Nintendo Wii

[sj33]

The white would actually look a lot better if your one who removed the flaps.

[MattyD]

I'm absolutely gutted at reports that the PAL Virtual Console still has dirty great borders and 50hz gameplay

IIRC it was the hardware in cart-based machines that forced the games to run at 50hz, and not the other way around, which is you can play Japanese MD games on a PAL machine if you just cut the cartridge slot. Considering how few if any pre-32 Bit titles were ever PAL optimised I don't see any technical reason why they couldn't have allowed a 60hz option for those systems, or why, with complete first-hand knowledge of the N64 etc they couldn't have just written a software work-around.

I'll still be picking up my PAL machine at the midnight launch on Thursday night but I think I'll just be giving Zelda a quick once-over and flogging it to fund a US Wii when the availability improves. I can see myself ending up spending more than if I'd just bought a US one in the first place but I suppose that's the cost of being naive enough to believe in a company that has never treated Europe with any modicum of respect

[Lyris]

In most cases, the ROM images will probably be the exact same ones as the US gets - they're in English already, why dump them twice? They'll probably get Euro-specific ones for games that have been altered over here (Castlevania Bloodlines was renamed to Castlevania: "The Next Generation" or something for Europe wasn't it?) but the fact that they play at 50hz is a software issue.

[C']

I think they could be redumping all the ROMs. Even if it?s simply due to different copyright notices on the title screen or names in the credits (I seem to recall lots of SNES games having European staff credited for example) I think this is the approach Nintendo are taking. It?s stupid and pointless but probably got to be done this way.

[Ryo Saeba]

I'm really hoping that the modders out there go wild with the wii, and hack it. Can't wait until I can just pick whichever rom I like, copy it to my sd card and play it on the wii.

I think that'll bethe only way to go, cause even if I'd import a us machine, I just don't believe that I would ever see the likes of Sin & Punishment or Bangaioh and don't even get me started on a translated Seiken Densetsu 3 or Ys IV.

The way Nintendo treats the VC especially the slow pace, questionable selection and price of the releases showed me, that if I really want to enjoy the old games on the Wii, then I have to wait until I can mod this thing (including a free region modification of course), so I'm perfectly fine with the pal-machine.

[Dirty Sanchez]

Why go to all that effort when you can pick up a 2nd hand Xbox and have the entire catalogue and MAME. Or am I missing something here?

[Wil]

I just don't believe that I would ever see the likes of Sin & Punishment or Bangaioh and don't even get me started on a translated Seiken Densetsu 3 or Ys IV.

We ain't ever getting those babies! Hang onto your old carts!

[Ryo Saeba]

Why go to all that effort when you can pick up a 2nd hand Xbox and have the entire catalogue and MAME. Or am I missing something here?

Cause I want to play Wii-Games.
First and foremost I buy consoles for their exclusive titles and there aren't more than one or two I'd like to get for xbox.
EDIT: And what effort? Doesn't the xbox need to be modified to play MAME?
So in the end it would be the same.

[MattyD]

From what I read elsewhere it seems they're dumping the region-specific ROMs for each area. I suppose it saves on having to re-translate everything for Europe and also keeps things far simpler legally with respect to copyright etc.

Apaprently the reason there's no 60hz option for the PAL territories is because a handful of titles that had been optimised would have compatability issues (which is what I thought). Because Nintendo Europe is bascially just a distributor rather than an arm of Nintendo proper like Nintendo USA, it doesn't have the budget to perform any tests or make software revisions (plus any translation if they used US ROMs), so they're just using Euro ROMs because it doesn't cost them a bean. All they have to do is rip the old ROM and put it online. It'll be interesting to see if Nintendo comment on this or just pretend it isn't an issue like they usually do.

[MiaBocca]

Well, this is a real pisser. If I hadn't already pre-ordered a PAL console, I'd have been going for a US machine right now.

VC is just an added bonus I guess, but after the high price of games, and having different (and less) games released on VC in Euroope compared to US and JP, it's just another slap in the face to UK/Euro gamers from Nintendo.

Looks like I'll saving a few bob on VC titles and sticking to good old emulation on the PC.

[dc-arena]

Check this. Make your Wii's LED react to audio..

http://www.sickmods.net/index.php?site=wii

[Ork1927]

Anyone with a Pal console gone online yet and updated?

I want to but I'm scared!!!

[ascender]

Looks like the going rate on eBay for the console pack alone is ?300-?400.

[Neil]

Looks like the going rate on eBay for the console pack alone is ?300-?400.

Time to sell the kids Xmas present then.

[MattyD]

Anyone with a Pal console gone online yet and updated?

I want to but I'm scared!!!

I did it as soon as I got home and mine's fine. You can't use any of the internet functions without doing it as it's part of the setup process.