Nintendo Rumor of the Year: Updatable Wii Firmware?

Yes. You heard us. And we’ll say it again: Wii’s firmware is updatable… Or so they say. Yeah, the rumor’s spreading like wildfire, and just right before Nintendo’s big September 14/15 event!

It’s been heard across the proverbial grapevine (in this case, online forums) that the Wii’s firmware could be updated through the internet. This would allow Wii owners to download freshly released patches and code, among other things, straight from Nintendo into their Wii system. Some have speculated that, if this feature will be incorporated into the system, they would most obviously have to do so with their Connect24 network. Not much else is known about this whole “updatable firmware” feature, but surely, there’ll be more news (whether confirmed or debunked) about it by this weekend.

Let’s take a second to step back for a moment and reflect on this exciting/unsettling “news”. What effect will this feature have on the Virtual Console? Will this redefine the homebrew community for Nintendo – or for any other console, for that matter? What about downloadable games? Will the downloads be free or come with a price? Will it follow the Xbox Live Arcade framework? So many questions! If any of you guys got your own ideas and reactions to this, we’d be interested to hear them. So drop a line and let’s discuss this on the comments section below.

Yes. You heard us. And we’ll say it again: Wii’s firmware is updatable… Or so they say. Yeah, the rumor’s spreading like wildfire, and just right before Nintendo’s big September 14/15 event!

It’s been heard across the proverbial grapevine (in this case, online forums) that the Wii’s firmware could be updated through the internet. This would allow Wii owners to download freshly released patches and code, among other things, straight from Nintendo into their Wii system. Some have speculated that, if this feature will be incorporated into the system, they would most obviously have to do so with their Connect24 network. Not much else is known about this whole “updatable firmware” feature, but surely, there’ll be more news (whether confirmed or debunked) about it by this weekend.

Let’s take a second to step back for a moment and reflect on this exciting/unsettling “news”. What effect will this feature have on the Virtual Console? Will this redefine the homebrew community for Nintendo – or for any other console, for that matter? What about downloadable games? Will the downloads be free or come with a price? Will it follow the Xbox Live Arcade framework? So many questions! If any of you guys got your own ideas and reactions to this, we’d be interested to hear them. So drop a line and let’s discuss this on the comments section below.