Tyler Hacks the World

I got a Wii just yesterday (a bit late, I know) and I just thought I'd list some of the things I liked and didn't like about it.

LIKE:

• Motion-sensing Wii remote. Really, it's pretty cool.
• Legacy support. Plays GameCube games, plus you can buy classic Nintendo games online and play them.
• Wii Sports. It's a well thought-out, well programmed game.

DISLIKES

• Graphics. It's really no better than the GameCube.
• Nag screens. I got at least 15 yesterday warning me about everything from attaching the wrist strap to pausing the game and going outside.
• Sensor bar. The motion sensing uses IR transmitted from the remote and received by a sensor bar. It's very tricky to learn how to use the remote without it cutting out a lot.
• Controllers. The Wii remote with the Nun chuck expansion costs an average of $60. You can easily spend more on the controllers than on the console itself if you buy the maximum supported controllers. Plus, the cost of broken controllers...

Overall, though, I feel the Wii is a pretty cool system and I hope that future consoles by all three major players in this market can incorporate many of the innovative features the Wii has now.

-Tyler

A while back I stumbled (literally, I found it via the StumbleUpon toolbar) upon this blog posting about how Apple support will allow you to redownload all your music free of charge.

Now I do backup my files regularly, but when my hard drive died a few weeks ago, iTunes refused to open the corrupt files. So I figured that this might come in handy now, right?

Eh, not so much.

When I contacted iTunes support and explained my situation, they said there was nothing they could do, it was the customer's responsibility to back up files. I mentioned that they said they'd do this, and the support representative replied (seriously!) "Oh, that's only for the important people." - essentially, iTunes will replace all your files for free, if they think you're going to get them more customers.

I may just buy a Zune now...

-Tyler

I hate the built-in Windows Update feature on Windows Vista. I was just re-installing Halo for PC, when it suddenly forced the setup to quit so that it might install an update for Internet Explorer.

Now I have a non-working Halo installation!

-Tyler

Well, there's a lot of reasons. I mean, roses only last like a couple weeks, and that's if you leave them in water, and they really only exist to be pretty... so that's like saying "my love for you is transitory and based solely on your appearance."

But a potato!

Potatos last forever! In fact, not only will they not rot, they actually grow stuff even if you just leave them in the sack. That part alone makes it a good symbol, but there's more! There are so many ways to enjoy a potato! You can even make a battery with it! And that's like saying "I have many ways in which I show my love for you". And potatos may be ugly, but they're still awesome. So that's like saying "it doesn't matter at all what you look like, I'll still love you."

-Tyler

May 15, the music will die. Hit the music industry back, don't buy music on May 15 and show support for internet radio.



Also, get your own buttons to add to your site at http://www.nikfletcher.com/index_files/may15th-boycott.php.

-Tyler