[Wii Send-Off] The Top Ten Non-Launch Wii Channels

6. The Homebrew Channel

Despite the fact that it wasn’t released by Nintendo and it was technically against the terms of service to install it, Wii’s Homebrew Channel bathed in more success than perhaps any other major console-based custom software. While some people would use the channel to do malicious things such as pirate software illegally, the majority of users simply enjoyed the ability to play movies, music, user-created games, apps, and much more that (at least if you can look past the clunky UI) expanded the functionality of the Wii considerably. My personal experience with the channel was great, as it finally allowed me to play the incredible local multiplayer game Super Mario War with friends on a couch!

5. Everybody Votes Channel

Not many game companies have such a distinct feeling to their products that you could create an adjective out of their name, but perhaps the only word suitable to describe the Everybody Votes Channel is “Nintendo”. When they released this (much to the chagrin of the “core” audience I’m sure), I think the general reaction among fans of Nintendo was “Yep, that sounds like something Nintendo would do.”, and it was. This unique channel allowed Wii users to participate in worldwide surveys about hundreds of topics– from politics to movies to general interests– and then make predictions, view survey results, and see how good they were at predicting what people would say! I certainly had a bunch of fun using it.

4. Netflix

Another non-Nintendo channel (more of an app, but you guys picked it…) comes from absurdly popular video streaming service “Netflix”, and it let Wii owners (like PS360 users had been able to do for several months prior) watch TV shows and movies instantly on their TV. While it would be easy for me to say that this “doesn’t count”, I imagine that if I asked all of you who had this one installed on their Wii the number would be pretty high! I can think of three people who use their Wii for this purpose.