Expert: Octane - 6/14/2009

Question
I unwittingly bought a UK (PAL) Wii + Wii Fit for my grandfather who lives in Ohio. I would like to know whether or not the system is playable in the United States.

I already went ahead and purchased a universal power adapter. However, I am worried about the video input/output. He has an HD TV, but I'm not sure if it can receive a PAL signal. The Wii bundle also comes with dreamGEAR's universal(?) component S-Video, AV cable — will that help in any way? Please advise.

Thank you kindly,
Maria


P.S. - Have you tried the new MotionPlus and is it a big improvement?

Answer
Gday Maria,

Now it probably will run on the HD TV provided you set the HD TV to 480p if your TV has that.  The 480p is a standard in both PAL and NTSC land.  You will need a HD Wii cable for it to work as the normal AV/S-video will not push 480p to your HD TV.

But your main problem is going to be games.   PAL Wii will not play NTSC Games unless they are chipped.  (The Freeloader disk can help with this but if the machine is newer or has been updated via the Internet Nintendo have pushed out patches early this year to disable this)  So unfortunately games will be the biggest problems because you just can buy them at your local game store you would have to get them all over the Internet form UK, Europe, New Zealand or Australia.

Also I have used the New Motion Plus it is very precise, actually sometimes a little too precise.  (For example if my 9 yo uses it for bowling she barely hits any pins but with just a remote she bowls like a champ.  I feel it increases your skill factor, it reads your minor controller movements and you have to be far less aggressive waving around the remote like a spaz.)

Hope this helps.

Octane