Video service coming to Wii, says Nikkei

by Ross Miller on Dec 24th 2008 8:54PM

A video distribution service is coming to Nintendo Wii, according to Nikkei business daily (via Reuters). Working with ad agency Dentsu, Inc., the service will offer original content in the form of cartoons and "other entertainment programs" and is seen as a "new revenue stream" for the company (read: our large vault of money needs a diving board made from diamonds). Not much else is known at the moment. The service will first launch in Japan early 2009 and overseas later in the year.

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Tags: breakingnews, dentsu, js-twitter, nikkei, nintendo, video, vod, Wii

Reader Comments (51)

Good!

480i here I come!

I guess you're new to the Wii, it can output a progressive signal...

......

OOOH 480P!!!!

I'm cool because I like HD!

hlyshit its 480p!
you wont believe your eyes.
not like your standard interlaced signal. oh no!
high definition at it's finest

Yay! Movies that actually have an acceptable download time!

Actually, i was quite surprised and overall impressed with the difference between 480i and 480p.

sure it looks better that 480i.........but its still not HD.....

If they hope to compete with the 360s and PS3s awesome video and movie store, they need to release an external HDD.

512 MB.

512 MB - Space to hold firmware (about 40% of the space)

If you're too broke to find a 2gb SD Card, then perhaps gaming shouldn't be your past-time. I'm hoping with the latest update which drastically improved SD transfer speeds, as well as easier ability to transfer from and play from SD card in the new-year update, they may add in SDHC Support so i can get 16gb of SD goodness.

Given the number of Wii's out there this would make financial sense to whoever provides the service. Even on my Xbox I still get SD content, much quicker on my 2mbps connection.

I can't see this really taking off. First of all, you have jack squat for storage. Second of all you have a company that hasn't even tried, let alone marketed, an online strategy. Finally, you have a console that is marketed to the wrong demographic for this feature. The people who do own a Wii and care already use their PS3 or 360 as their media hub of choice.

This just seems like a lame "Mii too!" attempt to rake in a few extra dollars while putting out the least amount of effort.

I really don't see this going well. The internal space is very very limited. If Wii is compatible with external HDD, it can work.

how many sd cards are wii users gonna have to buy? this isn't a good idea until there's better storage.

Nintendo will probably update the Wii to handle SDHC Cards when they also make it easier to transfer to and from SD in the next update....well, i hope so. 32gb SD here i come!

if the Wii had 10GBs of more storage then it would make more sense......hell even if the price of 14GB SD cards came down it price it would make a little sense........but the current Wii format makes NO Sense for Video Service......

The Wii can't read SD cards over 2 or 4GBs. I can't remember which. The Internet provides conflicting answers.

they may be able to fix it with firmware update maybe??

"the service will offer original content in the form of cartoons"

ORIGINAL CONTENT...CARTOONS...Nintendo...

That old Legend of Zelda TV show from decades ago CONFIRMED.

Shoooot I'm already watching that via Netflix on my Xbox 360. For shame Nintendo!

If I'm not mistaken, this was announce quite a while ago. The service will be offered by Fujisoft (called Minna no Theatre Wii, and the channel itself will cost $5 to download. You just pay a varying amount of cash to rent to stream content for a certain period of time. No hard drive necessary Kind of like your cable or satellite TV's implementation of "video on demand", but with more anime.

Seriously, am I the only one that pays attention to Nintendo Wii Fanboy (don't answer that)?

No, i believe that's where i saw it also

Once again, this could refer to something else, but it's probably that.

http://www.nintendowiifanboy.com/2008/12/22/wii-warm-up-almost-everybodys-theater/

Hasn't this already been confirmed? It's not Nintendo's service, it comes from Fujisoft, and thus will mostly run as an anime service. Certainly not something as broad-reaching as either 360's or PS3's, and doubtfully a download service like theirs. Most likely streaming video

Unless this is something different Nintendo is doing, but i really don't see it in them.

yeah, I mean, its not like Nintendo has a track record of doing something different than their competition.

Oh wait...

"different" in the relation to the Fujisoft thing that we know about, not in relation to what Sony and Microsoft are doing

again, Everybody's theater and the Manga WiiWare are for the Japanese audience. Nintendo will sign a world-wide deal with another company. Since its probably streaming video, Im sticking with Hulu until further notice.

thats a very nice information... cant wait to get rid of my current Wii... ;)
by: Busby SEO Test

I doubt the Everybody's Theater will be outside Japan anytime soon.

If I had to pick a superstar tag-team, it would be Nintendo and Hulu.

Remember, they probably need ruby-lined towels for when they are done in the vault.

Who says you have to save the content to the Wii? Why can't the content be streaming? Remember, YouTube and the Nintendo Channel are both streaming video channels and they both work fine on the Wii.

i cant believe you're the first one to bring up the nintendo chanel. does everyone here forget that that's video as well, and it works pretty well for me.

Lucky you.

It doesn't work for me because I don't have enough space to hold the app.

Here's the original source (not a a cover of a cover of a cover of a story):

http://it.nikkei.co.jp/digital/news/index.aspx?n=NN002Y146%2019122008

It is referring to the Fujisoft service. It is set to begin on January 27th, and will have approximately 3,000 videos. It will start with anime and J-drama (Black Jack and Project X have been announced), with plans for about 500 feature length films in the works. It is 500 yen to download the software, with videos expected to cost about 300 yen to have viewable for a few days.

Who thinks that there's going to be Wii Netflix streaming?

Only you.

Did someone say "DVD"?! ... Darn.

You're late to the party Nintendo! I have a PS3 for blu-ray and a 360 + Netflix to meet all my HD needs. Why would settle for SD content on a Wii? Maybe you should have thought about this a few years back when you were still in the Wii concept stage.

I love how the standard tv we've been watching for year is now so much crap that anything at that quality isn't worth watching.

Nevermind the content. It's HD or nothing.

I've always wondered who bought into those "New! and Improved!" commercials.

I recall a similar argument for VHS when DVD first came out. And I'm sorry about your crappy TV.

Of course content trumps quality. I'd much rather watch SWAT Kats uploads on YouTube than watch an NBA game on ESPN HD. And yes, there was nothing wrong with VHS quality, it was more about the physical limitations of the medium that was problematic

Tez: I have 50-inch HDTV. I just don't demand that everything be HD in order to enjoy it.

If the Wii was HD, I wouldn't complain, but I'm pretty sure that would have driven up the cost of the Wii. So far, the Wii's 480p has had no bearing on whether I've enjoyed my 360 or Wii more. (The RROD on the other hand . . . .)

I could see this happening and they won't necessary have to download the shows or movies but just have to stream them.

Dentsu is a partner of Joost and provides content like Naruto and Bleach to them so they are no stranger to streaming video .

Joystiq, it appears to me that Nintendo's video content will be out of your realm of coverage, am I right? Wii sounds like more of a media device than a console.

I love the tards complaining about this..

You can watch movies...but have to pay just for the option and then for the service. What a huge fucking chunk of bullshit. So glad I don't own a Wii. My 360 and PC play movies without having to pay a dime for that option and that is the way it should be. Nintendo would rather make the consumer pay throught the nose as usual. Hey, the system is cheap...only $250 but after you end up paying for all the accessories, channels, and other random bullshit you've actually paid twice that much.

Making suckers out of the consumers as usual. Fuck you Nintendo.

Way to shift the goalposts halfway through your argument. Your 360 allows you to play videos that you don't own any sort of rights to for free? News to me.

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Video service coming to Wii, says Nikkei

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