Will the Wii jump into the TV set-top box game? [VentureBeat]
VentureBeat reports on an article in Variety magazine that hints at the possibility that Nintendo may be working on a streaming video application for the Wii gaming system. In a Variety interview, Lionsgate president Curt Marvis indicated that the popular Wii would be a potential platform for Hollywood studios to stream movies and television shows over the Internet.
Already the Xbox 360 is being used as a streaming video platform for Netflix subscribers. Sony has announced similar plans for the Playstation streaming NBC Universal content. The Wii is in millions more households than Xbox or Playstation, and would present a popular potential platform just based on its widespread adoption. But the Wii is the only platform of the three that doesn't have high definition video capability, a potentially limiting factor for videophiles wanting to use it to stream video to televisions. Also, Wii doesn't have any internal storage, limiting the ability of the device to store and playback video.
Every few months a new streaming set-top option enters this space, so it wouldn't surprise me if Nintendo releases a firmware update providing streaming video content to the 16.2 million Wii user base in the U.S.
Of course, as I've said in the past, the expansion of streaming video into the mainstream of television viewing will undoubtedly lead to the need for ISP's to consider charging for heavy usage. Although we have no plans currently to move in that direction, we are watching developments closely.
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