We Want Media

Nintendo Launches Wii News Channel for Gamers

It's too often in our country that video games get a bad rap. Many people view them as childish, anti-social, inane. But let's face it - video games are a mainstay of popular culture, and they aren't disappearing anytime soon. If you're like me, you grew up worshiping Mario, waiting for school to end so you could continue your adventures with the little red plumber. Nintendo always seemed to make the most out of their games; they never really had the best graphics or serious storylines, but they were certainly the most fun.

With it's newest system, the Wii, Nintendo is taking gaming to places that I never would have dreamed of as a kid. This past Saturday they launched the Wii News Channel, the first console-based, constantly updating AP source for those who have broadband internet. News is displayed on an interactive map, on which viewers can localize or nationalize the content using their Wii controller. Of course Nintendo isn't the first video game corp to experiment with online capabilities, but they are certainly forward in their ideas creating of a multi-media console. They already offer a full weather service, a sort of Google style globe for observing weather across the world, as well as an Internet Channel that allows you to download music and videos. With the Wii selling over a million units in the US alone since it's November release (I got mine off craigslist!), Nintendo seems poised to blow open the interactive market.

Of course, the main question here is how will consumers react to a multi-media console. How different is this from a computer? Will people actually use the Wii's to get their news? I love the idea of being able to localize or nationalize the news by zooming into a map - will other sources absorb this idea?

UPDATE: So I've been tinkering with my Wii News for over a week now, and I have to say, it's pretty impressive. There are dozens of up to the minute listings, from International to Local news. The map screen is a small let down - it's not so much a point-and-click as it is a slide show that you can operate - but overall it's a solid, in-depth news source. However, I still probably won't use for news as much as my computer, simply because the load time is a bit slower.