I don’t always agree with IGN‘s Matt Casamassina, but his latest blog entry perfectly sums up my frustration with the Wii’s Forecast Channel. Matt writes:
“If you want to know what the weather was like eight hours ago in your city, Nintendo’s Wii Forecast Channel is amazing. But if you want up-to-date information on the weather, you’re in trouble. I don’t know if it’s Nintendo’s issue or if it’s a shortcoming of the data provider, weathernews, but whatever the case, the Wii Forecast Channel is rarely, if ever adequately up-to-date…Nintendo, if you’re going to do this stuff, make sure it works. Whether that means ensuring WiiConnect24 is more timely or going with a different provider, do it. Otherwise, don’t bother at all.”
While our fingers can wag in the general direction of Weathernews, the bottom line is Nintendo chose them, and their lack of updates has turned a neat feature into the most ignored channel on my Wii. My area’s weather is always a good five to six hours behind. Sure, the five day forecast is still reliable, but I need to know current conditions so I can decide if I need to put on pants to go out and get the mail (a letter from my neighborhood’s homeowners’ association has told me that I always should).
Are the updates for your area just as behind or are you too busy capturing Elebits and bowling to notice/care?