Wiimotely usable?

April 18, 2007 on 12:28 am | In Nintendo | No Comments

Finally got around to updating the Wii with the release version of the Internet channel and decided to see just how awkward it would be to write a blog entry with the Wiimote…answer is reasonably awkward, but actually a little better than expected.

I imagined that typing with the on-screen keyboard would be a real chore, but the feedback (audible and visual from the screen and haptic from the Wiimote) makes poking away at the on-screen keyboard easier than most on-screen keyboard interfaces. So it’s pretty impressive but i’ll stick to the laptop for any updates in the future!

Otherwise whilst it’s understandably constrained, the ability to scale the display and to remove the navigation bar makes for a reasonably usable browser even on a regular PAL TV. In terms of technologies, it seems to support the same standards as desktop Opera, with Flash 7/AJAX/RSS all working well.

Being the kind of person who carries his laptop around the house at all times, it’s not as if i’ll be using the browser often, but there will be those odd cases where i’m infront of the TV and not flinging my arms about in Wii gaming world. If only for these moments, it’s nice to know I can watch YouTube, check my Google Mail and Calendar and browse porn RSS feeds with nothing more than a wave of the Wiimote…if only because I am a stupid lazy geek.