Page 7
Wii TimerThose Japanese people need timers for everything from rice to tea. Every different variety of tea comes with different steeping times; some need to steep for three minutes, some for five, and others seven. And rice, well it can vary from the 5-minute instant stuff to the kind that needs a good half an hour of cooking before its ready. For everyone else, maybe you want to time an hour for studying, or you only want to play Wii for 90 minutes. Or maybe you want to test and see if your roommate really can down three beers in 48.21 seconds.
The answer to all of life's chronological mysteries lies in a special channel that can coordinate multiple timer and chronograph readings. It would come programmed with the correct cooking and steep times for a variety of common foods and teas. Never again will I under-steep the chamomile or over-steep the green tea. And for those who get excited for certain events, you can let it count down to a specific day: birthdays, Christmas, orthodontist appointments, Halo 3 release date... whatever!
So far, the Wii's blue light has been underused.
The beauty of this channel is how it would operate. Sure, if you start it up, all the timers will display, and even chime when they expire. But you aren't going to leave this channel open for an hour (especially if you're planning to actually play a game in that time), let alone until your next birthday. When a timer reaches zero, the blue light that lines the Wii disc slot will glow in a specified pattern, whether or not it's in standby mode. After all, the often-dormant blue light is quite noticeable when it springs to life! For events that span more than a day, a message could be left on the Wii message board (even a day beforehand), in case you forget what it is that you counted down to.
Oh and while I'm at it... Nintendo, please tie the Mii birthdays into the Wii Message board. I would love to know when Kinopio's birthday is without checking for it on the N-Philes forum.
