The more complex consoles become, the more weirdy-beardy secret functions are squirreled away inside of them, and Nintendo's latest is no exception.

While most of the Wii's Easter Eggs are specific to certain games - there's a whole trove of 'em in Wii Sports alone - here's seven of the best for the console itself.

1. Email a chum's Wii

You'll need to have a record of those damnably unmemorable friend codes for anyone you want to mail, but once you do it's simple: just drop a message to w[friendcode]@wii.com. For instance, w1234567891011@wii.com.

2. Add a smooth, constant blue glow to your Wii

The blue lighting around the disc slot normally only glows when the Wii's got some sort of announcement for you, and disappears once you've read it. However, you can lend your lounge a sci-fi feel by making that tastefull glow permanent. Just email your own Wii - using the system in the tip above - but never read the message (which can take up to an hour to arrive, incidentally). As long as it stays unread, that cheeky light will keep on twinkling.3. Mario attack

If you're downloading something from the Wii shop - be it a new channel or a virtual console title - have a gander at what the Mario animation in the progress bar is wearing. If he's dressed in red and white (as opposed to his traditional red and blue togs), you can make him chuck fireballs with the A button.

4. Puzzle puzzle

Unlock a hidden hardcore mode in the Photo Channel's jigsaw mini-game. Move the cursor over the number of pieces you want to split your photo into, but hold down the 1 button before you select the option. The resulting jigsaw will be split into 194 pieces, which makes for quite the pictorial challenge.

5. Restore MP3 playback

Speaking of the photo channel, you were probably narked to discover that last year's update to do it inexplicably removed MP3 soundtrack support, lumping us with AAC tracks only. Yeah thanks, Ninty. Fortunately, you can downgrade to the original version by heading to Wii Settings then Data Management, then selecting the Channels tab and choosing to delete the Photo Channel entirely. Don't worry, it won't disappear - instead, it'll revert to sweet old version 1.0, replete with MP3 support.

6. Fix stubborn Wiimotes

If you're having trouble getting a new or borrowed Wiimote to synch with your console, there's a way to make the Wii completely forget about all the remotes it's paired with so that you can start afresh. Turn the Wii off and unplug it from the wall. Wait 30 seconds, then plug it in and turn it on again. When the Health & Safety warning pops up, open the flap on the front of the Wii, then press and hold down the red SYNC button for 15 seconds. And that's it - all the synced controllers will be forgotten. Then pair all your Wiimotes with the console using the standard method.

7. Use your Wiimotes with your PC

Yep, the Wiimote uses standard Bluetooth wireless tech to talk to the console - which means it can also work with a PC. So your Wii controller can double up as a remote control for movie watching, or you can even play any game with it. You'll need either built-in Bluetooth support or a USB adaptor in your PC, plus free app GlovePIE to get it working. There's a little bit of faff involved, but the instructions at the GlovePIE site will talk you through it. You can also download pre-made profiles for specific games.

Microsoft is really stressing the importance of its fall update to the Xbox 360, especially the long awaited New Xbox Experience. Essentially a revamp of the old blade system which is currently
employed in the Xbox 360 navigation menu, this promises to bring a much more user friendly experience and to take personalization to new extremes. In order to promote the system, Microsoft has just relaunched the Xbox.com website where you can experiment the new user interface and see movies of the finished version in action.The content tabs are now fully displayed, the categories being Welcome, Inside Xbox, Game Marketplace, Friends, Video Marketplace and, last but not least, My Xbox. All of them promise to bring users a more pleasant experience while playing or browsing for content for their favorite console. Accessibility is the word best describing this user interface because it will offer a much less complex navigation for the users who aren't all that used to the console.
Also, the much awaited Avatars are showed, only in movies unfortunately, but promise to be a pretty interesting feature for the working version of the experience. Several other improvements and features in this update are the ability to save games to your hard drive and a new, more accessible in-game guide that helps gamers in those difficult situations.
Praises have already begun showering Microsoft because its users feel that this new experience is something that might give it the edge over the PlayStation 3. Although the two systems resemble quite a bit, Microsoft has stressed that this new interface is the hard work of quite a lot of people. Nonetheless, in my opinion, it looks very good and is sure to attract even more people to the Xbox, especially the casual gamers who see something much more friendly in this new interface than the old blade system.