Wii system software

 ( Wii ) 

Except for Software 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, 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 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 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 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 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 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, 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 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 and download new games and Channels directly from the Wii Shop Channel."Wii For Dummies", by Kyle Orland, p3-4 New Channels include, for example, 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."WII Game Creation for Teens", by Michael Duggan, p36 Users can also rearrange these Channels if they are not satisfied with how the Channels are originally organized on the menu.

Like many other video game consoles, the Wii console is able to connect to 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 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 the Wii Message Board. One can connect to the Internet with third-party devices as well."WII Game Creation for Teens", by Michael Duggan, p38

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 web browsers. A virtual keyboard pops up when needed for input, and 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."Codename Revolution: The Nintendo Wii Platform", by Steven E. Jones, George K. Thiruvathuka, p119-120 Some third-party services such as the online BBC iPlayer were also available on the Wii via the Internet Channel browser, although BBC iPlayer 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.

There are also a few limitations in 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 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 the console in addition to newer Wii game titles. However, 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 the Sega Genesis and TurboGrafx-16.

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 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 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.

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 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 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 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 the Mii Channel as of May 2010.

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 a resolution of up to 848×480 pixels (Wide VGA). Photos, even high resolution ones, are compressed and decreased in resolution.

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.

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 the Wii to the Wii U still remains available.

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 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 became available in North America, Europe, and Australia on January 26, 2007. Content 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 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. GoNintendo » Blog Archive » Wii News Channel updated- What are you waiting for?

The News Channel (along with 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 is the only pre-installed channel that takes up spare internal memory, and 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. Wii Official Site - Enhance Your Wii . Nintendo.com. Retrieved on 2013-08-23.

The channel 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 the PAL version: British English, French, Spanish, German, Italian and Dutch language.

The Internet Channel uses whichever connection is chosen in the Wii settings, and utilizes the user's internet connection directly; there 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 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 Wi-Fi LAN using the built-in interface or a Ethernet 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 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 Widget engine, standalone web-based applications using Opera as an application platform.

Third party and SDKs have been released that allow developers to read 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 the iPlayer to no longer operate. The BBC acknowledged the issue and created a dedicated channel instead. In June 2009, YouTube released YouTube XL, a TV-friendly version of the popular video-sharing website. The regular YouTube page would redirect the browser to YouTube XL, if the website detected that the Internet Channel or the PlayStation 3 browser is being used.

Everybody Votes Channel was launched on February 13, 2007, and was available in the Wii Channels section of the Wii Shop Channel. The application allowed Wii owners to vote on various questions using their Mii as a registered voter. Additionally, voters were also able to make predictions for the choice that will be the most popular overall after their own vote has been cast. Each Mii's voting and prediction record is tracked and voters can also view how their opinions compare to others. Whether the Mii is correct in its predictions or not is displayed on a statistics page along with a counter of how many times that Mii has voted. Up to six Miis would be registered to vote on the console. The channel was free to download. Each player would make a suggestion for a poll a day.

Like the other four Wii channels ( Forecast Channel, News Channel, Nintendo Channel, Check Mii Out Channel/ Mii Contest Channel), the Everybody Votes Channel ended its seven-year support on June 27, 2013 due to Nintendo shifting its resources to its next generation projects. Unlike the other discontinued channels, Everybody Votes Channel remains accessible with users able to view the latest poll data posted, albeit the channel will never be updated again.

Users would post their own Miis in the Posting Plaza, or import other user-submitted Miis to their own personal Mii Parade. Each submitted Mii was assigned a 12-digit entry number to aid in searching. Submitted Miis were given 2 initials by their creator and a notable skill/talent to aid in sorting.

In the Contests section, players submitted their own Miis to compete in contests to best fit a certain description (e.g. Mario without his cap). After the time period for sending a Mii had expired, the user had the choice of voting for three Miis featured on the judging panel, with ten random Miis being shown at a time. Once the judging period is over, the results of the contest may be viewed. Their selection and/or submission's popularity in comparison to others was displayed, as well as the winning Mii and user.

The Check Mii Out Channel sent messages to the Wii Message Board concerning recent contests. Participants in certain contests would add their user and submitted Mii to a photo with a background related to the contest theme. This picture would then be sent to the Wii Message Board.

This channel ended its seven-year support on June 27, 2013 like the four other channels ( Forecast Channel, News Channel, Everybody Votes Channel, Nintendo Channel).

An updated version of the Nintendo Channel was released in Japan on July 15, 2009, North America on September 14, 2009, and in Europe on December 15, 2009. The update introduced a new interface and additional features, options, and statistics for users to view. However, the European version was missing some of these new additional features, such as options for choosing video quality. In addition, a weekly show known as Nintendo Week began airing exclusively on the North American edition of the channel, while another show, Nintendo TV, was available on the UK version of the channel.

The Nintendo Channel and the other 4 channels ( Forecast Channel, News Channel, Everybody Votes Channel, and Check Mii Out Channel/ Mii Contest Channel) ended their seven-year support on June 27, 2013.

A few shows appeared on Nintendo Channel which were no more than 20 minutes long:

• Nintendo Week: The hosts were Gary and Allison, but other co-hosts appeared as well like Dark Gary, Daniel, and others.
• Ultimate Wii Challenge/New Super Mario Bros. Wii Challenge: The hosts were David and Ben. They tried to beat each other's time in Nintendo Games like New Super Mario Bros. Wii, Donkey Kong Country Returns, Super Mario Galaxy 2, and Kirby's Epic Yarn. In a few episodes, Ben and David worked together in levels of a few games.

Many Nintendo DS demos were available in Nintendo Channel's DS Download Service.

The channel allows users to access some of the features of Wii Fit. It allows users to view statistics from the game including users' BMI measurements and balance test scores in the form of a line graph, as well as keep track of the various activities they have undertaken with a calendar. Users were also able to weigh themselves and do a BMI and balance test with the channel once per day. However, if the player wants to do any exercises or play any of the aerobics games or balance games, the game prompted the user to insert the Wii Fit game disc.

Another feature of the channel are Tournaments, where Nintendo invited players to challenges similar to the missions on Mario Kart DS. Players were also able to compare their competition rankings with other players.[6]

As of May 20, 2014, most features of the channel have been discontinued, such as Tournaments.

The WiiWare section was being touted as a forum to provide developers with small budgets to release smaller-scale games without the investment and risk of creating a title to be sold at retail (somewhat similar to the Xbox Live Arcade and the PlayStation Store). While actual games have been planned to appear in this section since its inception, there had been no official word on when any would be appearing until June 27, 2007, when Nintendo made an official confirmation in a press release which revealed the first titles would surface sometime in 2008. According to Nintendo, "The remarkable motion controls will give birth to fresh takes on established genres, as well as original ideas that currently exist only in developers' minds."

Like Virtual Console games, WiiWare games were purchased using Wii Points. Nintendo handled all pricing options for the downloadable games.

The Digicam Print Channel became available from July 23, 2008 in Japan, and ceased operation on June 26, 2013.

The BBC had since offered a free, dedicated Wii channel version of their BBC iPlayer application which was only available in the UK. By February 10, 2015, however, the channel was retired and consequently removed from Wii Shop Channel since newer versions are not compatible, and as per BBC's policy to retire older versions as a resource management. The channel had since been succeeded by the BBC iPlayer app on the UK edition of the Wii U Nintendo eShop, which was released in May 2015.

The Wii U Transfer Tool Channel features an animation based on the Pikmin series, wherein a visual transfer display of various Pikmin would automatically carry the eligible data and software to a space ship, likely representing the SD card used to perform the transfer, bound for the Wii U. While context dynamic, this animation is not interactive, and only exists for entertainment purposes.

The ability to transfer content from the Wii to the Wii U is still available for the foreseeable future after the Wii Shop Channel's shutdown on January 30, 2019.

Message Board was available for users to post messages that are available to other Wii users by usage of Wii Numbers with WiiConnect24. In addition to writing text, players can also include images from an SD card in the body of messages, as well as attaching a Mii to the message. Announcements of software updates and video game news are posted by Nintendo. The Message Board can be used for posting memos for oneself or for family members without going online. These messages could then be put on any day of the calendar. The Wii Message Board could also be updated automatically by a real-time game like Animal Crossing.

Wii Sports, Wii Play, Mario Kart Wii, Wii Speak Channel, Wii Sports Resort, Super Mario Galaxy & Super Mario Galaxy 2 use the Message Board to update the player on any new high scores or gameplay advancements, such as medal placements in the former two titles, completions of races including a photo, audio messages, and letters from the Mailtoad via the Wii Message Board. , Super Mario Galaxy, Super Smash Bros Brawl, Elebits, , Dewy's Adventure and the Virtual Console game Pokémon Snap allow players to take screenshots and post them to the Message Board to edit later or send to friends via messages. Except for GameCube games, the Message Board also records the play history in the form of "Today's Accomplishments". This feature automatically records details of what games or applications were played and for how long. It cannot be deleted or hidden without formatting the console itself. Prior to its closure, the Nintendo Channel was able to automatically tally all Wii game play data from the Message Board and display them in an ordered list within the channel.

Subsequent system updates added a number of minor features to the Message Board, including minor aesthetic changes, USB keyboard support and the ability to receive Internet links from friends, which can be launched in the Internet Channel.

An exploit in the Wii Message Board can be used to Wii homebrew a Wii via a tool called LetterBomb.