Wii Zap!

Endless Ocean has an online co-op play option that allows you to dive with a buddy. Sihumchai has written a short article on his experience diving with a buddy in Endless Ocean. Here’s an excerpt from his experience.

Online was fast, and quick. Setting up a game is just as easy as opening your gate to your boat, and letting your friend come over, similar to Animal Crossing DS. In fact, it was only like 10-20 seconds when I opened my gates, “DonS” was already on his way to my boat with his jet-ski.

Ah-HA! I walk over to the gate, I saw him climb aboard. To greet him, there was no other way to communicate, but only through pre-set dialogue available through pressing UP on the D-pad.. so “THIS IS FUN” became the first line, follow by “PLEASE”.. So much sense.

Without further a due, I already promised that I’d take him to the “Abyss”. The Abyssal plains take place 500ft down the sea, which is about 1/2 a km according to him. But in reality, the abyss is located some 1.5 miles down(IINM), and goes as deep as 4 miles(or more).

But during our first dive, confusion started, as we started drifting away during our dive, we were lost, we were laughing our heads off thinking where the hell is he, then I said “RETURN TO THE BOAT”. I was still laughing while the screen was loading, and I proceed to call him to clarify things. He was laughing his head off too.

Finally, we got down to business. …

Read the rest of the article in this Lowyat.NET Nintendo forum posting.

Though I am a big time Nintendo Wii fan, I do sometimes look at what Sony is up to with the PS3 and PSP. While looking around I came across Patapon. What is Patapon?

Well, see for yourself at http://www.patapon-game.com. This online version of Patapon comes with 3 missions for you to try out. I gave it a try and it made me think about getting a PSP. It’s that good. Go ahead and try it out for yourself.

Pata Pata Pata Pon!

Related Links:

• All in One Patapon Page
• 300 Patapon

This is the story of how I got 4 Wii Remote Jackets from Nintendo.

Nintendo is currently running a Free Wii Remote Jacket offer for the Nintendo Wii Controller. If you bought an earlier set of Nintendo Wii set which did not include the Wii Remote Jacket, you may request for the Wii Remote Jacket to be sent to you. All you need to do is submit your request at Nintendo’s Wii Remote Jacket Accessory web page.

The problem with this offer is that Nintendo only sends the jackets to US and Canada addresses. Since I’m in Malaysia, Nintendo can’t send the jackets to me directly. So, how do I get my hands on these free items from Nintendo? I need someone staying in the US or Canada who will send me the jackets after the jackets are sent to this person.

It’s great to have a sister studying in the US. I submitted my request for 4 free Wii Remote Jackets (You can request for 1 to 4 jackets) to be sent to her in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. She in turn sent it to my office in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia. Postage cost = USD8.65. She sent it out on 4th February 2008.

Today (20th February 2008), I received my free Wii Remote Jackets. Woohoo!

My Nintendo Wii suddenly stopped being able to go online last week. The problem persisted for a few days with the Wii getting a System Error code 52030 or 52130. After two frustrating days of troubleshooting and wondering if I should replace my LinkSys WRT54Gv2 wireless router, the Wii was able to connect online again one morning.

What did I learn from this experience? If nothing was changed in your router or Wii settings and they are working fine (except with each other), just leave things be. I suspect the problem is with the website that the Wii connects to for the connection testing. Once the problem with the test connection site was resolved, the Wii was able to go online again. If a similar problem occurs again in the future, I will just leave things be for a while and don’t start thinking about replacing the wireless router.

For those who wants some information on how to troubleshoot problems with a Nintendo Wii Wireless Internet Connection; Nintendo Support has the following articles:

• Guide to Troubleshooting Error 52030
• Guide to Troubleshooting Error 52130
• Wireless Router Troubleshooting

Here’s a photo of a real diver with a manta ray.

Here’s a screenshot of a computer generated diver with manta ray in Endless Ocean.

The screenshot looks better.

For a lot of us, the closest we ever get to swim with a manta ray is in Endless Ocean on the Nintendo Wii. Endless Ocean gives you an underwater adventure with realistic graphics and soothing music. It is a totally different gaming experience unlike any other Wii game. There are no enemies to defeat or kill. No frantic waving of the Wii Remote and Nunchuck in this game. What you get is an opportunity to explore and dive into the world of fishes, sea animals and corals near the fictional island of Manoa Lai. You sail around in your ship, the Gabbiano (meaning seagull in Italian) while penguins wander around the ship’s deck. There is a 40 page encyclopedia of the sea creatures that you can discover in the game.

So, how do you win in this game? After spending some time with the game, there’s no mention about how to complete this game. You can dive to discover and interact with the sea creatures, train your dolphin and bring divers along with you on your dive. There is no way to lose or get killed in this game. It’s all very open ended. The closest thing to completing this game that I can think off; is to fill up the 40 page encyclopedia of sea animals in the game. The game begins with the encyclopedia containing only outlines of various sea creatures. As you interact with the different sea creatures, the outlines get replaced with pictures of the actual sea creature. The encyclopedia contains a wide variety of sea creatures from the tiny clown fish to giant whales. There is definitely plenty to see and do in this game. I would recommend this game for anyone looking for a relaxing and stress-free gaming experience.