In The News (5/27-6/2)

Wii Online To Use Mii-specific Friend Codes
      I've complained about the Wii's online service before. I've accused Nintendo of "not getting it." I've just generally had a bad taste in my mouth ever since I bought my Wii in January. But it looks as though Nintendo is trying to prove me wrong, little by little.
      Maybe Nintendo is starting to "get it." Maybe we'll have a decent online service for the Wii that doesn't force us to get out a pad and pencil to write down 16-digit Friend Codes. According to that story, you'll still have Friend Codes, but it looks as though they'll revolve around your Miis (customizable avatars built into the Wii).
      Hopefully this service will work the way I'd want it to, like being able to pull up a menu during an online game and clicking on a Mii face beside the person's name I want to friend request. It should send them a message with a picture of my Mii, my game name, and what game we played. That's how it should work, but I'm still wary of whether or not Nintendo can pull it off.
      I mean, for Christ's sake, you still can't just send a request to someone (you have to contact them directly, outside of the Wii, to exchange 16-digit Friend Codes).
      Nevertheless, get ready to find me online using my custom (and quite dashing) Tom Selleck Mii.

Wii Hard Drive Hinted
      Staying on topic with more Wii news, it looks as though Nintendo is prepping a version of the Wii with a hard drive, which is hardly unsurprising, but nonetheless another reason to have that bad taste in my mouth I talked about in my above news response.
      It was inevitable, I suppose, that a new Wii would be coming, one that represents a closer look at what the Wii should've been from the start. It's been rumored for a long time now that a Wii would appear later this year with the ability to play DVD movies, something I consider to be a standard feature of consoles today.
      But now a hard drive? Again, unsurprising, and it certainly does lend credence to the redesign I just talked about, but honestly... When was the Wii released? Like seven months ago? And know we're already talking about a substantial redesign? What a way to just spit in the faces of everyone who already bought a Wii, Nintendo.
      I know I certainly don't have the money to just buy a new Wii, so count me out.

ESRB Launches Awareness Campaign for Indie Shops
      The ESRB is dying a slow painful death. I think that's pretty much apparent at this point. Ever since they were founded to counter the original Mortal Kombat way back in the 1990s, they've been under attack on all fronts, from people like Joe Lieberman, Jack Thompson, Hilary Clinton, and even Arnold Schwarzenegger who just want to push their own political agendas, or in Jack Thompson's case, just be an asshole.
      Maybe I'm wrong and maybe they won't die, and that'll be fine and dandy, as long as they've reformed. I think that what they're doing now is a good first step, if a little cheesy (check the picture in the story).
      More stores need to be coaxed into actually enforcing the ESRB ratings for those ratings to actually have any real relevance. To defend their existence, the ESRB is going to have to fight to stay alive. Hopefully they'll do more than just get stores to enforce the ratings. Hopefully they'll actually change their ratings to offer more information, the way that the Common Sense Media rating system does (like giving a quality score for the game).

WEEKLY SAMPLER: Killer7 Wii? / Wii 3rd-Party Potential / Virtual Console Milestone / Nintendo Wi-Fi 5M