Wii Play (http://www.wiiplay.net)

As I mentioned in the previous post, I’ve been working on revamping the Wii Play site. Well, the bulk of the changes are now online for your viewing pleasure. The biggest change is the design, though the layout itself is fairly similar. There are a few formatting issues with IE7, so hopefully I’ll have those fixed soon.

There have been other changes (namely the front page) but it all still functions pretty much the same as it did before. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it right? I do still have a long list of features I’d like to add to the site, but I can roll most of those out separately when I find the time to do them.

The next big step for the site is to start a marketing push. Hopefully I can light the spark just enough so that the place can really take off and be a great Wii community driven site.

I know I’ve been slacking on updating Wii Play, but I’ve decided to try and put more effort into posting there. As such, I’ve already posted 3 new Wii game reviews, one for Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, one for Trauma Center: Second Opinion, and one for Mario Party 8. So if you’re on the fence with any of those games, you may want to check out my reviews to see if they’re worth the cash.

A few people have signed up, but I’m currently really the only person posting there. I know I need to market the site and get more people signed up and encourage them to stay active, but I’ve been spread thin working on a variety of other projects as well as still working a “real” job 8-5 during the week. Yes, I know I’m just making excuses now.

Anyway, I’m hoping to stay more on top of the Wii Play site because I really do love Nintendo’s Wii and hope to continue posting reviews of every game I play as well as get more into updating any juicy Wii news I come across. I also have a wishlist of features I’d like to add to the site, but until I see more signups and participation from fellow Wii fans, I’ll probably focus my programming efforts elsewhere.

Yes, WiiPlay.net is finally here! Ok, so it was already here in a “temporary” form, but now it’s really here. So, what’s so special about the site? Why, let me tell you.

YOU are the one featured on the site. Create an account (which is free) and you’re able to submit news, reviews, guides, articles, and impressions. Once you’ve submitted something, it shows up on the site under “upcoming” areas. Other members can then “bump” your submission, given it more points. Once it receives enough points, it can make the Front Page of the site. On top of that, the top news, reviews, impressions, and guides will always be featured on the corresponding game information pages. So, write the most kickass review of a new game and your review could potentially show up as the number one spot on that game’s information page. Members can comment on each other’s posts as well, so you’ll be able to get instant feedback on your submissions.

On top of the submissions, you’re also able to add friends, message fellow members, and create your own game lists. With online Wii games coming soon, exchanging your Wii codes will be a painful obstacle right? Well, once you add somebody as a friend with WiiPlay.net, that person can see your Wii code (if you set one up). So once you add a bunch of friends and they add you back, you’ll have easy access to your friends’ Wii codes.

The site is currently in beta, meaning there may be a few rough spots here and there, so definitely let me know of any bugs or suggestions.

So tomorrow is the last day of February. I had mentioned a few times that I was hoping to have the new version of Wii Play online by the end of February for private beta testing but it appears that I will not make that mark.

I’ve made some great progress on the site and it’s definitely getting close, but it’s just not in a state that I think is ready to be seen yet. The biggest hangup I had was on the layout and design of the site, which is still not finalized, but most of the big features and functionality are in and working well.

I also realized that a private beta probably won’t work well with this type of site since it will be fairly heavily community based. As such, I’ll probably be launching the site in beta form to the everybody all at once rather than having a private beta stage first.

So when will the site be ready? Well, I have no hard set dates in mind, but I really hope it will be ready by the end of March. Again, since this is a side project while I’m working full time, I’m not able to dedicate consistent time to the project so I’m not really able to figure out how much longer it will take. However, I really don’t see it taking more than a month, and could be ready as early as a week or two from now.

I’ll be sure to post any major updates here so be sure to keep an eye on this space.

So I’ve had the Wii for a little over a week now (wasn’t able to get it at launch, though I did get it within a week after), and I must say that it’s just damn fun. I only picked up The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess with the system since I was unable to buy any extra controllers for multiplayer games. Zelda, as always, is incredible (even though it’s really just a gimmickified Gamecube port). The pack-in WiiSports is also amazing for what it is, a fun multiplayer tech demo. It’s not really a full fledged game in my opinion, but it’s close enough and is still incredibly fun if you’ve got people to play it with. Since I don’t have any extra controllers yet, I’ve had to deal with just passing the controller around for each game.

As for getting extra controllers and more games, luckily my parents, like the Wii, rock. They called me today and told me that they were able to pick up 2 remotes and 2 nunchucks at a mall in Northern California for me. Good thing too since I’ve had a hell of a time finding any down here in Southern California. Once I get those controllers in, I’ll likely be pickingup Rayman Raving Rabbids and probably Marvel Ultimate Alliance as well.

Ok, so what does this all have to do with building websites and all that? Well, I honestly took a bit of a risk putting all the time and effort into developing WiiPlay.net when I wasn’t sure I’d really enjoy the Wii. Worst case scenario, I could have spent many months developing the site to realize the system I built it for sucked. Luckily, that isn’t the case and the system appears to be a definite winner. Obviously it’s far too soon to be sure of it’s greatness, but from what I see right now, I’m definitely glad I’m making the accompanying site.

As for my Wii site, it’s still chugging along. I’m always incredible excited about it every time I think about it and all the features I want to throw in there. This is also a problem since I sometimes get overwhelmed by all the possibilities that I don’t take the time to just sit down and get some things accomplished. While I don’t have any dates set in stone, I am hoping to be able to get it ready for a private beta test by January or February of 2007.

Of course, once I know more, I’ll post it here.