The Difference in Speed Between the US Wii and the UK Wii

3D graphics processing hardware is not the only thing that determines the speed of a system. The local system for displaying a television signal has an influence as well – while the United States uses the NTSC system with a refresh rate of 60 Hz (meaning that the image on the screen is refreshed 60 times a second, the United Kingdom uses the PAL system; while the PAL system has somewhat better image quality and color, it refreshes the screen at a rate of 50 Hz.

What this means for speed is that if the speed of a game is tied to the number of times that the screen is updated per second, there can be a slight speed difference between what is displayed on NTSC versus what is displayed on PAL. The system may also be able to play games at both refresh rates – for example with the United Kingdom version of the Wii, you can play games in both NTSC and PAL. UK Wii games run at 60 Hz, but when you play games on the Virtual Console with the UK Wii they run at 50 Hz.

Playing games that were designed for one display system on another may mean that they have to be played with a black border at the top and bottom of the display to fit them to the resolution of a different kind of screen. The USA version of the Wii and the United Kingdom version of the Wii also have somewhat different compatibility with old Gamecube games – while the USA Wii is generally unable to play PAL Gamecube games, the PAL Wii in the UK tends to play all of the compatible Gamecube games, although the frame rate may be lower by a factor of 1.2.

Have you noticed any difference playing VC games on the UK Wii? Let us know!

Gamepointsnow.com - Game Points Now!

This hasn't been mentioned before, so I thought I'd give a shout out to our sister site Game Points Now, for all your instant Xbox/Wii Points needs. The premise is simple: you can buy Xbox, Wii and PSN points or subscriptions, pay by Paypal or credit/debit card and you'll instantly be sent your code by e-mail. No fuss, no muss.

It's mostly for European (UK) codes at the moment, but you can also pick up different flavours of Japanese PSN codes, which can be used on any region PS3 and provides a glimpse into the more hardcore and bizarre world of gaming. There's a lot on the Japanese network.


GPN is a handy way of getting points fast and for Xbox, saves your credit card being linked to your Gamertag, which then stops your 11-year-old cousin who doesn't understand that POINTS MEAN MONEY spending ludicrous amounts of cash on downloading tiny Gamertag icons for most of the English Premier League just so that his Gamertag picture matches his Pro Evo team of choice (and yes, this incident does form 99% of the inspiration behind the site). It also stops Microsoft auto-renewing your Gold account as well, and besides, we're cheap - cheaper than doing it through the Dashboard!

It's owned and staffed by the same people as The Game Train so you can trust you'll be getting a great service.