Finally, another reason to purchase a Wii!
Nintendo is bringing Netflix’s online streaming video service to its Wii gaming console, the most popular in the industry, the companies plan to announce Wednesday. The service lets subscribers choose from a catalog of generally older movies and television shows and watch them instantly.
The deal is further evidence of a movement by makers of game consoles to broaden their appeal by positioning them as a bridge between the living room television and a wider world of online multimedia.
So far those efforts have not been enough to calm anxieties about the overall direction of the $16.8 billion video game business. The industry is threatened by a dearth of popular new franchises, which tend to attract gamers to an endless number of sequels, as well as the sudden rise of cheap games for smartphones and free casual games on social networks.
“You just have to wonder if people are going to buy prepackaged $60 video games in the future,” said Mark Mahaney, managing director for Internet research at Citigroup. “If you are a console maker, you better quickly hurry to add more functionality and features to your console.”
Nintendo’s rivals are generally further along in that effort. The Sony PlayStation 3 has a Blu-ray disc player and can use Sony’s own online movie store. Microsoft has outfitted the Xbox 360 with its Zune high-definition movie store and allows users to chat online while they watch films together. Both of those consoles already offer the Netflix service.
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Tags: netflix, nintendo wii, wii netflix
