I've been playing my Wii a little and had it online for a brief moment too, so I want to give some impressions.

Now, I only have Wii Sports and Wii Sports Resort for it, and I was pleasently surprised by WSR and the M+. Though it should be noted that I was never a fan of Wii Sports, so expectations were low. Anyway, having played WSR for a bit, I found archery to be quite entertaining, with basketball and swordfighting trailing shortly behind it. Still though, it's only a minigame collection, so I'll need some more games soon. Hopefully my budget won't be too strained.

The build quality seems nice so far, quite sturdy, both in controller and console (though I'm absolutely not a fan of the powerbrick). But seeing as the Wii is used (only slightly, but still), I came across battery issues right from the get go, which sucks immenselsy for me, as someone who likes Sony's system of charging the controller. I suppose I'll need rechargeable batteries to compensate.

The Wii interface is a bit confusing though. Does everything need a dedicated space on there, as opposed to having subsections? If I had a channel called "Demos" which would store all my demos, I'd be happy, but there is a channel for every demo O_o
Also, I appreciate the sentiment of telling me how I or someone else playing on my Wii did at WSR, but whoever thought I would want a letter for every fucking achievement should be taken out back and shot. Seriously. Not only is it confusing to try and make any sense of, but it is almost completely unnecessary.
I do like that Nintendo have shared the options-interface between the Wii and DSi though (don't know about DS, but it's that way for DSi), nice move.

Trying to go online and shop is a small pain in the ass though. There is no basic overview of the content. Why do I have to use the search options in order to get an overview of all games on the WiiWare? Why can't I just browse by a category? I won't rush through it next time
Also, the downloading sucks. I can accept that there is no form of background downloading (though why we can't at least keep surfing for titles to download and maybe put in queue is beyond me), but why not have a tolerable download screen at least? I'm fine looking at Mario, but the sound is horrible. If your download screen makes me actively want to turn away from the Wii, the download screen is not good enough Nintendo.

Now, despite my bitching, these issues should be rather insignificant when all is said and done. Now I just need me some games to play, and I am hoping to find Metroid Prime Trilogy as my first game.

Wii Sports Resort was a pleasant surprise and yeah, the dedicated space thing sucks big time. Thankfully I've managed to avoid it hehe. Can't really comment on the shop channel because I haven't been there for a long time.

Metroid Prime Trilogy is an excellent first pic.

You can't browse by category on WiiWare? I was under the impression you could... or is that just the VC? Can't imagine.

As for the batteries, you can get a docking station for your remotes, which includes rechargeable built-in batteries, for under 10 bucks. you can find 'em both on and offline. There's dozens of different ones available. Seriously, get one, it's the 1st thing I bought for my Wii and really, really saves a lot of time, effort and money.

Can't go wrong with MP Trilogy, really, so good choice. Also, GET OKAMI!

Great write up

Get Super Mario Galaxy!!

Cheebee said: You can't browse by category on WiiWare? I was under the impression you could... or is that just the VC? Can't imagine. As for the batteries, you can get a docking station for your remotes, which includes rechargeable built-in batteries, for under 10 bucks. you can find 'em both on and offline. There's dozens of different ones available. Seriously, get one, it's the 1st thing I bought for my Wii and really, really saves a lot of time, effort and money. Can't go wrong with MP Trilogy, really, so good choice. Also, GET OKAMI!

I didn't visit VC, so I can't comment on that, but I'm pretty sure the only options for WW are 'Most Popular' and 'Most Recent', other than 'Search by *publisher, genre, etc.*'

And I'll get on the lookout for a dockingstation, thanks for the advice

And I'm getting Okami!

@ haxxiy

Indeed it was, though saying that Wii Sports set my expectations low might be an understatement. For me, in terms of bar-raising, Wii Sports is a hole in the ground

I'm getting it, just needs the right price point! I'm not rich you know

You can.

After you select WiiWare, a screen pops up that you can look at popular titles, new releases, search by publisher, search by genre, or search by title.  It is pretty much the same with the Virtual Console.  It is impossible to miss.

Rainbird said: Cheebee said: You can't browse by category on WiiWare? I was under the impression you could... or is that just the VC? Can't imagine. As for the batteries, you can get a docking station for your remotes, which includes rechargeable built-in batteries, for under 10 bucks. you can find 'em both on and offline. There's dozens of different ones available. Seriously, get one, it's the 1st thing I bought for my Wii and really, really saves a lot of time, effort and money. Can't go wrong with MP Trilogy, really, so good choice. Also, GET OKAMI! I didn't visit VC, so I can't comment on that, but I'm pretty sure the only options for WW are 'Most Popular' and 'Most Recent', other than 'Search by *publisher, genre, etc.*' And I'll get on the lookout for a dockingstation, thanks for the advice And I'm getting Okami! @ haxxiy Indeed it was, though saying that Wii Sports set my expectations low might be an understatement. For me, in terms of bar-raising, Wii Sports is a hole in the ground

Okay, well you could be right, I've only visited WW a few times, and it's been a while, so.

And good! You should really get both. There are even new types of those docking stations that are suitable for Motion Plus, so you won't have to remove that add-on every time you want to recharge. Which is win. And Okami's just glorious, so +1 for you.

That's what I was referring to. I didn't search for anything, but I think it would be a lot easier to get a good look at the content if you could see games by letter or by genre.

Like, have a list of genres and pick the one you want.

Or is that already the way it is, and my idea of 'searching' for something is just way off compared to Nintendo's?

Rainbird said: Cheebee said: You can't browse by category on WiiWare? I was under the impression you could... or is that just the VC? Can't imagine. As for the batteries, you can get a docking station for your remotes, which includes rechargeable built-in batteries, for under 10 bucks. you can find 'em both on and offline. There's dozens of different ones available. Seriously, get one, it's the 1st thing I bought for my Wii and really, really saves a lot of time, effort and money. Can't go wrong with MP Trilogy, really, so good choice. Also, GET OKAMI! I didn't visit VC, so I can't comment on that, but I'm pretty sure the only options for WW are 'Most Popular' and 'Most Recent', other than 'Search by *publisher, genre, etc.*'

What other category are you looking for?  Genre is probably the one I use the most.

EDIT: Ignore this, I see you responded to mine.