Originally uploaded by Snowbadger.
There’s a growing list of websites that have been designed specifically with the Wii Opera browser in mind including Google Reader, WiiTube and Mapwii.
Go to Mashable for the full list.
Now, in my mind this can only go so far due to the context of the input device, but it certainly poses some interesting questions for designers and for the gaming SNS services. Chiefly the difference between ’sit-forward’ and ’sit-back’ browsing.
Sit-forward browsing is the traditional one-to-one experience controlled by a single person using a keyboard and mouse. Sit-back is a different interaction paradigm due to a couple of factors:
- more people participate in the experience, which means that
- the experience is under pressure to be entertaining, whilst
- the ‘driver’ is using a game-pad or remote control as an input mechanism.
These are a completely different set of design challenges to be overcome and will not be met by traditional means so I’m interested in seeing how this develops.
I’m sure we’ll see a high penetration of Wiis given the stock so this will be an interesting area to consider for certain types of projects. I can think of one we won yesterday that might benefit from this type of integration.
From: Mashable
The URLs for the sites mentioned in this blog post are:
Google Reader: http://www.google.com/reader/view/?ui=wii
WiiTube: http://www.wiitube.com
MapWii: http://MapWii.com