Overview

The Wii is Nintendo's latest effort in the console market. Battling its way against two other consoles, the Wii presents itself as one of the best machines to be released with its innovation in playing games. rather than using standard buttons and joystick, it also incorporates motion sensing where gestures and movements play a big role when playing the game.

Machine Features

-Backwards Compatibility with all Gamecube titles (Must have Gamecube controller and Memory card to play).
-Mii Channel for creating Avatars of your ownself.
-Photo channel for moments to slideshow the pictures you've taken. A good party feature.
-The News and Weather channel for news all around the world and weather updates in major capitals.
-Wii Shop Channel for either buying more channels for the Wii or games from the 80s and 90s and of various consoles too.
-The Nintendo Channel for videos on games, and even demos for the Nintendo DS (The DS is sold seperately).
-Send messages to one Wii and another by using the virtual keyboard or the USB keyboard (Sold Seperately).

Technical Specs

Processor
CPU: PowerPC based "Broadway" processor, made with a 90 nm SOI CMOS process, clocked at 729 MHz

GPU: ATI "Hollywood" GPU made with a 90 nm CMOS process,[33] clocked at 243 MHz

Ports and peripheral capabilities:
- Up to four Wii Remote controllers (connected wirelessly via Bluetooth).
- One SD memory card slot. (Supports up to 32GB)
- Two USB 2.0 ports.
- One Sensor Bar port.
- One accessory port on the bottom of the Wii Remote.
- Four Nintendo GameCube controller ports.
- Two Nintendo GameCube memory card ports.
- Mitsumi DMW-W004 WiFi 802.11b/g wireless module
- Compatible with optional USB 2.0 to Ethernet LAN adaptor.

Storage:
- 512 MB built-in flash memory.
- Expansion available via SD card memory, 2 GB maximum supported capacity.
- GameCube Memory Cards (for saving GCN games only).
- Slot-loading disc drive compatible with:
- 8 cm GameCube optical disc.
- 12 cm Wii Optical Disc.
- Mask ROM by Macronix.

Video:
- Up to 480p (PAL/NTSC) or 576i (PAL/SECAM), standard 4:3 and 16:9 anamorphic widescreen.
- Component (including Progressive scan), RGB SCART (PAL only), S-Video (NTSC only), composite output, or D-Terminal.

Audio:
Main: Stereo - Dolby Pro Logic II-capable.
Controller: Built-in speaker

Credits go to Zio and Signither.

Regions

Perhaps the only sad thing in the Wii is the part where region lock is a problem. Due to the region lock, there are 3 different machines released. US, PAL (Europe and Australia), and Japan.

While the machine is region locked, accessories are not. Remotes and Wii Fit board are known to be accessible by all consoles. Wii Fit boards however differ on the limit weight you can use it with.

Going Online with the Wii

In Malaysia, TMnet Streamyx works well with the Wii. Wireless broadbands such as P1 Wimax also work (Credits to Penman).

Official Wii in Malaysia

Malaysia's officially released Wii is the US region. Malaysia would also be home to a tremendous amount of US Wii titles.

The Malaysian US Wii is sold at RM1299 at retail in shops and garage sales thread. It would normally come with a 1 year warranty by the official distributor of Nintendo products in Malaysia, MM Soft. The package would include:

-The Wii
-A Wii Remote and Nunchunck set
-AA Batteries for the Wii Remote
-A Sensor bar for the Wii Remote to communicate with
-A silicon cover for the Wii Remote
-AV Composite cables
-Malaysian adapter
-Wii Sports game
-Manuals and warranty card
-A stand for the Wii
-A disc for holding the Wii at the bottom.

Modifications

You are free to discuss about pimping out your Wii or presenting new technologies that can utilized with the Wii, like building a PS3 or 360 controller into a Wii controller or showing off your skins on the Wii. You can also talk about options that can be used to make the Wii region free (As with the case of not being able to certain titles from Japan).

However, piracy talks are not allowed in any way possible. Consider yourself warned. I will also not entertain any PM's on pirated talks. I stand firm on not discussing about piracy.

Here are some of the problems with illegally modified Wiis.

-Missing channels. With modifications, Shops can take away channels as they place. Some of the channels would already have been included, but when you realize its gone, it would mean they have stolen it away from you. Some would also would charge you just to put back the channels that already came with the Wii in the first place.
-Wii Shop Channel problems. If you're using another region's console (exp: Japan), buying a Virtual Console game from the US would be hazardous to the Wii. Even the servers would feel awkward trying to connect from a US server to a Japan server due to region locks.
-Game compatibility. Updates in the frimware of a modified console can render some games of the past to be ruined. You might not be able to boot up certain games of the past when it should be just essential in the first place.
-Ruining the Wii. Updating the firmware can also lead to the Wii getting itself bricked. Turned into a paper weight, you name it. A firmware from 1 region, updating another, would render the console useless.

For peace of mind, go for the Original.

9/11 update: Korean Modded Wiis (Or Tranvestite Wiis) now could not update to 4.2U firmware. Updating to that will give you an Error 003. You have been warned again. And I shall call modded Wii's Tranvestites from now on (No offence to them however). (Credits to Dragonflyz for the info, and influence. )

Fake Peripherals

There have been reports that Wii Remotes and Nunchunks may appear to be fakes. Further details can be found below in this thread. Credits to Dragonflyz for the point out.

http://forum.lowyat.net/index.php?showtopic=939583

Where to get them?

Shops that carry official Wiis are scarce, but still available. You can contact:
- Gamer's Hideout (Cineleisure, Damansara): +60377252775

There are also sellers in the Garage Sales area that sell the Wii and its games (including myself). Here are the threads for you to check with:
- Kyo's Mini Game Mart (My Shop)
- Blackmango Games (Ben)

Any inquiries, this thread will you out with that.

This post has been edited by Kyoyagami: Nov 9 2009, 08:40 PM

Actually, it's not sold separately. Nintendo Channel for US Wii is a free download. Only thing is you need to use the Wii Shop to get it, and getting the Wii Shop to work is a trick of it's own. For Wii Shop to work, you need to set up your Wii location as either North America, Canada, Mexico or a country in Latin or South America. South America (particularly, Brazil) is recommended since it allows the "Brazil Hack" to work which allows one to buy WiiWare and Virtual Console games.

This post has been edited by RAMChYLD: May 15 2009, 09:51 PM

I actually meant the DS itself.

I was about to set a purchase on Wii and the shop owner told me that there are two hardware spec currently available in the market.

An older model would cost me about 700+ while the one that's newer and supposedly comes with better graphical resolution will cost way more. And the only way to differentiate this is the model number ending with the number (1). Can anyone confirm if this is true?

haha, he is trying to scam u. dun fall into it. i never heard of such thing b4. all wii are identical in term of graphical capabilities and there is no even different packages like ps3 and xbox360.

This post has been edited by bidfordun: May 18 2009, 05:08 PM

There are no 2 different hardware specs for Wii, only regions. The Wii can support up to 480p resolution, but you'll need to use a component cable which is sold seperetely (you'll get a composite cable along with the Wii).

Ahh okay thanks for confirming. Bad retailer always trying to cash out on inexperienced buyers.

Good thing you came here and checked it out with us.

In any case Wikipedia is a good place to start researching about Wii.

why not just ask me here? I'm almost expert also wat.

You're not always here 24/7 lah!

owh betul also.

Anyways, with E3 coming soon, Nintendo has been very very quiet. First party and 3rd party wise. So, early June, we will know for sure what's going to happen to the gaming world. Remember, 1st week of June will be important!

Yay im already counting the days !

OT: Seems like Nintendo not printing money anymore

Why? Just because of the slumping sales of wii in japan?

Better or not is up to you to decide, but it's true Wii is capable of 2 different resolution, 3 if you include 480p as mentioned by PM earlier.

I got my Wii in the mail today. Was playing all day long
Mine was distributed by the mm soft company
So if I want to buy games, I have to get US version?
Is it right? Any Us games?

This post has been edited by azrinarizz: May 19 2009, 09:54 PM

Hey guys! Just bought my wii! Played for hours and now I'm wondering if it's safe to connect my wii to the online store and play online mode throught my Korean wii?

Yup, you gotta get US games. For inquiries on the games itself, you may PM as you wish. Thanks.

PS: Because there's too many.

Plan to get 2nd hand games from the US. They are quite cheap
Ask my brother to help me get from the shop
I want Guitar Hero, RockBand, Mario! Ahh
If I use guitar hero world tour guitar. Can I play metallica?

This post has been edited by azrinarizz: May 20 2009, 09:01 PM