MiiPlaza.net

October 8, 2008: Some community news for this week... A forum user, B1LL, is hosting a Halloween Mii contest in the forums, add your vote and check out some creative new Halloween Miis.

From the recent Nintendo press event comes announcements of a new Punch-Out!, and a new console, the DSi. And for those who want something new now, there's Mega Man 9 on the Virtual Console.

Blast Works user Gryzor has been hard at work creating videos of his amazing levels, as well as selected other user's levels and they can all be viewed in the forums. We'll have them up in the Depot very soon, and recommend all to check out the Blast Works community's fantastic creations!

September 22, 2008: IMPORTANT notice to all recently-registered users! An error on our behalf caused new users passwords to be stored incorrectly, and some of you may not be able to access your new MiiPlaza or Blast Works accounts. To fix the issue, you can simply use the "Forgot Password" form to reset your password and login to your account.

August 25, 2008: We've got a laundry list of bugs and improvements this week, and appreciate the support for identifying and patiently awaiting solutions for any errors you encounter during your experience at MiiPlaza.net and the Blast Works Depot. There's been a lot of great levels coming through the Depot such as Gryzor's creations, Body Wars, and the Destructoid contest entrants. They're all on the Featured Blast Works calendar, so download them and let the creators know what you think! You can check the Featured Mii box on the calendar to check out some of the finest Miis uploaded to the site as well.

New Features:

• The Newsletter now delivers status information on personal forum threads, Miis, and Blast Works.
• Blast Works "Versions" now automatically link to new and old versions from the same object tree.
• Comments and game reviews sections now resemble the forums.
• French and German language translations are available site-wide.
• Download History has been added to the Downloads page.
• Poll widget adorns front page, coming to user pages soon.

Check the comments for a list of bug fixes.

July 17, 2008: Big announcements from E3 this week, compressed into a small list: Nintendo's WiiSports Resort comes with a pack-in WiiMotion Plus, Dead Rising making it's way to the Wii, The Conduit will use WiiSpeak, a new Rayman Raving Rabbids party game, confirmed new Zelda, Mario and Pikmin games, Mega Man 9 in 8-bit glory, Wario Land, Mario Super Sluggers, updates on the Sin-City-esque Madworld, previously announced titles Animal Crossing: City Folk and WiiMusic, and last but not least... Xbox Miis? We tease.

Meanwhile, we've been toiling diligently over a long list of emails and bug reports. Your patience while issues have been being worked out is appreciated, and we hope this update makes your experience that much better while we continue to solve some of the issues not in this update. There will be a bigger update coming soon with even more new features and bug reports already in development.

New Features
- 'Uploads' are now consolidated in My Account area
- Blast Works uploads management
- New Badge: 'Blast Works Critic' (joining previously unannounced badges 'Mii Critic,' 'Mii Rater,' 'Blast Worker,' 'Pro Blast Worker,' 'Blast Works Artist,' and 'Blast Works 15 Minutes')

Bugs Fixed
- "Last Comment" on Miis
- Calendar fixed for users in affected timezones
- Forum 'Last Post' on new topics bug
- Delete comment bug (on Mii pages)
- 'Vote for Artist' button functions correctly once more

July 1, 2008: IGN awarded Blast Works with Game of the Month for June, beating out Rock Band! If you haven't given this shooter a shot, you may be missing out. For those of you who have picked it up, Destructoid.com is having a level design contest with a lot of good swag for prizes, so be sure to drop them a comment if you've got a cool level to submit!

In general site news, just some small tweaks, additions and bug fixes being made, and you may notice new icons, badges and links popping up all over the place. We've got an inbox full of bugs and we're doing everything possible to account for all of them.

There's some new Artist Profiles in the Artist Profile section, as pointed out to me by RedSoxFan. Check out Dylan, Roxii, and Crimson Fury's work and remarks.

Last, but certainly not least, there is a Mii design contest being organized by Dylan$513 in the Forums, and the prize is Furu Furu Park for the Wii, so if you've got some unseen Mii ideas, now's the time to shine.

Have a happy and safe 4th of July if you celebrate it.

June 10, 2008: Shooter fans, rejoice, Blast Works is now available at retail stores in the U.S. We hope to see some new users with the game's arrival and encourage everyone who enjoys shooters to pick it up or give it a rent, try it out, and download a few levels (or even create one). There's an introduction video in the Blast Works section if you are unsure of what the game is about or if it's a game you would enjoy.

Those affected by the game list bug may also rejoice, for it has been fixed. More updates and bug fixes are on their way.

May 14, 2008: Thanks to everyone sending in bug reports through the Contact link - we're handling them one by one and will get to all of them.

Please note that MSIE 6 has a lot of incompatibilities at the moment that are being worked on; please see the previous news post for supported browsers if these bugs are preventing you from enjoying the web site.

Thanks for your patience!

Squished bugs:
- Uploading Miis now works.
- Uploading Mii versions now works.
- Long-time Featured Mii bug fixed.
- Featured Mii calendar history fixed.
- Date bug fixed.
- CMO code back on Upload Mii form.
- Blank comments bug (possibly?) fixed.
- 'Not Accepting' Friend Request message now displays.
- Comments arriving as numbers fixed.
- Previous 'number' comments also fixed! - Commenting in Image section fixed.

May 12, 2008: We're pleased to roll out a host of new updates to the site today, and for some, there will be very little to complain about... but we've sort of left Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 users in the dust.

While we are committed to helping and improving the site for all browsers, you're best off going with the most recent version of your personal favorite. (Firefox, MSIE 7, Opera, or Safari).

We'll be rolling out new features, fixing bugs, and posting lots of news about how to use new features, updates for Blast Works, and so much more over the next few weeks, and we thank you for your patience and support during this time while the dust is settling.

Enjoy.

April 11, 2008: An important update for everyone, the domain names this site has been operating under are going to no longer be in our possession soon, there is nothing we can do about it. We need to select a new URL, we need to select it fast, and we will update you when we know it. You'll have to redirect your browsers to a new URL in the coming months, specifically one that does not contain "Wii" or "Mii" in the title, and we will let everyone know exactly what URL that is as soon as we've chosen one. Suggestions are welcome, please post away!!

Please note that this is non-negotiable, and we are doing our best to make the change a positive one!

March 29, 2008: On May 6th, 2008, Blast Works: Build, Fuse, Destroy will be released to retail stores in North America. Blast Works will integrate with MiiPlaza.net directly through the Wii, allowing you to create custom levels and ships and share them seamlessly through the web site, with direct uploading and downloading of player-created content.

This integration will bring thousands of new users and artists to the site, as well as some professional support from the publisher and developers. The game will have a forum section moderated by people involved in production of the game, new and exciting contests, and will fit snugly in with Miis as gamer-generated artwork.

You can pre-order a copy of the game at GameStop.

March 28, 2008: Our advertising partners are giving away 10 copies of Worms: A Space Oddity. It's a great game if you're lucky to win, so take a shot if you'd like. Worms: A Space Oddity is sadly lacking Wi-Fi support, but the level editor and Wii controls make for a fun Worm-frag-fest if you've got three friends to enjoy it with.

March 9, 2008: MiiPlaza.net has always catered to Mii lovers, and today we welcome another breed: Smash Bros. Brawl players.

For now, those that are new or haven't been here for a while will have to meet and challenge other players in the forums or the chat, but very shortly we'll be upgrading the web site with a large host of new features and a slick new design that's going to bring yet another array of features to compliment your Wii online experience.

Stay tuned and enjoy MiiPlaza.net.

Update: Brawl Friend Codes in the forums and more Brawl Friend Codes in Game Reviews.

February 13, 2008: Though Toon&Anime (David) has been profiled for what is technically over a week, today also brings a small update to the Profiled Artists section that allows you to view it.

January 23, 2008: Two new Artist Profiles for MTL and marcelgom have been added to the profile section rather quietly in the last two weeks. It's been quite a while since we've honored some Mii artists, and we can't wait to see who gets the nod from the community next.

Random issues over the last few days, caused by limited server resources, have been resolved, and various site activities like logging in and making submissions, posts or edits should now operate as expected.

January 15, 2008: Congratulations to Andy Anonymous and the four Rolling Stones Mii members who will be taking home the prize from the Block Rockin' Mii Contest.

We'd like to apologize for the delays in announcing the winner to recent contests, as well as the ineligibility of some countries. We'll do our best to involve the international community in future contests.

As far as the Halloween Mii "contest" is concerned, a couple of you Mii submitters will be contacted and we'll send you a small token of affection for helping liven MiiPlaza.net up for the holidays.

December 4, 2007: When Jose saw a primitive version of an Ackbar Mii hit a popular video game message board a year ago, throwing together the initial web site that was MiiPlaza.net was more of a knee-jerk reaction than well-executed idea. Over the last year, the response from the masses has provoked and encouraged further development, as more and more artistic and inspiring contributions were added to the gallery. Less than a year later, MiiPlaza.net hit 1,000,000 visitors and had become the world's largest public suppository for Miis. It's safe to assume a few real-world icons who have been Mii-ified have come to laugh and enjoy their fan-made avatars, and really, how cool is that?

The twisting and positioning of Mii parts is not unlike many other avatar creation systems found in past video games; however, the limiting selection and use of the avatar in WiiSports on Nintendo's first hit console in generations were the key factors in elevating the act of designing a Mii from a tedious pre-game process to a hobby. Though seperate in motive, it is this tie that bonds us in enjoying the creations of our peers: the games we play and love. It is this connection that makes the 'art of Mii' unlike any predecessor.

All the same, the act of decidedly placing pieces in the Mii editor to form familiar imagery will likely never be decreed as high art. MiiPlaza.net has been the place for thousands to share their creations and receive feedback, whether it's a world-famous Jack Black or a perfect rendition of your Aunt Sally. It has been a pleasure to provide, and continue to provide, this service to the gaming community. Perhaps as a collective, as a movement, the art of Mii as a whole may be inspirational enough to future artists and game developers to warrant a small place in art history. Only time will tell.

We salute those who have contributed to the community enough to draw the eyes and mouse clicks of the many in 2007 with the year's top ten.



Didn't come up on the lists? No fear. 2008 is a new year, and we have a lot in store. We've been working hard this year to form relationships and allocate resources, and MiiPlaza.net will be seeing a large rework in short time.

As for what's in store in early 2008, we hope to bring more ways for you to share Mii creations, rate games, find opponents, and be involved in a creative community of video gamers around the world. Expect more user-centric content, personalized pages, upgraded Mii collection tools, and easier ways to contribute, collaborate, and find what you're looking for, as well as some big surprises. We can't share all the details yet, so keep checking back to see what's new.


In the mean time, while the current site is in it's development stasis, you can help support the community effort by voting for your favorite MiiPlaza.net artists in the Check Mii Out Channel. We're particularly proud of seeing Bobby Bobby recently dethrone "Ninja," the Master Mii Thief, and we hope to see more long-time MiiPlaza.net Mii artists pop up in that top 100!

November 25, 2007: On November 27th, 2006 the first Mii was uploaded to MiiPlaza.net. We decided to celebrate by allowing the domain name to expire. Our apologies to anyone who missed MiiPlaza.net on Sunday.

Thanks to the nearly 19,000 registered users and thousands of Mii artists who have submitted to the site.

We're proud to be launching yet another contest for Cabela's Big Game Hunter this week, and launching a complete redesign and redevelopment in the months ahead.

There's interesting things in store for MiiPlaza.net's second year and we look forward to providing for the growing needs of the worldwide Mii and Wii community.

Update: The contest is coming soon, sorry for the error.

November 21, 2007: Happy Holidays to everyone, whatever holidays they may celebrate this time of year.

If you've got some extra holiday bucks, why not check out Ghost Squad, a Sega-developed action game, or Namco Museum Remix? Both games MSRP at $30, and may be overlooked with Mario Galaxy and Brawl, but are worth a try.

November 17, 2007: Sure, you could design pilgrim Miis this weekend with a flat, black eyebrow hat and questionable gratification... or you could design rock star Miis and win a super-size copy of Guitar Hero III with an iPod. Really, it's your choice.

For those of you who make the correct one, head over to the Block Rockin' Mii Contest page and upload a shot of your favorite rock act. You could win yourself a copy of that hot new guitar game that's sitting happily at 4th highest rated Wii game on MiiPlaza.net.

Get your groove on and let's see some of those obscure legends make their MiiPlaza.net debut!

November 13, 2007: Welcome, new users! It seems new and old Mii artists are coming out of hiding with the newly released channel.

A quick update, Miis may now be updated with "Check Mii Out" codes. These codes will appear on the Mii's page.

Over a million people have visited MiiPlaza.net since our launch a little over a year ago, and it's no secret who the real artists are.

We hope to continue to see the creative minds behind Mii artistry thrive in the community and we've got a lot of other things coming that should be of great compliment.

A couple treats for the biggest Halloween Mii contributors will also be forthcoming, along with more contests. Stay tuned.

October 30, 2007: There was a strange glitch that caused everyone's Wiimail to be replaced by some really, really old messages. This glitch is fixed. Thanks to the many of you who noticed and wrote in.

October 24, 2007: It's that time of year again, when hundreds of games drop into retail chains begging for your holiday cash, and MiiPlaza.net is proud to host their efforts.

Naruto: Clash of the Ninja is one such game on the way. Naruto fans: help the community and provide your opinion in the reviews section! You'll also see ads around the site for the game, if you'd like more information, feel free to check them out.

There's more games on the way like Guitar Hero 3, Battalion Wars, Namco Remix... and Mario Galaxy! and we'll even be giving a few away here and there in the coming weeks — sorry for the delays in the upcoming contest, expect it to pop-up unannounced soon... it's ever-so-slightly out of Jose's control.

Site updates are few and far between, and small tweaks to featured Miis, the forums, and Mii pages have been made, but the major update is coming. Yes, Miis will be drag-and-drop sortable. Yes, the messaging system is seeing a retool. Yes, the entire site is going to have a face lift. Yes, it's going to be sweet.

Only six days left to get those Halloween Miis in!

...and one more thing, since we're from Boston... GO SOX!

October 10, 2007: A belated announcement (Jose is very busy with major site updates), buy u a drank 123 has been profiled.

October 2, 2007: Silicone Jackets are the hottest in safety accessories this season, the latest attempt from Nintendo to prevent people from bludgeoning each other with Wiimotes. Though very ugly, they're free, and will probably do little to protect that flat screen you're so paranoid about... but every little bit helps.

Also, inspired by a forum thread by MR. TIP, we've decided to send a couple random DS/Wii games to the user who uploads the most unique, new and original Halloween-inspired Miis by October 30th.

September 19, 2007: After lots and lots of error-checking over the last couple months, we're finally confident we've got the top scorers scored correctly!

Visit the contest page to find out how you did, and look out for another contest on October 15th!

September 17, 2007: The forum bugs preventing some users from posting have been fixed, and a search function has been added using Google search. It may take a few weeks before Google caches all the new page titles, so hang in there until it does.

The next few updates will address bug fixes and duplicate Mii posts, and the split out of the avatars section from the Miis. We also plan on announcing the winner of the Wii in our contest! A lucky user from Tampa, Florida had an outstanding 579 points! You'll find out who before the week's end.

A redesign is also underway, and will possibly be launched in October.

Oh, and Brawl will be online. A win for Wii owners everywhere.

September 3, 2007: ShakeandBake is profiled this week - go forth and read.

Updates from this past week: you can now review and add to your game list "rented" games; game reviews on user pages have had an aesthetic update; the games page is slightly more organized (but has many planned updates); polls can now be created in the forums (and soon in other areas as well); forums now show total posts; the Search Miis page now paginates results; user page URLs have been updated (http://miiplaza.net/~jose+nintendo); and finally... server crashing has been reduced significantly, but is not yet fixed - we are working to eliminate all causes of crashing, and in the meantime appreciate your patience when the site is down!

August 28, 2007: Jules has been profiled - you know what to do! ...no, not that. Read it!

Some recent updates include private messaging in the chat, improved "Games" section on user pages (now all you reviewers have a nice place to show them off!), DS roster fixes, and some general performance tuning to the engines that run MiiPlaza.net.

Your current contest results are now available in the contest area. There's still some fine-tuning to be done, and the scores are not 100% final. Several potential finalists have been contacted and none have responded. Please be aware of any contact Jose may be trying to make with you if you have participated..

As always, thanks for your continued support!

August 24, 2007: ...as well as the MiiPlaza.net banner ad spots! You may have already noticed an ad or two - New Line Cinemas wants you to check out the new action movie starring Clive Owen, that guy from Sin City. As a special thanks for their support of MiiPlaza.net, we're showing them some love and linking to their online promotional game.

Another update, the "Games" section of user profiles has been updated. Those Miis out there that like to write long reviews for their games now have a great place to show them off. We're working on a new game selection mechanism, as well as buttons to help with those tricky BBcodes so you can make your Mii comments, game reviews and About Me pages look the way you really want them to.

Please continue to leave feedback for the new DS Games and goemon3033's artist profile in those respective news articles!

Many thanks to all, including our New Line friends.

August 22, 2007: With all the new stuff being added to MiiPlaza.net, it seems logical to include other types of games and gamers in the fun. Enter DS games - now you can add DS games, rate them, save your friend codes, and challenge others in the chat to play you in them. VC and WiiWare coming soon.

MiiPlaza.net is about Miis and the games they play. To this end, it's now possible to conduct searches in the Find Friends section by Gender and City.

Keep those quality Miis coming, keep on gaming, and keep on trucking.

August 20, 2007: goemon3033 is the first Japanese Mii artist to be profiled on MiiPlaza.net. His profile is bright and colorful, and is an interesting addition to the artist profile series! Pardon his English, it was very kind of him to supply English responses!

A laundry list of updates from the past week: the Featured Miis now have a new secret algorithm and will soon become a center piece once again; Mii bookmarks are now public on user's profile page; friends lists may now be made public; users can make the text box for the "About Me" bigger and smaller to make edits easier; user pages and My Account pages are undergoing an aesthetic make-over.

As always, please direct bug reports and suggestions to either the forums or the help -at- miiplaza.net email address.

August 13, 2007: TITO, a long time contributor, has been profiled.

The chat rooms are just about finished, marking yet another milestone. There's some odds and ends that need to be added in, but they're in pretty solid shape... so go chat about new Miis, Pokemon, or whatever else!

The next updates will include redesigned user profile and My Account pages, along with the ability to add DS games to your profile.

Thanks again to everyone for their continued support.

August 6, 2007: Joining the legion of profiled artist this week, rababob.

August 2, 2007: Tonight brought the quiet launch of a public beta of the MiiPlaza.net Chat Room! Now you can have less meaningful banter and smack-talk before that next Pokemon battle or Strikers tournament!

It's still very early in development, so please be patient while we work out the kinks and install all the features.

What's next? A better user page design, better "My Account" section design, tournament hosting and laddering, and well, you'll have to keep checking back to find out what else we have up our sleeve!

August 1, 2007: Miis on the site can now be bookmarked just like forum posts, allowing a new way for sorting Miis and finding the very best Miis among the many (with the help of you, dear users). Bookmarking also offers a new way of sharing Miis you may find and wish to save to your profile.

Also, on Monday celery was profiled.

July 27, 2007: The first of two grand-prize winners of the 10,000 Mii Contest has been announced! Please be patient while we continue to tally the scores for the the other winner.

A few updates include some bug fixes to the versioning system, as well as displaying the most recent version of Miis on user pages and index pages. With this addition, indexes are also now sorted on version. Some bugs not allowing certain preferences to be changed have also been fixed.

July 23, 2007: An additional batch of small features: Daily Featured Miis are now selected a little better with a few small tweaks to the formula; ordering by tags and full names is now an option, so users with large Mii libraries can now have cleaner user pages; and you can now access your user page using your user name, but you'll have to have been the first user on the site to have registered the name. This is the first step to having smarter URLs than in the past, and we intend to do this sort of thing site-wide.

Goobuoojuice joins the ranks of profiled artists today.

Today, Monday the 23rd, is the last day for submitting guesses to the contest and we'll be turning off submissions at 12pm EST, sharp, and begin the tallying process. Good luck!

July 21, 2007: Just a few small updates today. The first allows you to add a footer to your forum posts, and it's companion update: the ability to turn the footers off and on. The second update hopefully improves upon the featured Miis formula to select a larger variety of Miis throughout the week.

July 18, 2007: Nickard77 is the first user to be profiled by user votes, and proves the system is working! Go check his Miis out if you haven't already.

Nothing major to report on the updates side of things, just a small list of improvements: "About Me" section on user pages, editable in the My Account section; game-specific friend codes now display as they do in the games (thanks Mike for the format!); game-specific friend codes now appear on the Game Reviews page; a bug preventing Miis from being updated has been fixed; and last but not least tagging Miis is now an option, though the tags remain unused at the moment.

The contest is nearing the finish! Thanks to all who participated and if you haven't got all your guesses in, this weekend is your last chance! Have fun and good luck.

July 9, 2007: The final contest Miis have been added - good luck to everyone! Remember to tell people - this is the last week to win that Wii!

A small army of moderators has been built, and they're about to be put to the test. A long time ago, when we first started MiiPlaza.net, we wanted Mii artists to be able to upload new photos of their Miis... but how to police the photos!? Well, today we roll out Mii Versioning with the support of the moderating team. Mii artists can now upload new photos for old Miis, and visitors can flip through the photos when they're checking out the Mii. You can also sort the categories based on this new feature.

So experiment, feedback, and enjoy.

That's not all, though. A few bug fixes, today, to respond to the many emails flooding the inbox; nothing too news-worthy, but to those the bugs were affecting, this should come as good news. Today marks the end of a very glitchy friend-removal process, and also fixes an, apparently, long-standing bug preventing users from changing their Wii Code if they weren't signed up for Wiimail - a bit of a catch 22. We hope these bugs didn't effect too many people, and as always sorry for any inconvenience.

UPDATE, 6 PM

We almost forgot! Bobby Bobby's Artist Profile was also published today, so check one of MiiPlaza.net's biggest contributors!

We've also been able to nail down a bug that apparently was preventing users who registered without Wii Codes to not be able to login at all! If anyone notices any other bugs please let us know, and thanks for everyone's patience!

As a result of all these issues, we have decided to extend the deadline for The 10,000 Mii Contest submissions to next Friday, the 23rd. This should allow those who could not log in and participate the time to place their guesses! Good luck.

July 6, 2007: Some over-due updates to the messaging system today: blocked users may now be unblocked (bottom of the page); number of unread messages appears in the main navigation next to "My Account"; "Mark All as Read" functionality added, at the bottom of the messages list; and a bug preventing the reading of old messages when no new ones exist has been fixed.

Also added, better error reporting on the "Preferences" page in the "My Account" area to help provide users with feedback as to why their console number won't update, among other helpful explanations. This update will help Jose troubleshoot any problems people have been having making updates to their accounts, or perhaps remove those troubles all together.

July 1, 2007: Artist Profiles have been few and far between the last many weeks, and to remedy the problem, a system was built to handle the profiling process in a more efficient manner... the first of two to submit their profiles through the new system, Charlieboy, is profiled today. With the new system, the community can now vote for who they want to be profiled... if you see a cool Mii, there's now a "Profile Artist" flag on every Mii page - clicking it will add your vote for that artist to be profiled. If the artist gets enough votes, they will receive a request for them to fill out a profile.

A list of other updates and improvements follows: "Artist Profile" link on relevant users' pages; direct link to search results for gamers playing a game from the game reviews section; user status in game reviews section; inconsistent styling problems in the forum have been improved; user names no longer show up as "anonymous" immediately after leaving a comment; and some other minor bugs have been taken care of.

Good luck to everyone participating in the 10,000 Mii Contest.

June 13, 2007: If you wish, you can now specify your gender in the "My Account" area. Age is coming as well.

The "Wii Make News" newsletter now includes an image attachment from the top news story! This was a rather tricky feat, and now the newsletter can be easily spotted on your Message Board. A bug was also fixed that was causing the most recent news story to be in the newsletter as opposed to the most voted on.

This week's contest Miis will be released Thursday morning instead of Friday.

June 5, 2007: Ok, here's the laundry list:

• Edit functionality in the forum now works in Internet Explorer
• Featured Miis should now be picked with a bit more intelligence
• A "Save/Remember Me" function has been added to the login areas
• Fixed a bug that caused people changing their email address to have problems
• The infamous ampersand (&) forum bug that was causing cropped posts is fixed
• Fixed a bug preventing people from sending messages to users without Wii Console Numbers attached to their account
• Comments on news articles now function like the comments on the rest of the site
• The site news was moved to the database (faster)

...and all of the various bugs that cropped up from fixing the other bugs, of course.

June 2, 2007: It's official, the 10,000 Mii Contest has begun. Head on over to the official contest page, tell your friends, digg it, and participate! If you'