Yes! Another one tricked into buying a Wii. Good, Reggie shall be pleased.
That said, you did just buy the defining console of this generation by any measure. The best game is Super Mario Galaxy. The second best is Resident Evil 4.
You should also play Okami, it is amazing.
Finally, if you somehow haven't played Zelda: Twilight Princess(I didn't read your OP, less you can't tell yet, lol) then it should be far and away your first purchase.
After that, I would pick up Kart and Brawl. They are pretty great, but imo they pale in comparison to the awesomeness that is Zelda, RE4, and Galaxy, but that is just my opinion.
A great niche game is Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn, which is my personal favorite game so far this gen.
(After reading your op) The option to change to 16:9 is by clicking on the lower left hand corner of your Wii menu and it's in settings. After that, you will have to turn your tv on and off(assuming it auto adjusts to native resolution and zoom) or go into your TV settings and unzoom your picture(you should have that done first anyway).
You should also let your Wii know if your sensor bar is on top or bottom of your TV.
The error codes are from an intermittent signal and its specific incompatibility with your firmware version, I would assume. Several things can be done to remedy this:
A. Try it late at night.
B. Move it closer to your router.
C. Get Brawl or Kart and update via the game, then try it.
D. Wait a week and then try it(it worked for me)
E. Boost your router signal via channel switching(on Nintendo's Website)
Eventually your Wii will get online. You can't connect to the shop channel I assume because you can't update. I would be willing to bet that if you were updated, shopping channel would work, but updates/online would not. That is the nature of wireless and intermittant signals meeting Nintendo Wi-Fi.
I don't need your console war.
It feeds the rich while it buries the poor.
You're power hungry, spinnin' stories, and bein' graphics whores.
I don't need your console war.
NO NO, NO NO NO.
