Wii Video Streaming Likely In US

19 Nov 2009 at 17:08:28 by Bill Vaughan

Following a successful six months of ad-supported video streaming on the Wii in Japan, Nintendo is expected to launch a similar service in the US.

The service in Japan is free due to advertising deals with companies such as Dentsu, and is doing well according to Nintendo. As spotted by Gamasutra, Analyst Colin Sebastian from Lazard Capital Market, who was present at a recent investor meeting, said "We expect Nintendo to continue experimenting with content delivery and eventually to launch a service in the U.S., establishing a family-oriented media hub in the living room, and providing a more competitive option to Xbox Live and PlayStation Home,"

Nintendo has not followed Sony and Microsoft by rushing to provide wider media and social features on the Wii and, according to Sebastian, its not going to focus too much on video delivery or more downloadable content services either, "In general, Nintendo views online game content as complementary to packaged-goods,".

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