aware that the PlayStation 3 was such a hot item. The result: Non-gamers and lapsed gamers became aware that everyone wanted a PlayStation 3. That's quite a seed to plant...

Stay tuned for some on-the-spot coverage of Nintendo's New York launch soon on SPOnG and be sure to let us know how you feel things went right and wrong in the US over what has been an amazing weekend for gaming. ...

news via spong

Today in the US, Nintendo launched the Wii console, not that you'd know it watching the news. In contrast to the lead-story coverage generated by last week's PlayStation 3 launch, mainstream news has largely ignored the Nintendo release.

Although the machine is a sell-out in most areas of the US, Nintendo lost vital publicity that it had hoped would hit its target of lapsed and non-gamers. These consumers, typically disinterested in gaming, simply heard that a new PlayStation had arrived and everyone seemed desperate to buy one. They have probably missed the fact that a Nintendo machine has also been launched, a machine they might very much want to play or at the very least investigate.

Calls to branches of Target, Best Buy and Wal-Mart today painted a picture of quiet and orderly satisfaction. Although actual allocation figures are well-guarded, it appears that regional Wal-Mart stores received 20 units, Target and Best Buy had around 60 available per outlet. In contrast to the PS3 launch, queuing began hours, rather than days, before stores opened.

Only Wii's New York launch event gathered a healthy amount of publicity, including mentions in the mainstream media's entertainment and tech pages. The coverage Sony enjoyed is not present, even though more machines reached more users.

In-store pre-orders for Wii sold out in minutes of going on sale. Follow-up pre-orders were available online only and comprised $700 bundles, and also sold out within minutes. Online actions saw pre-orders sell for around $1,000 in some cases and as far as anyone could see, the Wii was almost as hot at the PS3. However, allocations for both machines went in opposite directions, and the laws of supply and demand came into play.

The fact stands that more people have had a Wii today bought PlayStation 3 on Friday. More people have one hooked up to their SD televisions playing a greater library of games, some of which are actually very good. So what happened?

Despite its a $600 price tag, limited supplies of PlayStation 3 resulted in pre-orders selling at thousands of dollars over the RRP on auction sites. The US was initially expecting over 400,000 consoles to hit retail, but this figure diminished and by mid-week, it was largely accepted that only 250,000 units would be available at launch. This drove people onto the streets and by Thursday night, retail outlets across the country were besieged by little shantytowns comprising an estimated 70% scalpers and 30% gamers.

Compared to the last big camp out for the Xbox 360, more was at stake with the PlayStation 3 launch. It is a console that promises more than any other, it commands a higher retail price than any other, it is in desperately short supply and promises to be for many weeks.

PS3 also represents the best overnight investment ever in a games machine, with people netting thousands of dollars within hours of launch. Transactions were taking place in car parks, with scalpers seeing big returns for a working week out in the cold. There were sporadic shootings, stampedes and fights around the country, although SPOnG witnessed a standard trouble-free launch here. It was enough to drive blanket media coverage of the PlayStation 3 in almost every single news outlet coast-to-coast. Starting on Tuesday and building to a crescendo on Friday evening, anyone picking up a newspaper, turning on the television or tuning in their car radios was well aware that the PlayStation 3 was such a hot item. The result: Non-gamers and lapsed gamers became aware that everyone wanted a PlayStation 3. That's quite a seed to plant...

Stay tuned for some on-the-spot coverage of Nintendo's New York launch soon on SPOnG and be sure to let us know how you feel things went right and wrong in the US over what has been an amazing weekend for gaming. ...

i All,

Here is a new version of PSPThom the emulator of the Thomson TO7 home computer !

What's new in version 1.0.1 :

- Add Sound support !
- Add Render modes (Normal, x1.25, x1.5)
- Add a second joystick
- Clean Virtual Keyboard
- Code cleaning

How to use it ? Everything is in the README.txt file.

Sources are included, and this package is under the GNU public license,
read COPYING.txt file for more information about it.

This should be the last release, only if major bugs are found ...

Enjoy,

Zx

EDIT: a new version is available here ...

i All,

Here is a new version of PSPThom the emulator of the Thomson TO7 home computer !

What's new in version 1.0.1 :

- Add Sound support !
- Add Render modes (Normal, x1.25, x1.5)
- Add a second joystick
- Clean Virtual Keyboard
- Code cleaning

How to use it ? Everything is in the README.txt file.

Sources are included, and this package is under the GNU public license,
read COPYING.txt file for more information about it.

This should be the last release, only if major bugs are found ...

Enjoy,

Zx

EDIT: a new version is available here ...

i All,

Here is a new version of PSPThom the emulator of the Thomson TO7 home computer !

What's new in version 1.0.1 :

- Add Sound support !
- Add Render modes (Normal, x1.25, x1.5)
- Add a second joystick
- Clean Virtual Keyboard
- Code cleaning

How to use it ? Everything is in the README.txt file.

Sources are included, and this package is under the GNU public license,
read COPYING.txt file for more information about it.

This should be the last release, only if major bugs are found ...

Enjoy,

Zx

EDIT: a new version is available here ...