Gamertell

  Although no official announcement was made, Nintendo recently updated the Wii Firmware to version 3.0. The update is performed through the Wii and takes 5-10 minutes to download.

The only major update I noticed was when surfing through the arcade games in the Wii Shop Channel. Not only have the search features been expanded but a note on the Virtual Arcade’s main screen mentions something about being able to watch videos of the games. I’m guessing this means we’ll seen be able to watch quick clips of actual gameplay.

Since this also comes right after the mod chip raid Nintendo supported, you can guess there are some hidden anti-mod features included.

Based on a web post by an observant gamer, here are highlights of the noticed changes:

• Digital Clock added to the Wii Menu right under the channel bar
• Forecast Channel now displays the current condition directly in the Wii Menu in the Forecast Channel box
• Address Book entries can now be shifted around using A+B (supposed to be a launch feature) but only to empty spaces. Not too convenient.
• Calendar in Message Board no longer shows “Today’s Accomplishment” only days as having messages
• Titles You’ve Downloaded was moved to the main shop menu
• System shows the different systems and how many titles have been released under each and new searches
• Publisher showing different publishers and amount of titles released
• Genre (different genres listed and amount of titles under each)
• Warning added pre-system update detailing that technically modified consoles may cease to function upon being updated.

Again, these are simply observations and not a list of official updates. I’m waiting for word from Nintendo for the official Firmware update list.

Read [GameTab] Via [QJ]