News Channel

This page details pre-release information and/or media for News Channel.

Even the News Channel, the most fun way to get your news, went through some development changes. Detailed here is the scant bit of information from when the channel was showcased prior to the release of the Wii.

Pre-Release Update Channel#

The Forecast Channel along with the News Channel appeared on Wii Menu 1.0 on launch day Wii systems.

However, the channel didn't have any actual data, consisting entirely of an icon and a banner on the Wii Menu.

The "Start" button text was replaced with "Update", and selecting that would take you directly to the Wii System Update tab in Wii Settings. It also features a sound which has never been used outside of the Forecast and News Pre-Release Update Channels.

1.0	2.0-2.1 (and later*)
	no photo

Speech Feature#

Supposedly, a feature was planned where Miis could read out news on the channel. There is no footage, however - supposedly, in an interview, developers of the News Channel stated that they believed kids would be amused if they were using the channel and saw a Mii of their dad suddenly start reading the news out loud. This feature wasn't in the final version, and it is likely that no development ever occurred regarding this feature. The reason for this is unknown, however it's possible that at some point the developers decided that certain news articles may be inappropriate for children, thus scrapping the feature.

Demonstration Video#

Watch on YouTube

For a short period of time, there was a demonstration video for the channel shown at the Nintendo World Store (in New York City). Note that there's no music, and sound effects from the Photo Channel were also present, since the development team for the Wii channels likely used it as a base.

Icon#

International	Japanese

Some early icons for the channel. The small text below the channel name says "Around the world".