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102-601: The Wii Shop Channel is a discontinued digital distribution service for the Wii video game console. The service allowed users to purchase and play additional software for the Wii (called Channels), including exclusive games (branded WiiWare ), and games from prior generations of video games (marketed with the Virtual Console brand). The Wii Shop Channel launched on November 19, 2006, and ceased operations on January 30, 2019. Succeeded by

204-541: A DVD . Some companies, such as Bookmasters Distribution, which invested US$ 4.5 million in upgrading its equipment and operating systems, have had to direct capital toward keeping up with the changes in technology. The phenomenon of books going digital has given users the ability to access their books on handheld digital book readers. One benefit of electronic book readers is that they allow users to access additional content via hypertext links. These electronic book readers also give users portability for their books since

306-539: A hard drive or other forms of storage media may allow offline access in the future. Specialist networks known as content delivery networks help distribute content over the Internet by ensuring both high availability and high performance. Alternative technologies for content delivery include peer-to-peer file sharing technologies. Alternatively, content delivery platforms create and syndicate content remotely, acting like hosted content management systems . Unrelated to

408-618: A 4:3 grid, and each displaying the current time and date. Available applications, known as "channels", are displayed and can be navigated using the pointer capability of the Wii Remote . The grid is customizable; users can move channels (except for the Disc Channel ) among the menu's 48 customizable slots. By pressing the plus and minus buttons on the Wii Remote users can scroll across accessing empty slots. Similar to many other video game consoles ,

510-423: A base starting price for games on that system. All titles ranged from 500 to 1200 Wii Points. If a person using the now defunct Connection Ambassador Programme reached Gold status (Helped 10 people to connect), they would be able to download any Nintendo-published NES game free of charge. Additionally, if they reached Platinum (helped 20 people to connect), they would be able to download any NES, SNES and N64 game in

612-463: A given console. The Wii's firmware has many active branches known as IOSes, thought by the Wii homebrew developers to stand for "Input Output Systems" or "Internal Operating Systems". The currently active IOS, also simply referred to as just "IOS," runs on a separate ARM926EJ-S processor unofficially nicknamed Starlet , which resides within the Hollywood GPU . The patent for the Wii U shows

714-556: A group of facial and bodily features. At the Game Developers Conference 2007, Shigeru Miyamoto explained that the look and design of the Mii characters are based on Kokeshi , a form of Japanese doll used as souvenir gifts. A Wired interview of Katsuya Eguchi (producer of Animal Crossing and Wii Sports ) held in 2006 confirmed that the custom player avatar feature shown at Nintendo's E3 Media Briefing would be included in

816-405: A major publisher of science fiction and fantasy books, started to sell e-books DRM-free by July 2012. One year later the publisher stated that they will keep this model as removing DRM was not hurting their digital distribution ebook business. Smaller e-book publishers such as O'Reilly Media , Carina Press and Baen Books had already forgone DRM previously. Online distribution is changing

918-711: A maximum of 10 Miis. In addition, Mii characters can be transferred from a user's Wii to Nintendo 3DS consoles, as well as supported Nintendo DS games via the Mii Channel. While in the channel, pressing A, followed by B, then 1, and holding 2 on the Wii Remote allows the user to unlock the feature. The Mii Channel is succeeded by the Mii Maker app for both Nintendo 3DS and Wii U , and the Mii options in Settings for Nintendo Switch . According to Nintendo president Satoru Iwata , over 160 million Mii characters had been created using

1020-432: A reader can hold multiple books depending on the size of its hard drive . Companies that are able to adapt and make changes to capitalize on the digital media market have seen sales surge. Vice President of Perseus Books Group stated that since shifting to electronic books (e-books), it saw sales rise by 68% . Independent Publishers Group experienced a sales boost of 23% in the first quarter of 2012 alone. Tor Books ,

1122-819: A resolution of up to 848×480 pixels ( Wide VGA ). Photos, even high resolution ones, are compressed and decreased in resolution. Photo Channel 1.1 is an optional update to the Photo Channel that became available on the Wii Shop Channel on December 10, 2007. It allows users to customize the Photo Channel icon on the Wii Menu with photos from an SD Card or the Wii Message Board. It also allows playback of songs in random order. The update replaced MP3 support with support for MPEG-4 encoded audio files encoded with AAC in

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1224-560: A retailer is the Canadian music chain Sam the Record Man ; the company blamed online distribution for having to close a number of its traditional retail venues in 2007–08. One main reason that sales took such a big hit was that unlicensed downloads of music were very accessible. With copyright infringement affecting sales, the music industry realized it needed to change its business model to keep up with

1326-590: A set of four GameCube controller sockets and two Memory Card slots (concealed by removable flip-open panels). The console retains connectivity with the Game Boy Advance and e-Reader through the Game Boy Advance Cable , which is used in the same manner as with the GameCube; however, this feature can only be accessed on select GameCube titles which previously utilized it. There are also a few limitations in

1428-539: A similar device which is simply named "Input/Output Processor". IOS controls I/O between the code running on the main Broadway processor and the various Wii hardware that does not also exist on the GameCube . Except for bug fixes, new IOS versions do not replace existing IOS versions. Instead, Wii consoles have multiple IOS versions installed. All native Wii software (including games distributed on Nintendo optical discs ,

1530-566: A system update (after the user is prompted). With downloaded software, this should not theoretically happen, as the user cannot access the shop to download software unless the player has all the IOS versions that they require. However, if homebrew is used to forcefully install or run a piece of software when the required IOS does not exist, the user is brought back to the system menu. Nintendo created this system so that new updates would not unintentionally break compatibility with older games, but it does have

1632-422: Is gog.com which has a strict non-DRM policy while most other services allow various (strict or less strict) forms of DRM. Digital distribution is also more eco-friendly than physical. Optical discs are made of polycarbonate plastic and aluminum . The creation of 30 of them requires the use of 300 cubic feet of natural gas , two cups of oil and 24 gallons of water. The protective cases for an optical disc

1734-470: Is also available in multiple languages. Unlike the other channels, the video in the channel is not translated digitally, but is presented in multiple dubs, which means there are multiple copies of the same video in a single channel. The language of the video is presented is respectively according to the Wii's language setting. There are three languages available in the US versions: English, French and Spanish; and six in

1836-556: Is also possible for the browser to use technologies such as Ajax , SVG , RSS , and Adobe Flash Player 8 and limited support for Adobe Flash Player 9. Opera Software has indicated that the functionality will allow for third parties to create web applications specifically designed for the use on the Wii Browser, and it will support widgets , standalone web-based applications using Opera as an application platform. Third party APIs and SDKs have been released that allow developers to read

1938-417: Is either brightening up the photo, making the photo grayscale, zapping the photo, or cooking up a hard-boiled photo. Puzzles can be created from photos or videos with varying degrees of difficulty (However, your first puzzle will be six-pieces) with 6, 12, 24 and 48 piece puzzles available, with 192 selectable while holding down 1 on the Wii Remote. Edited photos can be saved to the Wii and sent to other Wiis via

2040-517: Is generally used to describe distribution over an online delivery medium, such as the Internet , thus bypassing physical distribution methods, such as paper , optical discs , and VHS videocassettes. The term online distribution is typically applied to freestanding products; downloadable add-ons for other products are more commonly known as downloadable content . With the advancement of network bandwidth capabilities, online distribution became prominent in

2142-578: Is impossible for Nintendo to implement any functions that would affect the games themselves, for example an in-game system menu (similar to the Xbox 360 's in-game Dashboard or the PlayStation 3 's in-game XMB ). The Wii Menu (known internally as the System Menu) is the name of the user interface for the Wii game console, and it is the first thing to be seen when the system boots up. It has four pages, each with

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2244-416: Is made from polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a known carcinogen . A general issue is the large number of incompatible data formats in which content is delivered, possibly restricting the devices that may be used, or making data conversion necessary. Streaming services can have several drawbacks: requiring a constant Internet connection to use content; the restriction of some content to never be stored locally;

2346-539: Is no third party network that traffic is being routed through. It receives a connection from a router/modem and uses a web browser to pull up HTTP and HTTPS (secure and encrypted) web pages. Opera, the Wii's web browser, is capable of rendering most web sites in the same manner as its desktop counterpart by using Opera's Medium Screen Rendering technology. The software is saved to the Wii's 512 MB internal flash memory (it can be copied to an SD card after it has been downloaded). The temporary Internet files (maximum of 5MB for

2448-640: The .m4a extension. Wii owners who updated to version 1.1 can revert to version 1.0 by deleting it from the channels menu in the data management setup. Consoles released after December 10, 2007 come with the version 1.1 update pre-installed, and cannot be downgraded to version 1.0. Owners of systems on a Japanese firmware can download a "Revert to Photo Channel 1.0" Channel from the Wii Shop Channel if they wish to do so. The Wii Shop Channel allowed users to download games and other software by redeeming Wii Points , which could be obtained by purchasing Nintendo Points cards from retail outlets or directly through

2550-699: The Everybody Votes Channel and the Internet Channel . Separate Channels are graphically displayed in a grid and can be navigated using the pointer capability of the Wii Remote . Users can also rearrange these Channels if they are not satisfied with how the Channels are originally organized on the menu. The Wii system supports wireless connectivity with the Nintendo DS handheld console with no additional accessories. This connectivity allows players to use

2652-615: The Forecast Channel to simulate weather conditions depending on the player's region. There are slight variations of Forecast Channel versions in different regions. When viewing weather conditions in Japan, a different set of weather icons is used. Additionally, the laundry index was only featured in the Japanese version. After the August 6, 2007 update, the Forecast Channel showed the icon for

2754-580: The Forecast Channel ) was not available in South Korea. Like the four other Wii channels ( Forecast Channel , Everybody Votes Channel , Mii Contest Channel , Nintendo Channel ), the News Channel ended its seven-year support on June 27, 2013. The Get Connected Video Channel or Wii & the Internet Channel (or alternatively known as the Wii + Internet Channel or Wii: See What You Can Do On

2856-526: The Genesis and TurboGrafx-16 . This is a list of new Wii Channels released beyond the four initial Channels (i.e. Disc Channel, Mii Channel, Photo Channel and Wii Shop Channel) included in the original consoles. The News Channel and the Forecast Channel were released as part of system updates so separate downloads were not required. As of January 30, 2019, all channels listed below have been discontinued with

2958-481: The Internet , although this is not required for the Wii system itself to function. Each Wii has its own unique 16-digit Wii Code for use with Wii's non-game features. With Internet connection enabled users are able to access the established Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection service. Wireless encryption by WEP , WPA (TKIP/RC4) and WPA2 (CCMP/AES) is supported. AOSS support was added in System Menu version 3.0. As with

3060-487: The Mii Channel as of May 2010. If a user inserts an SD card into the console, or receives photos ( JPEG ) or videos ( MJPEG ) via email, they can be viewed using the Photo Channel . The user can create a slideshow simply by inserting an SD card with photos and, optionally, MP3 or AAC files (see note regarding December 10, 2007 update to version 1.1). The Wii will automatically add Ken Burns Effect transitions between

3162-471: The Nintendo Channel . An update to the Photo Channel (Photo Channel 1.1) is also available, if not preinstalled. A fourth Channel, the Internet Channel , a web browser based on Opera , was available worldwide originally for 500 Wii Points but was free as of September 1, 2009. Anyone who paid the 500 Wii Points for the Internet Channel has been refunded. There were also two exclusive free Japanese channels:

Wii Shop Channel - Misplaced Pages Continue

3264-582: The Nintendo eShop on the Wii U , the Wii Shop Channel was also accessible on the Wii U console via Wii Mode, supporting the download of WiiWare titles, as well as legacy Virtual Console titles that were not available via the Nintendo eShop. The Channel's theme music has become popular and well-received on the internet, and is often used in internet memes . Wii Points were the currency used in transactions on

3366-543: The Television Friend Channel , which provides channel listing and recording reminder features, and the Digicam Print Channel , which allows users to order business cards and photo albums using photos stored on SD cards or the Photo Channel. Previously, a preview channel for Metroid Prime 3: Corruption was available for free in the fall of 2007 for North America and PAL regions before it was removed from

3468-426: The Wii Remote acts like a mouse, making it possible to click anywhere on the screen and navigate through web links. However, the browser cannot always handle all the features of most normal web pages, although it does support Adobe Flash , thus capable of playing Flash files. Some third-party services such as the online BBC iPlayer were also available on the Wii via the Internet Channel browser, although BBC iPlayer

3570-538: The Wii Shop Channel using MasterCard or Visa credit cards online. Users could browse in the Virtual Console , WiiWare , or Wii Channels sections for downloads. A feature to purchase downloaded software as gifts for others became available worldwide on December 10, 2007. Additional channels that were not released at the console's launch were available for purchase in the Wii Shop Channel . These included: Internet Channel , Everybody Votes Channel , Check Mii Out Channel , Nintendo Channel, Netflix Channel , and

3672-464: The 21st century, with prominent platforms such as Amazon Video , and Netflix 's streaming service starting in 2007. Content distributed online may be streamed or downloaded, and often consists of books , films and television programs , music , software, and video games. Streaming involves downloading and using content at a user's request, or "on-demand", rather than allowing a user to store it permanently. In contrast, fully downloading content to

3774-432: The GameCube footprint and high-speed port needed for Game Boy Player support. Furthermore, only GameCube functions were available and only compatible memory cards and controllers could be used when playing a GameCube game. This is due to the fact that the Wii's internal memory would not save GameCube data. Because of the original device's backward compatibility with earlier Nintendo products players can play older games on

3876-574: The IPs you signed, your art direction would not change, and so on. Now it's the opposite extreme: we can put something up on Steam, deliver it to people all around the world, make changes. We can take more interesting risks.[...] Retail doesn't know how to deal with those games. On Steam [a digital distributor] there's no shelf-space restriction. Since the 2000s, there has been an increasing number of smaller and niche titles available and commercially successful, e.g. remakes of classic games. The new possibility of

3978-488: The Internet ) is pre-installed onto Wii console units manufactured in October 2008 or later. It contains an informational video specifying the benefits of connecting the Wii console to the Internet, such as downloading extra channels, new software, Virtual Console titles, and playing games over Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection . The Get Connected Video Channel is the only pre-installed channel that takes up spare internal memory, and

4080-400: The Internet Channel was made available to Wii owners for no cost of Wii Points and updated to include improved Adobe Flash Player support. A refund was issued to those who paid for the channel in the form of one free NES game download worth 500 Wii Points. The Internet Channel uses whichever connection is chosen in the Wii settings, and utilizes the user's internet connection directly; there

4182-527: The Internet can still receive updates. The system menu will not start such games if their updates have not been installed, so this has the consequence of forcing users to install updates in order to play these games. Some games, such as online games like Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Mario Kart Wii , contain specific extra updates, such as the ability to receive Wii Message Board posts from game-specific addresses; therefore, these games always require that an update be installed before their first time running on

Wii Shop Channel - Misplaced Pages Continue

4284-646: The Internet. News articles were available on a globe view, allowing users to view news from certain areas of the world (similar to the Forecast Channel) , and as a slide show. The content was automatically updated and viewable via WiiConnect24 with clickable news images supported. The channel contained seven categories: National News, International News, Sports, Arts/Entertainment, Business, Technology and Oddities. The News Channel became available in North America, Europe, and Australia on January 26, 2007. Content

4386-626: The Japan-only Television Friend Channel . Until the channel's shut down on January 30, 2019, all downloadable channels were free of charge. The name was originally going to be called the Shopping Channel . Nintendo discontinued the Wii Shop Channel on January 30, 2019 (having announced that they planned to do so on September 29, 2017), with the purchase of Wii Points ending on March 26, 2018. The ability to redownload previously purchased content and/or transfer Wii data from

4488-463: The Nintendo DS microphone and touch screen as inputs for Wii games. Pokémon Battle Revolution is the first example Nintendo has given of a game using Nintendo DS-Wii connectivity. Nintendo later released the Nintendo Channel for the Wii allowing its users to download game demos or additional data to their Nintendo DS. Like many other video game consoles , the Wii console is able to connect to

4590-505: The Nintendo DS, Nintendo does not charge for playing via the service; the 12-digit Friend Code system controls how players connect to one another. The service has a few features for the console, including the Virtual Console , WiiConnect24 and several Channels. The Wii console can also communicate and connect with other Wii systems through a self-generated wireless LAN, enabling local wireless multiplayer on different television sets. The system also implements console-based software, including

4692-493: The PAL version: English , French, Spanish , German, Italian and Dutch . The Internet Channel is a version of the Opera web browser for use on the Wii by Opera Software and Nintendo . On December 22, 2006 a free demo version (promoted as " Internet Channel: Trial Version ") of the browser was released. The final version (promoted as "Internet Channel: Final Version") of the browser

4794-409: The System Menu itself, Virtual Console games, WiiWare , and Wii Channels), with the exception of certain homebrew applications, have the IOS version hardcoded into the software. When the software is run, the IOS that is hardcoded gets loaded by the Wii, which then loads the software itself. If that IOS does not exist on the Wii, in the case of disc-based software, it gets installed automatically with

4896-682: The Virtual Console featured several import titles which were not previously made available in those respective territories, such as Mario's Super Picross . These games cost 100–300 more points than the normal price due to their import status and some translation work. Consoles included both Nintendo systems, such as the NES , SNES and N64 , and non-Nintendo systems, such as the Sega Genesis , Master System , TurboGrafx-16 , MSX , Neo Geo and Commodore 64 (Europe and North America only). Each system had

4998-458: The Virtual console free of charge. The WiiWare section featured original games specifically designed for Wii. Games were priced between 500 and 1500 points. To decrease the size of the games, instruction manuals were hosted on each game's Wii Shop Channel page. Some titles featured additional downloadable content , priced from 100 to 800 points, that could be purchased using Wii Points in game or from

5100-462: The Wii Message Board. One can connect to the Internet with third-party devices as well. The Wii console also includes a web browser known as the Internet Channel , which is a version of the Opera 9 browser with menus. It is meant to be a convenient way to access the web on the television screen, although it is far from offering a comfortable user interface compared with modern Internet browsers. A virtual keyboard pops up when needed for input, and

5202-570: The Wii Shop Channel remained functional until January 29, 2019. On January 30, 2019, Nintendo shut down the Wii Shop Channel and removed all WiiWare, Virtual Console games, and other Wii Channels from sale or initial download. The only exceptions are the save data update channel for The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword , the Wii U Transfer Tool channel (on Wii consoles), and the Wii System Transfer channel (on Wii U consoles). Users can continue re-downloading any games and apps they acquired before

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5304-573: The Wii Shop Channel several months after the game's launch. In North America and Europe, the Netflix channel was available in the Wii Channels section, along with Crunchyroll . The Wii Channels section in the Wii Shop Channel was originally under the name of WiiWare in North America and Wii Software in Europe, before moving to its own dedicated space when WiiWare launched. These Wii Channels were unavailable on

5406-477: The Wii Shop Channel, allowing users to purchase and send games and channels to others as gifts. The receiving user was given the option to download or reject the gift upon opening the Wii Shop Channel, with a notification being sent out to the sender if it was accepted. If a user already had the game or if the user did not choose to accept the gift within 45 days, then the gift expired and the Wii Points are returned to

5508-474: The Wii Shop Channel. Both the Ambassador and the user who was assisted to get their console online received a reward of 500 Wii Points. If the ambassador assisted 20 people, the ambassador would have accumulated 10,000 Wii Points from the programme while attaining Platinum status and be able to download all NES, SNES and N64 titles from the Virtual Console section of the Wii Shop Channel free of charge. The service

5610-407: The Wii Shop Channel. Wii Points were purchased by either redeeming Wii Points Cards purchased from retail outlets or directly through the Wii Shop Channel using a Mastercard or Visa credit card. In 2008, Club Nintendo in Europe began offering Wii Points in exchange for "stars" received from registering games and consoles on the website. On March 26, 2018, the ability to purchase and add Wii Points

5712-458: The Wii U console. Software downloaded from the Wii Shop Channel is saved onto the Wii console's internal memory. After a download is complete, the new software appears on the Wii Menu as a channel. Software can be copied to SD cards or re-downloaded for free. Wii consoles with system software version 4.0 can download software directly to SD cards. On December 10, 2007, a gift feature was added to

5814-404: The Wii component cables. These updates are free of charge to those who have downloaded a previous version of the game. Some WiiWare games have also featured free updates for the purposes of fixing bugs. These games include Dr. Mario Online Rx and Alien Crush Returns . In 2009, Nintendo of Japan launched a scheme designed to reward users for helping other new users get connected online and to

5916-473: The Wii is not only about games. For example, it is possible to install applications such as Netflix to stream media (without requiring a disc) on the Wii. The Wii Menu let users access both game and no-game functions through built-in applications called Channels, which are designed to represent television channels . There are six primary channels: the Disc Channel , Mii Channel , Photo Channel , Wii Shop Channel , Forecast Channel and News Channel , although

6018-459: The Wii runs a variant of IOS specifically for GameCube games, MIOS, which contains a modified version of the GameCube's IPL . Custom IOSes, called cIOSes, can be installed with homebrew. The main purpose of cIOS is to allow homebrew users to use other homebrew apps such as USB Loader GX (allows games stored in the WBFS file format to be run from a USB stick). The system provides a graphical interface to

6120-521: The Wii to the Wii U still remains available. The Forecast Channel allowed weather reports and forecasts provided by Weathernews to be shown on the console from the Internet via the WiiConnect24 service. The Forecast Channel displayed a view of the Earth as a globe (courtesy of NASA 's The Blue Marble image), with which users can view weather in other regions. When fully zoomed out, an accurate star map

6222-523: The Wii's abilities. All games run directly on the Broadway processor, and either directly interface with the hardware (for the hardware common to the Wii and GameCube ), or interface with IOS running on the ARM architecture processor (for Wii-specific hardware). The ARM processor does not have access to the screen, and therefore neither does IOS. This means that while a piece of software is running, everything seen on

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6324-414: The ability to purchase and add Wii Points with a credit card or a Wii Points card would be removed on March 26, 2018. On March 26, 2018, the ability to purchase and add Wii Points with a credit card or Wii Points card was permanently removed. As a result, Wii Shop Channel users were no longer able to purchase and play additional software unless they had enough Wii Points in their account balance. Afterwards,

6426-497: The above, the term "digital distribution" is also used in film distribution to describe the distribution of content through physical digital media, in opposition to distribution by analog media such as photographic film and magnetic tape (see: digital cinema ). The rise of online distribution has provided controversy for the traditional business models and resulted in challenges as well as new opportunities for traditional retailers and publishers. Online distribution affects all of

6528-472: The backward compatibility. For example, online and LAN features of certain GameCube games were not available since the Wii does not have serial ports for the GameCube Broadband Adapter and Modem Adapter . The Wii uses a proprietary port for video output, and is incompatible with all GameCube audio/video cables ( composite video , S-Video , component video and RGB SCART ). The console also lacks

6630-501: The channel. However, not visiting the channel for a period of time resulted in the ticker not appearing, instead displaying "You must use the News Channel regularly for news to be displayed on this screen." on the preview screen until the channel was opened up. A December 20, 2007 PAL region update increased the number of news feeds to the channel, sourced from a larger number of news resources and agencies, providing more news that were available per country. The News Channel (along with

6732-531: The character the player controls in some/all forms of gameplay. Miis can interact with other Wii users by showing up on their Wii consoles through the WiiConnect24 feature or by talking with other Miis created by Wii owners all over the world. This feature is called Mii Parade. Early-created Miis as well as those encountered in Mii Parades may show up as spectators in some games. Miis can be stored on Wii Remotes and taken to other Wii consoles. The Wii Remote can hold

6834-611: The console in addition to newer Wii game titles. However, South Korean units lack GameCube backward compatibility. Also, the redesigned Wii Family Edition and Wii Mini, launched in 2011 and 2013 respectively, had this compatibility stripped out. Nevertheless, there is another service called Virtual Console which allow users to download older games from prior Nintendo platforms (namely the Nintendo Entertainment System , Super NES and Nintendo 64 ) onto their Wii console, as well as games from non-Nintendo platforms such as

6936-487: The content owner directly or from third-party services. YouTube , Netflix , Hulu , Vudu , Amazon Prime Video , DirecTV , SlingTV and other Internet-based video services allow content owners to let users access their content on computers, smartphones, tablets or by using appliances such as video game consoles, set-top boxes or Smart TVs . Many film distributors also include a Digital Copy , also called Digital HD, with Blu-ray disc , Ultra HD Blu-ray , 3D Blu-ray or

7038-445: The current weather on the Wii Menu. The Forecast Channel (along with the News Channel ) was not available in South Korea. Like the four other Wii channels ( News Channel , Everybody Votes Channel , Check Mii Out Channel / Mii Contest Channel , Nintendo Channel ), the Forecast Channel ended its seven-year support on June 27, 2013. The News Channel allowed users to access news headlines and current news events obtained from

7140-712: The digital distribution stimulated also the creation of game titles of very small video game producers like Independent game developer and Modders (e.g. Garry's Mod ), which were before not commercially feasible. The years after 2004 saw the rise of many digital distribution services on the PC, such as Amazon Services , Desura , GameStop , Games for Windows – Live , Impulse , Steam , Origin , Battle.net , Direct2Drive , GOG.com , Epic Games Store and GamersGate . The offered properties differ significantly: while most of these digital distributors do not allow reselling of bought games, Green Man Gaming allows this. Another example

7242-465: The exception of the Wii Fit Channel and the Internet Channel. LoveFilm The Disc Channel is the primary way to play Wii and GameCube titles from supported Nintendo optical discs inserted into the console. Each Wii game disc includes a system update partition, which includes the latest Wii software from the time the game was released. If a disc that is inserted contains newer software than

7344-628: The game's page. The first WiiWare games were made available on March 25, 2008, in Japan, on May 12, 2008, in North America, and on May 20, 2008, in Europe. The Wii Channels section featured additional non-game channels that can be downloaded and used on Wii. Before the WiiConnect24 service was discontinued, there were three free Channels offered worldwide: the Everybody Votes Channel , the Check Mii Out Channel (Mii Contest Channel in Europe), and

7446-502: The hardware. The feature was described as part of a "profile" system that contains the Mii and other pertinent player information. This application was officially unveiled by Nintendo in September 2006. It is incorporated into Wii's operating system interface as the " Mii Channel ". Users can select from pre-made Miis or create their own by choosing custom facial shapes, colors, and positioning. In certain games, each player's Mii will serve as

7548-447: The latter two were not initially included and only became available via system updates. Some of the functions provided by these Channels on the Wii used to be limited to a computer , such as a full-featured web browser and digital photo viewer. Users can also use Channels to create and share cartoon-like digital avatars called Miis and download new games and Channels directly from the Wii Shop Channel. New Channels include, for example,

7650-399: The message board. According to the system's manual, the following file extensions (i.e. formats) are supported: Photos (jpeg/jpg), Movies (mov/avi), and Music (mp3/aac). JPEG files can be up to 8192x8192 resolution and in baseline format. Video data contained within the .mov or .avi files must be in an OpenDML -compliant MotionJPEG and use some variant of this format for their videos, with

7752-417: The one installed on the console, installing the new software will be required to play the game. This allows users without an internet connection to still receive system updates. When loaded into the disc slot, an icon on the Disc Channel that says "Wii System Update" appears. After selecting the channel, the Wii will automatically update. If these updates are not installed, the game will remain unplayable until

7854-462: The only channel that can be manually deleted or moved to an SD Card by the user. The channel takes up over half of the Wii's internal memory space. Upon connecting to the Internet and running the channel, the user will be asked if they would like to delete it. It cannot be re-downloaded or restored upon deletion. The same video presentation contained in the channel can also be viewed on an archived version of Nintendo's official website. The channel

7956-400: The originals with no updated features or graphics, with the exception of Pokémon Snap , which was updated to allow in-game pictures to be posted to the Wii Message Board. New games were added weekly at 9 A.M. Pacific Time every Thursday (previously every Monday) in North America, Tuesdays in Japan and South Korea, and Fridays in Europe, Australia and New Zealand. In Europe and North America,

8058-471: The photos and play either the music on the SD card or built-in music in the background. A built-in editor allows users to add markings and effects to their photos or videos (The edits float statically above the videos). Mosaics can also be created with this feature. In "Doodle" mode, the user can draw on or make art on the photos. The "Mood" mode allows the user to make all the photos on these four following effects which

8160-424: The rapidly changing technology. The step that was taken to move the music industry into the online space has been successful for several reasons. The development of lossy audio compression file formats such as MP3 could take 30 MB for a typical 3-minute song and bring it down to 3 MB without any serious loss of quality. Lossless FLAC files can be up to six times larger than an MP3 while, in comparison,

8262-632: The restriction of content from being transferred to physical media ; and the enabling of greater censorship at the discretion of owners of content, infrastructure, and consumer devices. Decades after the launch of the World Wide Web , in 2019 businesses were still adapting to the evolving world of distributing content digitally—even regarding the definition and understanding of basic terminology. Nintendo Channel Most game discs, including first-party and third-party games, include system software updates so that systems that are not connected to

8364-426: The rise of music streaming services . In 2017, physical formats overtook downloading again for the first time in six years, but despite the vinyl revival and CDs holding its own, the physical formats account for only 11% revenue as of 2023, while streaming services are dominant with 84% of the US industry. Many traditional network television shows, movies and other video content is now available online, either from

8466-451: The same song might require 30–40 megabytes of storage on a CD. The smaller file size yields much greater Internet transfer speeds. The transition into the online space has boosted sales, and profit for some artists. It has also allowed for potentially lower expenses such as lower coordination costs, lower distribution costs, as well as the possibility for redistributed total profits. These lower costs have aided new artists in breaking onto

8568-404: The scene and gaining recognition. In the past, some emerging artists have struggled to find a way to market themselves and compete in the various distribution channels. The Internet may give artists more control over their music in terms of ownership, rights, creative process, pricing, and more. In addition to providing global users with easier access to content, online stores allow users to choose

8670-453: The screen (including the HOME button menu) comes from that software, and not from any operating system or firmware. Therefore, the version number reported by the Wii is actually only the version number of the System Menu. This is why some updates do not result in a change of the version number: the System Menu itself is not updated, only (for example) IOSes and channels. As a side effect, this means it

8772-516: The sender. The feature was region locked and incompatible with the Wii U 's Nintendo eShop . Downloaded games can receive updates from the Wii Shop Channel. This has been done four times so far to update Military Madness , Star Fox 64 / Lylat Wars , Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards (in North America and Europe), and Mario Kart 64 (in Europe and Australia). Several NES and SNES games released before March 30, 2007 have also been given updates in Europe and Australia to fix previous problems with

8874-499: The shutdown date from February 21, 2019 until August 31, 2019. The refunded points could be transferred to a local bank account or received as a refund from a convenience store. Digital distribution Digital distribution , also referred to as content delivery , online distribution , or electronic software distribution , among others, is the delivery or distribution of digital media content such as audio , video , e-books , video games , and other software . The term

8976-526: The shutdown, and the ability to re-download previously purchased content and/or transfer data from a Wii to a Wii U will continue for the foreseeable future. On the day of the closure, the shop's main UI was updated to show its original layout as it appeared when it was first launched back on November 19, 2006, removing the WiiWare option entirely. Japanese users were able to transfer or refund any remaining Wii Points after

9078-427: The side effect that it uses up space on the Wii's internal NAND Flash memory. IOSes are referred to by their number, which can theoretically be between 3 and 255, although many numbers are skipped, presumably being development versions that were never completed. Only one IOS version can run at any given time. The only time an IOS is not running is when the Wii enters GameCube backward compatibility mode, during which

9180-400: The songs they wish instead of having to purchase an entire album from which there may only be one or two titles that the buyer enjoys. The number of downloaded single tracks rose from 160 million in 2004 to 795 million in 2006, which accounted for a revenue boost from US$ 397 million to US$ 2 billion. Downloading peaked in the US in 2012, after which it started falling due to

9282-487: The structure of the video game industry . Gabe Newell , creator of the digital distribution service Steam , formulated the advantages over physical retail distribution as such: The worst days [for game development] were the cartridge days for the NES. It was a huge risk – you had all this money tied up in silicon in a warehouse somewhere, and so you'd be conservative in the decisions you felt you could make, very conservative in

9384-466: The traditional media markets, including music, press, and broadcasting. In Britain, the iPlayer , a software application for streaming television and radio, accounts for 5% of all bandwidth used in the United Kingdom . The move towards online distribution led to a dip in sales in the 2000s; CD sales were nearly cut in half around this time. One such example of online distribution taking its toll on

9486-559: The trial version) can only be saved to the Wii's internal memory. The application launches within a few seconds, after connecting to the Internet through a wireless LAN using the built-in interface or a wired LAN by using the USB to the Ethernet adapter. The Opera-based Wii browser allows users full access to the Internet and supports all the same web standards that are included in the desktop versions of Opera, including CSS and JavaScript . It

9588-464: The update is installed, as each time the channel is loaded with the game inserted, the update prompt will appear, and declining the update will return the player to the Wii Menu instead of starting the game. Games requiring a system update can still be played without updating using homebrew software, such as Gecko OS or a USB loader. The Mii Channel is an avatar creator, where users can design 3D caricatures of people called Miis by selecting from

9690-452: The values of the Wii Remote buttons in both Flash and JavaScript. This allows for software that previously required keyboard controls to be converted for use with the Wii Remote. The browser was also used to stream BBC iPlayer videos from April 9, 2008 after an exclusive deal was made with Nintendo UK and the BBC to offer their catch-up service for the Wii. However, the September 2009 update caused

9792-464: Was also launched in European counties, New Zealand, and Australia. The scheme had proved hugely popular with many sites appearing online dedicated to helping connect users and share system codes. The programme ended on November 21, 2012. On September 29, 2017, Nintendo announced that the Wii Shop Channel would be discontinued on January 30, 2019. To prepare for the closure, the company also announced that

9894-555: Was because the Wii hardware had ports for both GameCube memory cards, and peripherals and its slot-loading drive was able to accept and read the previous console's discs. GameCube games work with the Wii without any additional configuration, but a GameCube controller is required to play GameCube titles; neither the Wii Remote or the Classic Controller functions in this capacity. The Wii supports progressive-scan output in 480p-enabled GameCube titles. Peripherals can be connected via

9996-530: Was in a variety of languages provided by the Associated Press , who had a two-year contract to provide news and photos to Nintendo. Canadian news was submitted by the Canadian Press for publication. Japanese news was provided by Goo . European news was provided by Agence France-Presse . Starting with the August 6, 2007 update, the News Channel showed a news ticker in the Wii Menu, and when selecting

10098-482: Was later relaunched as the separate BBC iPlayer Channel on the Wii. In addition, Internet access including the Internet Channel and system updates may be restricted by the parental controls feature of the Wii. The original designs of the Nintendo Wii console, more specifically the Wii models made pre-2011 were fully backward compatible with GameCube devices including game discs, memory cards and controllers. This

10200-613: Was permanently removed following a temporary maintenance notice; preventing users from purchasing WiiWare or Virtual Console games unless they had enough Wii Points in their account balance. Already purchased software can still be downloaded, and any Wii Points remaining in an account's balance were redeemable until January 30, 2019. Virtual Console was a brand that included games from past video game consoles, which ran under emulation. There were over 300 games available in North America and, as of December 31, 2007, over 10 million games have been downloaded worldwide. All games are exact replicas of

10302-451: Was released on April 11, 2007 and was free to download until June 30, 2007. After this deadline had passed, the Internet Channel cost 500 Wii Points to download until September 1, 2009, though users who downloaded the browser before June 30, 2007, could continue to use it at no cost for the lifetime of the Wii system. An update (promoted as the "Internet Channel") on October 10, 2007 added USB keyboard compatibility. On September 1, 2009

10404-515: Was visible in the background. (The Big Dipper and the constellation Orion were easily recognizable, for example.) The Forecast Channel features included the current forecast, the UV index, today's overall forecast, tomorrow's forecast, a 5-day forecast (only for the selected country in which the user lives), a laundry check (Japan only) and pollen count (Japan only). The Forecast Channel first became available on December 19, 2006. Certain games could use

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