Wii Photo Channel gets better, worse in December

by Kyle Orland { Nov 13th 2007 at 3:55PM }

While most Wii owners are too busy playing Super Mario Galaxy or checking out Miis to care, Nintendo has announced through their web site some pending updates to the Wii's Photo Channel. Call it a bad news sandwich on good news bread. The good news: After the update you'll be able to choose a favorite picture as the channel's Wii menu icon. The bad news: MP3 music playback will be replaced with support for the higher-quality but much less-accessible AAC format. The good news: The AAC files can be played back in a random order. Mmm... sandwich.

While the added features are nice, we're pretty amazed that Nintendo has managed to make the potentially-useful-but-in-practice-pretty-annoying music playback feature even worse by changing up the formats. As Wii Fanboy points out, even those with copious, iTunes libraries in the ~~proprietary~~ AAC format are unlikely to be able to play them on the non-Apple-endorsed Wii (and don't go restarting those pesky merger rumors -- no one is getting bought out) due to the DRM issues. But, again, unless you're one of the three people who uses the channel regularly, you're probably too busy to care. Go back to your business ... nothing to see here.

Tags: AAC, channels, MP3, photo, photo-channel, wii

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

Loren @ Nov 13th 2007 4:03PM

In sales we call that the Benefit Sandwich! Benefit, Bad, Benefit. They hear the first and last thing you say!!!

Mmmmm Sandwiches!!!

Your Ad here 555-1923 @ Nov 13th 2007 4:04PM

N00bish question-Is it compatible with Gif Images? and if so are there Ytmnds in the Wii photo channel?

Brello @ Nov 13th 2007 11:02PM

I have a newbish "I don't own a Wii" question as well. Can you resize images on the Wii? If not, can you use websites like http://rsizr.com/ to resize images using the internet channel? Does stuff like that work? Just wondering...

JodyAnthony (Good Eats Defense Force) @ Nov 13th 2007 4:05PM

I have used the photo channel probably 6 times in the almost year I've had a wii.

Crono (NDF - Knight of the Old School) @ Nov 13th 2007 4:16PM

I've used it Never.

megaStryke @ Nov 13th 2007 4:22PM

Same here, only subtract six from that number!

Rubang B (BRUSH WITH FAME) @ Nov 13th 2007 4:43PM

I use it for photo slideshows. It's much easier to navigate with the wireless Wii remote than by plugging my camera into the TV, sitting really close, and pressing buttons on it. But I don't use music, and I'm definitely getting the update so I can change the icon in the channel menu.

bm @ Nov 14th 2007 1:36AM

Two words.

Video Jigsaw.

Last holiday we spent god knows how many hours trying to piece together jigsaw puzzles of all sorts of homemade videos. Two nutjobs even went for the 192-piece puzzle in a video that mostly involved lawn grass. It's awesome.

Ethan @ Nov 13th 2007 4:07PM

iTunes and Apple do not equal aac, I know people aren't saying that explicitly, but if you're encoding using iTunes it'll play on almost any phone, and it'll certainly play on the photo channel. Actually, could you remove the proprietary bit? It's not, it's an open standard like mp3 (though I think the MPEG group might charge for it).

At the very worst you'll have to re-encode it with a free encoder like dbpoweramp, but it's obvious Nintendo shouldn't be making consumers do this.

Undead Priest @ Nov 13th 2007 4:08PM

Nice job editing in the Captain Picard Facepalm pic. :)

JodyAnthony (Good Eats Defense Force) @ Nov 13th 2007 4:12PM

hahaha, i hadn't even noticed that

WiNG @ Nov 13th 2007 4:13PM

On the Sega Dreamcast you could save any image to your VMU file while browsing the Internet as a JPG.

It was useless except for getting Jet Set Radio sprays, and for storing pr0n.

How come the Wii can't do this? This would make the photo channel way more useful. As for mp3 playback, who cares? Who honestly uses their Wii to play MP3s?

Here are my suggestions to make the photo channel worthwhile:

1. Allow saving of pics from the Internet Channel.
2. Allow screenshots of any Virtual Console game.
3. Make more games like Prime 3 and Brawl have screenshot modes.
4. Add a Photo Plaza similar to the Mii Parade, so you can just have a slideshow of any photo your friends have saved that are tagged as "Mingle"

This would be awesome. Currently, it's almost useless.

Your Ad here 555-1923 @ Nov 13th 2007 4:15PM

The Dreamcast died to soon, it was one of the best consoles ever made not to mention one of the most innovative consoles of all time.

Crono (NDF - Knight of the Old School) @ Nov 13th 2007 4:17PM

All good ideas!

JodyAnthony (Good Eats Defense Force) @ Nov 13th 2007 4:20PM

the PSP browser also lets you save images to your memory stick.

arrrgh @ Nov 13th 2007 4:40PM

How about we take that one step further?

The photo channel should have some basic composition tools....couple that with the internet image saving feature and then.....

custom themes! created right on your wii :):)

WiNG @ Nov 13th 2007 5:24PM

In a perfect world, the Dreamcast would still be getting new games, and the PS3 would be outsold by the 360 in Japan.

WAIT A SECOND!

Brello @ Nov 13th 2007 10:57PM

Holy crap, now there's a person with some good ideas. Some better than others, but every one of those should be pretty simple to implement and worthwhile to boot. You get a gold star..or heart as it turns out.

FK @ Nov 14th 2007 2:14PM

The Dreamcast still, from a design point, is one of the best looking consoles. It has dated very well. I really miss that little swirling noise when I power up any console..

Vince @ Nov 13th 2007 4:13PM

AAC? seriously? come on.

Chris @ Nov 13th 2007 4:18PM

What a mind job!

Jerk Face @ Nov 13th 2007 4:21PM

*yawn*

Who fucking cares?

Daniel @ Nov 13th 2007 4:26PM

I don't really know why there's so much hate for the Photo Channel. I use it quite regularly. It's so nice to be able to pop my memory card into my Wii and show groups of friends and family recent photos on the big TV in the living room. It's actually one of my favorite features on the Wii.

Although the "photo plaza" idea WiNG has would be pretty awesome. True, you can send photos over the message board. But it's in no way practical.

Liquid @ Nov 13th 2007 4:27PM

What is with Nintendo crippling their already crippled console? The DVD playback issue eats at me because my stand-alone player is needlessly taking up a component input, now they nix mp3 playback. There wasn't anything stopping them from having random mp3 playback before. I'm sure both of these trivial updates were added to lessen the pain of losing mp3.

arrrgh @ Nov 13th 2007 4:38PM

straight up: fuck you nintendo. that was a bitch move.

I didn't think they could fuck it up even worse :(

Please just give me galaxy and stop screwing up the other shit on Wii

WiNG @ Nov 13th 2007 4:39PM

The thing is, I'm SURE Nintendo collects Data on how much every game, channel, and service on Wii is used. I mean hell, it emails you the info every day!

Nintendo MUST KNOW that nobody uses the photo channel. If they only knew my genius ideas, it could all change. Most of that stuff isn't even that hard, compared to, say, designing the Check Mii Out channel from scratch.

Psaakyrn @ Nov 13th 2007 5:16PM

Unless... there's actually people who uses it. Who are these people?!

Mr Khan @ Nov 13th 2007 4:41PM

It is an odd move

A lot of times i just don't know what they're thinking, they make moves that are anti-business sense

Good thing they make the best games, totally makes up for it

The Fuzz 53 @ Nov 13th 2007 4:42PM

This is just flat out fucking stupid!! Who the fuck uses AAC??

James @ Nov 13th 2007 9:55PM

The most popular online music store does. The same application also defaults to the codec for importing music from audio CD.

Wiizull @ Nov 13th 2007 4:57PM

I use AAC. Because it's a superior codec. Well done Nintendo for supporting it.

Paul P. @ Nov 13th 2007 5:01PM

Wow, what the fuck Nintendo.

AAC? You wanna support it that is fine, but dropping support for Mp3's is retarded. I don't have any fucking AAC files. Almost all my music is original artist stuff, like stuff from OCRemix, or indie rock groups, all mp3s.

I have used the photo channel in the past. Mainly for slideshows. I also used it to look at porn when my computer was in the shop.

Vegeta (aka Ska Oreo) @ Nov 13th 2007 6:54PM

You are a sad sad man.

Rubang B (BRUSH WITH FAME) @ Nov 13th 2007 9:34PM

Shhh, he doesn't know about the Internet Channel. And apparently backs up his pr0n on SD for just such an emergency?

James @ Nov 13th 2007 9:56PM

Load up iTunes that came with your iPod, click "convert song to AAC". Easy, unless you're challenged?

syco @ Nov 13th 2007 5:12PM

I love AAC. It's leaps and bounds better than MP3. However, MP3 is definantly important, it's the codec of the majority of people's digital music libraries, and the only available form of most DRM-free online purchased music.

So.... removing MP3 to make room for AAC is not exactly a great idea.

Thankfully, nobody actually cares about photo channel.

ben @ Nov 13th 2007 5:24PM

why does everyone care so much about the photo channel... who uses it more than once or twice a year. and is it worth damning nintendo for it? not really.

Oh yea, joystiq... study up on what AAC is before you start making apple-phobic claims... AAC is not an apple file format, nor is it filled with DRM, only the AAC files you buy off of the iTunes store have DRM.

Duscrom @ Nov 13th 2007 5:47PM

Yes, AAC is actually a better codec, and it is not even close to apple owned. In fact alot of subscription services use the format. Hell, all of my CDs i rip to AAC.

But... to remove one codec for another? But it's part of Nintendo's thing.. graphics OR gameplay, Casual OR Hardcore, AAC OR MP3.. cant have em both.

James @ Nov 13th 2007 9:51PM

WTF I didn't think Metroid Prime or Metal Slug were "casual games" alongside Wii Sports.

Shogan @ Nov 13th 2007 5:24PM

So with support for MP3 going away in the Photo Channel, does this mean that we also lose support for MP3's in Excite Truck and Forever Blue? I have thousands of MP3's, but I don't think I have one AAC file. Really stupid move on Nintendo's part. Not surprising though, since they seem to think copying Apple is the key to success.

Me @ Nov 13th 2007 11:52PM

From what I gather from the post, mp3 playback is only going away in the Photo Channel, so custom soundtracks and the like should still be safe.

Rob Accomando @ Nov 13th 2007 5:33PM

what's next, removing JPG support and only supporting PNG or RAW?

James @ Nov 13th 2007 5:35PM

I use AAC because it's better than MP3.

As for the switch, it's better for me because I encoded all my music in the superior codec. My psychic skills must be better too or something.

Also why did Joystiq say it's Apples codec? It isn't. Go knock on Dolby's door FFS.

For "much less accessible", um, I suppose you guys haven't heard about the internets biggest online music service - iTunes Store. Course only the DRM free songs will playback on the Wii. But AAC is huge, iTunes gives you the option to encode in it. Just because they're not big with torrents and piracy...

Markusdragon @ Nov 14th 2007 3:29AM

That would be sound advice, if it weren't for the fact that Itunes is one of the most loathesome pieces of useless bloatware I've ever had the inconvenience to download as bundled software.

James @ Nov 13th 2007 5:54PM

Kyle/Joystiq:
Fix your post. AAC does not equal Apple. If anything is proprietary, its mp3. Fix this.

Everybody else:
Is there seriously a recent media device that *can't* play AAC files? If there is, it must be a POS. Everybody supports mp3 because supposedly it is better supported and yet I can't think of a media player worth it's salt that can't play AAC. It's time for MP3 to die. I'm looking at you Amazon.

You said it yourself - FOR LOW BITRATES
At the bitrates I encode at (minumum 192 kbps), there is no significant difference. I don't have golden ears anyways, so I'll just take what everything plays.

Source:
http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.4.2/docs/api/java/util/ArrayList.html