Nintendo has gotten round to showing what you can expect from the increasingly interesting front end of its new home console, the Wii, with games old and new, and entertainment and community features coming together to form a big squishy, happy Nintendo-ey world you might never want to leave.
Joystiq picked up on recent developer interviews that touted more functionality than was widely expected, with the Wii emerging as a fully viable home communications hub:
Message Board
Stores user achievement data and shares it will other users of that console
Integrates with games to alert players of important events; e.g. "Concert next Saturday in town" (Animal Crossing)
Utilizes date sorting and calendar integration
When connected to the internet, can be linked to other consoles' Message Boards to exchange notes, data, screenshots, etc. (in other words: simplified email client)
Compatible with mobile phones
Play History
Data collection function, which cannot be cleared
Compiles total amount of playtime (and possibly other stats) for every game played
Doubles as a monitoring system for parents wanting to keep a watchful eye on their kids' gaming habits
Will be used by Nintendo (with user consent) to pool data into useful statistical categories; i.e. "most played game of the year"
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