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Mii Village ChannelIn Mii Village, you go from the Overlord that you are in the Mii Channel to actually controlling a Mii character. The Mii (maybe one Mii per controller for multiplayer action) that you choose leaves the gates at the entrance of the Mii Plaza into the rest of "Mii Town". The Mii Village would make use of the Wii's internal clock, country setting, and Weather Channel for mapping real weather and time.
Let's face it, as simple and effective as the Mii Channel is, there aren't a whole lot of options for customization. Plus fashions change over time, and so should your Miis. The Mii Village would include a strip mall of sorts for free Mii upgrades. The salon is the place to stop for the newest hair colors and styles (including a natural look for those red heads out there). New shirt and pant colors and patterns would also be available at the "Clothes R Mii" store, along with a kiosk where you can customize a pattern right on your shirt or hat. The boutique would show off new accessories like eye patches, belts, hats, and the like. Maybe some things would only be available on certain days, maybe only for a certain number of days. Either way, it's completely free.
Once your new Mii is all pimped out, you can send it to your friends. Nintendo can put the WiiConnect24 service to good use and make the Wiis update automatically so that your friend's Wii doesn't explode when it discovers that it has no idea how to generate a striped shirt. After all, that Wii needs to be online to receive the Mii in the first place, right? Your friend might discover something new and want to go look for that shirt or hairstyle. Dare I say offer to trade items that are out of circulation?
Besides, doesn't it make sense to have more Mii creation options to go in hand with Miyamoto's forthcoming "Judge Mii" channel?
While in the village, you are able to enter Arcade Park to play simple, free board and card games, similar to the ones available at Yahoo Games: Chess, Minesweeper Flags, Backgammon, Solitaire, Bejewelled, Battleship, etc. You would need an internet connection to play them, but perhaps a couple could remain in the town for offline use.
If you're alone and jonesin' for a match of Connect-4, simply play with another person through WiiConnect 24. Each game would have its own hut, like a room or lobby, where other gamers from around the world could meet up to play. Your score would fluctuate depending on your performance in rated matches. Details of the match, including the name of the person with whom you played, would be posted to the Wii Message Board. If you had a good time (and the updated parental controls allow), you can add new friends to the Village Log, a special friends list specifically for the Arcade Park. If your new friend accepts your invite, you'll know if he or she is online and if he or she is available for a game. You'll be able see how many of your other friends from the Wii Address Book are using the Mii Village – straight from the Wii Menu interface.
Remember Nintendo's Stage Debut idea? It's the perfect backdrop for just hangin' out and to interact with random items (perhaps being different every time you start up the Mii Village) like brooms, trampolines, and juggling balls, and alll the items that you've unlocked for the Mii Channel Plus. Walk into a classroom and collaborate on chalkboard artwork, play hangman, tic-tac-toe, whatever. Check out to the park and play on the swings, dive into the pond, or fly a kite. Or head over to the dance hall and groove to the beat. There were a number of other areas in Stage Debut that we never got the fortune to learn about, but I imagine they would also go well with the Mii Village.
Simple, fun areas to explore are the key to a successful Wii online system
Of course, upon starting the channel, you can decide to invite friends, or seek them out and beam into their villages. If they happen to be in someone else's village, you can request an invite and introduce yourself (just don't be cutting down any trees!).
The Mii Village would come with some options that include enabling/disabling voice chat (assuming there's a mic on the way for upcoming Wii games), on-screen keyboard chat, and preset emotional outbursts, which are triggered via a menu. Your Mii essentially becomes an animated emoticon that you can use to share your feelings, whether it be a Animal Crossingesque floral aura while checking your opponent with the knight that he failed to capture, or an angry scowl as he kicks a beach ball at you.
And if you allow it, people in your Wii Address Book can go through your Village and check out your Mii Channel. The Mii Channel should feel like it's always active, even when your Wii is in Stand-by. This is a simple way of accomplishing that.
Anyway, it's time to move away from something that, post-GDC 2007, sounds like an attempt to copy the PlayStation Home concept.
