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Originally Posted by iojpoutn
I used it to play Youtube videos through my sound system.
What's all this about paying $5 for it, though? I never paid any money for mine, and it still works fine...
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They started charging for the internet channel back in June (or maybe it was July?).
Anyway, a list of my counter-arguments people have come up to its "usefulness." This is all assuming you actually
have a USB keyboard with which to regularly use with the Wii (as not having one would
dramatically decrease the internet channel's effectiveness single handedly), and that you
have a PC.
Replacement for Surfing on a PC:
Honestly, for the most part I think it's an unwise investment. I mean, if you have a bad computer, I can understand why you think the Wii browser is a good
temporary solution, but realistically don't you need the computer to do more than just surf the web? I imagine you need something more convenient and as such it would be more beneficial to figure out how to fix the computer.
Movie/Video Playback:
Wii Browser costs $5. An S-video cable costs $1 per foot of cable (6ft is ideal, so $6). Then you can get something similar to a
6' Headphone jack to RCA audio jack for $8 to transmit sound from your headphone port to your TV's speakers. Sure, we're already at a price 3x more than the internet channel, but if you have a laptop or a desktop PC set up close to the tv screen you desire, you have a more resourceful way to display video/movies on a Television screen. Opera browser is limited to
CERTAIN forms of flash playback. Yes, it can play youtube movies, but it can't play flash video files several sites like Gamespot and Gametrailers use, nor can you use it to play .Avi video files you have lying around. How many people really spin up their Wii just to watch a low-resolution
youtube video on a big screen?
Aside from using an actual PC (be it laptop or desktop), you could very well also have a 360 or PS3 which can accomplish the very same task just as well as the PC.
Play Games
Once again, yes, it can support flash...but the adobe flash player in Opera isn't always quickly updated. How many flash games do you
really frequently play through the Opera Browser, when you could be playing a fully-fledged game like Super Mario Galaxy or even a Virtual Console title?
Quickly Look Up Friend Codes
I don't understand this argument too much. It's not like you can just "minimize" the opera browser while you're typing in the FC, so either way you're going to have to write it down on a piece of paper first before launching the game and adding the code to your Friend's List. May as well write it down as you're surfing around on the computer and sticking it next to the Wii for the next time you start the game.
For the most part, the internet channel is viewed as a novelty. Yes, it's nice to have, and I guess it really doesn't hurt at all to have it as an option, but its practicality is just severely limited. I'm sure some people have found absolutely legitimate reasons to use it over
other means of surfing the web, but for the most part I view it as an unwise investment.
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