I was shocked when I first read the Wii would have built in 512 MB of hard drive space. Compared to the Xbox 360’s 20 gigabyte drive, this is hardly anything at all. However, I gave them the benefit of the doubt when I also read the Wii would support SD cards and include two usb ports. However, to my horror, I found that you can not use the SD cards as an active hard drive. Meaning, you can’t run any games or saved games directly off the card, nor can you use any usb hard drive for that purpose.

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For a moment, imagine playing a fantasy game where you are an adventurer. You regularly visit the King or townsfolk to get your daily quest. Then you head out to battle through the caves and foreign lands, level up a few times, gain gold to purchase new equipment only to finally return a victor in search of a hefty reward. In My Life as a King, this all happens but you are not the adventurer; you are the King who sits back waiting for the adventurers to return safely with that prized item you requested.

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LostWinds is a very beautiful, yet short title for the Nintendo Wii Ware The game implies that there will be Chapters or Episodes released regularly in the same way Sam and Max games have been (where you buy each episode individullly). This game has some of the best uses of the Wiimote. For instance, your character automatically jumps and climbs up small ledges. You…or better yet the Wiimote is the wind. If you even slightly move the Wiimote, wind wind begins to blow in the local area affecting the background and foreground objects. The harder you shake the Wiimote the stronger the wind blows. You can guide slipstreams by pushing a button and drawing out the current direction. You can create a vortex by drawing a circle with the Wiimote or you can just give your character a jumping boost by creating an updraft by pushing a button and swiping upwards. Using these abilities, you must uncover the forgot story of LostWinds. (more…)

Finally, Wii Ware made it’s debut yesterday. What is Wii Ware? Wii Ware is a service that allows you to purchase and download games and applications immediately in the comfort of your own home. Many Wii owners probably aren’t aware that their new white box can even venture into the online world. The games available right now are:

LostWinds $10
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My life as a King $15
Pop $7
Defend Your Castle $5
TV Show King $10
V.I.P. Casino Blackjack $7

From what I’ve seen so far, these games are far superior than anything on the Wii’s current Virtual Console store. Which really isn’t surprising since Virtual Console games are older generation games.

Originally to be released the same time Wii Ware came to the US, the Nintendo Channel arrived earlier. From this channel you’ll be able to watch game videos, view newly and upcoming released games, and best of all Nintendo DS Demo Downloads. So far you can download demos wirelessly to your DS for Brain Age 2, Flash Focus, Crosswords DS, Jam Sessions, Disney Friends, Rayman Raving Rabbids 2, Cooking Mama 2 and Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword.

Another nice feature is a game recommendation system. You’ll be able to rate games and it applies your answers to the demographics you provide in a short survey. This data is used to provide recommendations made by people that play the games. The system only uses data that shows that you have played the game for at least an hour. Finally, game ranking scores made my millions of gamers (not just one single person such as, me deciding that GTA IV should be a 9, oops I mean 10, *snickers). Nintendo put together a very nice video about the channel here.