BrokenBlog

Update: I wasn’t really able to test this until now, but it looks like both media=”tv” and media=”handheld” (for when you press the “2″ button) aren’t implemented. Like most beta software, there’s flaws. Hopefully this will be implemented in the future.

I’ve seen some Wordpress plugins lately that change how Wordpress looks if the user is accessing it with a Nintendo DS or the Wii’s Internet Channel.

Stop it. Stop it right now.

While I can’t really speak for the DS browser, if you wanted your site to be easily viewable on the Wii then use the features that are out there specifically for that purpose. CSS stylesheets can be loaded based on what’s displaying the website, and wouldn’t you know it? There’s a type specifically for televisions. It’s crazy enough to work.

<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/css/special-tv-stylesheet.css" media="tv" />

Besides the fact that it’s the easier way, it also doesn’t use user agents improperly. By changing the site when the user agent has a “Wii” in it you’re assuming that people actually want it to be changed. I sure don’t. The Internet was never meant to be customized for Wii users, it’s already prepared for that. It’s not even a real way to detect Wii users either, it’s just a hack. I already went over this a few weeks ago, but relying on user agents is almost always poor web design. You’re also completely forgetting other lower-resolution devices that could use the attention as well.

Yes! Score one for the good guys. The buttons on the wiimote apparently gives out key events in Javascript, so it likely does the same for Flash. Read more on it here.

Update: Apparently Flash doesn’t get the key events, although Javascript does. Still, this is the beta version of the Internet Channel, it’s likely an oversight.

Update 2: There’s a clever solution out now from Mario to send key events to flash in a rather interesting way.

I just discovered the theme song to my first game (Ben Lewis’s Metroid Brinstar Theme) was removed from OCReMix because it wasn’t up the the quality of modern remixes. They aren’t wrong, even Ben seemed to think so, but to remove it from the site entirely? Besides being one of the earliest remixes, it even brought one of the better remixers to the site - Disco Dan.

I may never be able to explain why I love this mix so much.

About 5 years ago, (that’s 98, for the mathematically impaired) I picked up this mix while searching on audiogalaxy (back when it was ftp’s only) for various videogame titles. This was about the same time that I found the SMB orchestral arrangement. So I typed in Metroid in the search window and found one result with this title, apparently on the guy’s personal server. It had his e-mail address in the id3. A couple of years later (after the creation of overclocked) I talked to Ben, finally, and he pointed me to this site, which is part of how I got into this site in the first place. But this mix was around at least a couple of years before OCR came into existence.

Anyway, I think it’s the beat and the placement and the patterning that makes me play this one over and over again. It may also be nostalgia, but I really dig the way it’s laid out. Still. After all these years…

DC

The original page is actually gone, but Wayback helped me out. I’m making the complete song available from here for anybody who does want it.

Metroid Brinstar Theme (Ben Lewis Mix) OC ReMix

The Internet Channel (the Opera browser) on the Wii came out today. It’s a beta (sorry, “trial” version) but doesn’t seem too bad so far. I visited my website first and was pleased to see my games worked, although I couldn’t control them (no keyboard, remember?).

Anyway, the title kinda gives it away, but the browser supports Flash 7 and no higher. I ran it through a Javascript version detector myself. What a shame.