Top Five Features I Want on Nintendo's Next Console

Let's face it: the Wii, while a good gaming system in its own right, is fairly far behind the rest of the Generation when it comes to features and technical specs. The reason why this is is fairly obvious, and it was a smart decision, but all the same I want the Wii 2 (it won't be called that) to be a MUCH more top-notch system and a top-notch system needs fancy STUFF, right? So here I'm going to list my top five things the Wii 2 (still not called that) should have.

5. HD Graphics

YES, gameplay is much more important than graphics. That's why this is at number five! But the point still stands that prettier looking games look, well, prettier! The proposition of an HD Nintendo system becomes that much more sweet sounding when you realize that Nintendo would do much more with it than Sony of Microsoft. Nice graphics shine best with style, not realism!

4. Backwards Compatibility

The next console being able to play Wii games should be a high priority for sure. It just expands the library and makes the console that much easier to buy! I mean, I almost certainly would've gotten a DSi if it had played GBA games! The Wii 2 (not the name) being able to play Gamecube games would be amazing, too.

3. Achievements

Achievement unlocked: Write a blog post!

...That was so lame. I'm sorry. Anyway, achievements (or trophies or stamps or whatever) are awesome in general. It's just undeniably cool to be able to feel more sense of accomplishment throughout the game! The Wii has some games with these (Wii Sports Resort comes to mind) but the Wii 2 (that is so totally not what it's called) really needs to make them a standard for all games and add a point system, like the other consoles. Maybe with Nintendo's magic, they could even do something like unlock system menu skins by having enough points?!

2. Better online

Gosh. Freaking. DANGIT Nintendo! What is wrong with you here?! Friend codes would be fine as long as they're optional, but please just let people who want to have online friends have their online friends! Do you know what Friend Codes are doing? They're making little kids go to evil places like GameFAQs *shudder* and find "friends". You're making them more vulnerable to online predators, not less! Even outside of Friend Codes, make the online better. Make games like Brawl not suck online. Seriously.

1. Bigger, Better Hard Drive

If there is anything that I find more annoying about the Wii than its general incapability for DLC, I don't know what it is. It's just frustrating when people want to add shiny DLC things and can't because of the Wii's inability to hold them and use them! And I'm sorry, but when SD Cards are your main source of a hard drive, you know there's a problem...




You know what'd be funny? If someone was looking back on this blog post after the next console's release and it was called the Wii 2 (IT WON'T BE).

If there's one thing that's worse than something freezing...

...it's something freezing and you being unable to figure out why.

Yes, I posted yesterday about my poor, scratched up Animal Crossing: City Folk. But was that really the problem with the disc? I'm not sure anymore. Don't get me wrong, the disc's label has a nasty looking scratch on it, but I'm wondering if it isn't a problem with the disc at all.

I'll admit, I haven't been playing a huge quantity of Wii games lately, so my assumption that Animal Crossing was the only one with issues might have been more of a fluke than anything. I have a feeling hat Animal Crossing loads a lot of data at the same general time when you start up the game. And I have a feeling that therein lies my cause of freezing, coupled with a classic Wii issue...

Overheating. I've always been worried about it. I've never quite been sure whether to lie my Wii horizontally or vertically, and I've always been worried when it gets pretty hot in WiiConnect24 mode. And there lies my problem, I think. I think that it is VERY possible that Animal Crossing: City Folk was instead freezing because of my Wii overheating rather than any disc problems. Let me explain how I hit that conclusion.

The moment it hit me that it might be a Wii issue was when I tried to play Zack and Wiki (great game, btw) right after Animal Crossing freezing. Three times in a row it refused to even start! And that game wasn't scratched in the least! What the heck?!

Anyway, this brought me to the realization that my Wii was probably overheating and causing a sort of chain reaction with Animal Crossing than the disc being broken. This correlated nicely with the fact that my Wii is transported weekly and doesn't start failing to play Animal Crossing until about Wednesday. Thus, the Wii has the time to heat up from WiiConnect24! Bam! There was my problem. So it all comes down to the Wii having an issue. This was pretty much confirmed when I tried Animal Crossing again after unplugging and cooling the Wii to have it work just fine.

The question then becomes whether that's better or not. On one hand I won't need to buy another copy of Animal Crossing, while on the other hand Nintendo's feature continues to mess stuff up. Sigh. Whatever, I guess. At least the situation seems to be cleared up. At least, for now.