E3 2006: WiiConnect24 revealed

Wii News | Nintendo Wii to 'never shut down.'

During the Nintendo pre-E3 press conference, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata mentioned one of the problems he has with video games these days is the start up time. Up to a minute between powering up the console and playing the game is just a waste of time, argues Iwata, who believes that since time is precious to many people today, this is another thing that has to change to increase the gaming population. He said he really appreciates the sleep mode in Nintendo DS, because it allows him to flip it open and get going with no delay. And now, Nintendo is bringing this functionality to the Wii.

WiiConnect24 is a standby-esque feature of the new console, whereby the console can be left on but will only use the power of a miniature light bulb, and will run silently because the fan will be powered down. However, unlike the standby on a stereo (or a PS2), key features of the console will still be running, enabling gameplay to commence within seconds of a full power-up. Even more importantly, the Wii will remain connected to the internet during this 'standby period', and content will be able to be delivered to the system memory, even while the console is not in use. Thus, it would be possible to receive a letter in Animal Crossing while you sleep, meaning the Wii could be your own personal email server (!?). More applications of the WiiConnect24 service will be revealed during E3.

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12 Comments

838 La

7 years ago

Yeah way to kill my download limit. Good idea though, I mean how many times have we just sat there & waited for something to download? & I'm guessing this will all be done though the Wifi stick? Wouldn't that mean you have to leave the Computer on? Which kinda defeats the whole point of making it quiet & all doesn't it?

admeister

7 years ago

Very cool, I like the sound of it. I'll find it pretty useful, but you won't have to leave your computer on if you have a wireless router like me! That's one reason why I got one.

EvilHayama

7 years ago

If you don't want it to ruin your download limit, don't leave it connected, or turn your router off. I'm pretty sure there will be a way to turn it completely off or disable online funcitonality anyway.

admeister

7 years ago

Sure, and you would want to be careful of your limit. I should be alright though, I have a 25gb limit on my current plan.

MrAndyPuppy

7 years ago

admeister wrote

Sure, and you would want to be careful of your limit. I should be alright though, I have a 25gb limit on my current plan.

Heh - These days 25Gb only lasts me 3 or 4 days...

admeister

7 years ago

I see, you must be downloading a lot of big stuff. I usually don't go over 20, that's usually plenty.

Jag

7 years ago

give me ure pan details i need a new broad band plan im allready up to 70% and its only he 10th

Qbert

7 years ago

Brilliant idea Nintendo!

admeister

7 years ago

I have a plan with TPG, $70 a month, 1500 connection, 25G a month.

Hyperworm

7 years ago

No download cap for me, and I use a wireless router... and since my connection got Bittorrent-traffic-shaped about a month ago (damn you Pipex!!

), I have plenty of bandwidth to dedicate to something like this.

Definitely a good idea.

(Plus, not being able to visit your friends' towns on Animal Crossing DS unless they had already explicitly connected and were waiting for you was one of about a thousand annoying reasons I never bought the game, so overcoming that barrier is great.

)