Fujisoft is planning to launch a WiiWare-based service called
Everybody's Theater Wii in January, through which Wii owners will be able to pay to watch downloadable anime and television episodes. The Wii's contemporaries both have their own methods of paying for video downloads, and analyst Colin Dixon
believes more of this kind of thing will show up on the Wii.
Do you care if it does? Would TV or movies on demand be something you want your Wii to provide? Or is that the kind of thing that you feel is better suited to some other device?
{ Dec 22nd 2008 at 8:00AM } 
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Nigeria @ Dec 22nd 2008 8:33AM
Having episodes of Hajime no Ippo on the Wii does sound rather tempting, and it would get rid of those 300 Wii points I always seem to have - but, no. Quality issues mainly.
IF it's being streamed through Nintendo servers I find it hard to believe the image will be just below 'DVD standards'. Plus, I'm not a real renter anyway.
Matt @ Dec 25th 2008 1:50PM
I know of one Major Ad supported streaming TV service that wants to get on the Wii but they would prefer to do it through the Wii Browser than create a dedicated Wiiware Title at this current time .They are waiting to see if Flash 9 will be supported on the Wii withing the next 6 months .
The service recently released a iPhone application but the iPhone supports H.264 video natively ,with the Wii they would have to either license or develop a dedicated video player and they want to use Flash on set top boxes and consoles to make development easier and cheaper .
bukizzle715 @ Dec 22nd 2008 8:44AM
No offense to the Wii, but my PC will do that a million times better. And for free.
rodjoh @ Dec 22nd 2008 9:40AM
No thanks!
manyquestions @ Dec 22nd 2008 9:41AM
My TV already does this, as will any reasonable PC (So, therefore, not mine :)). The thing that's always most confused me about the "digital hub" is that it's always seemed like most of the services it tries to provide are either already done by another machine that everyone already owns, or are way more expensive and lower quality than the individual machine.
The TV things makes considerably less sense, because in order to watch them you have to have your console connected to a TV anyway. A TV, that is, that probably gets way more channels, and can already record AND watch live shows, and is a device that you already own, why buy a console & software to do the same thing? Especially when a TV is pretty much free to use except for electricity costs, and these console services will almost definitely be pay per view-styled.
samfish @ Dec 22nd 2008 9:52AM
I'll pass. Although the selection sounds better than the 360 and it's NetFlix streaming, I can't imagine this would be user-friendly at all, considering how much of a headache it is to buy and/or find anything else on the Shop Channel.
ProfWho @ Dec 22nd 2008 10:24AM
If they had a Hulu channel, I would be all for it..
Or if they just updated the browser to support Hulu.
Josh @ Dec 22nd 2008 11:01AM
When is flash going to be updated on the Wii? Come on, Nintendo!
Mr Khan @ Dec 22nd 2008 12:13PM
when the internet exists, all this video-on-demand stuff is meaningless. It'll all get leaked sometime, then available for torrent or streaming
And, as an added bonus, torrenting is now perfectly safe, so long as you aren't a seeder, that is...
Von @ Dec 22nd 2008 12:40PM
Perhaps Nintendo needs to receive a flood of emails and questions about updating their flash on the internet channel to something more in line and apt to what we need. This outdated flash is simply not cutting it and I feel ripped off every time I use the service.
Moreover - yes, I would like a Wii Theater persay but I don't want just anime crap ... I want movies, shows, anime, and all the in betweens that are good quality. I don't want to be watching below standard stuff.
braeburn @ Dec 22nd 2008 6:00PM
Guess I'm in the minority here, but I'm definitely interested. I rent a lot of movies through Netflix and while the turnaround time is pretty good, I want instant streaming so I don't always have to plan ahead what I'm going to watch -- and I'm even willing to sacrifice some quality to get it. Ideally, I'd like both a subscription service and a pay-per-view option.
I know Netflix already offers this with various set-top boxes like the dedicated Roku unit, the 360, and some DVD players, but I have enough boxes in my living room and I'd rather not spend more money to get more. I already have a Wii, so why not just use that?
To those who suggested alternatives, well, the selection on Hulu and the like just doesn't cut it for me, and torrents don't exactly allow for impulsive viewing, either (not to mention being illegal, which I generally try to avoid). And I use a DVR for currently running TV shows and movies, but I also like to watch things that aren't currently airing on TV.
Sonic_13 @ Dec 22nd 2008 11:44PM
I would absolutely love a Netflix channel.
braeburn @ Dec 23rd 2008 12:01AM
I do wonder if it already being on the 360 would be a problem, though. It's not like it's an exclusive deal per se -- like I mentioned earlier, Netflix streaming is available on a number of different set-top boxes, including a dedicated one and several Blu-Ray players -- but it's possible the terms of the agreement between Microsoft and Netflix make it exclusive as far as gaming consoles. God, I hope not.