4th July 2006, 9:47 AM
What I've picked up is: Nintendo states ALL Gamecube games can be played (in the past, the same claim still results in a few irregularities in games I've never heard of nor have the inclination to get, so this is sufficient for me), further, the system will have 4 GC controller ports and 2 GC memory card ports. This indicates that every single accessory, from dance pads to microphones, will be usable on the Wii. No reason to think problems will happen there. I haven't heard Nintendo make any statements, but as of yet there is no evidence or any reasonable expectation that the ports on the bottom of the Gamecube will be present. That means broadband, modem, and Gameboy Player can't be used, but that's no real loss (since I understand Nintendo does seem to have intentions of some manner of Gameboy Player-like accesory that at least plays DS games, and might be able to play more). Further, the system has wifi built in and automatically connects to the local network at all times, meaning "off" isn't truly "off" until you unplug the system's power.
The only question of any merit at all for a nerd such as I remains though. Will games that were compatible with either one of the online devices the Gamecube had have access to the wifi network of the wii and be fooled into thinking that a broadband adapter is plugged in and connected to a local area network?
There is not enough information to say either way. On the one hand, support for it seems like it would be an easy thing to pull off. On the other hand, it is only supported by a small handful of games anyway. It's the past that worries me. The GBA dropped the infrared port because only a few games used it. Makes it hard to unlock certain things in games like Super Mario Bros Deluxe even if I find someone with the game, they need a Color, and I only have one of those systems. Nintendo also didn't add SGB support to the GBA (on a technical level I can see a couple situations where the GBA really still wasn't designed to handle it, at least not without some emulation), but also didn't add it to the Gameboy Player (for that, emulation of an SNES for Space Invaders could easily have been handled by the Gamecube and if they had the desire to, full compatibility with SGB features could have been implemented, but they didn't consider it worth the trouble).
The question is, is this simple enough they will easily just toss it in as a feature, or will it cause just enough problems and enough of a delay that they don't consider it worth it? If they do not consider it worth it, will the firmware on the Wii be upgradable so such a feature could be added later on in a patch, and if so, would they bother?
The only question of any merit at all for a nerd such as I remains though. Will games that were compatible with either one of the online devices the Gamecube had have access to the wifi network of the wii and be fooled into thinking that a broadband adapter is plugged in and connected to a local area network?
There is not enough information to say either way. On the one hand, support for it seems like it would be an easy thing to pull off. On the other hand, it is only supported by a small handful of games anyway. It's the past that worries me. The GBA dropped the infrared port because only a few games used it. Makes it hard to unlock certain things in games like Super Mario Bros Deluxe even if I find someone with the game, they need a Color, and I only have one of those systems. Nintendo also didn't add SGB support to the GBA (on a technical level I can see a couple situations where the GBA really still wasn't designed to handle it, at least not without some emulation), but also didn't add it to the Gameboy Player (for that, emulation of an SNES for Space Invaders could easily have been handled by the Gamecube and if they had the desire to, full compatibility with SGB features could have been implemented, but they didn't consider it worth the trouble).
The question is, is this simple enough they will easily just toss it in as a feature, or will it cause just enough problems and enough of a delay that they don't consider it worth it? If they do not consider it worth it, will the firmware on the Wii be upgradable so such a feature could be added later on in a patch, and if so, would they bother?
"On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question." ~ Charles Babbage (1791-1871)