PSP World

Do You Plan to Use Netflix With Your Wii?

Nintendo surprised a few of us in the video game industry this week when the company announced that it will be bringing the popular Netflix streaming service to the Wii home console. This system allows users who have a regular Netflix subscription and an Internet-connected Wii to stream videos directly to their televisions without bothering with physical disks. Netflix has proven quite popular on the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 machines where it made its debut earlier last year. Nintendo will roll out the free functionality in a software update later this spring.

Compared to the PS3 and Xbox 360 services, Nintendo faces two major disadvantages with this offering. First of all, it is estimated that only one third of all Nintendo Wii consoles are connected to the Internet, a necessity for receiving streaming video. Of course, this service could entice more users to take advantage of the online connectivity of the Wii, especially if it is coupled with other new features.

The second problem is that the video output of the Wii console is limited to 480p resolution, significantly lower than the image quality available using other formats. This service is clearly aimed at casual viewers rather than sophisticated cinema buffs.

We are less interested in this particular service than we are in the apparent change in Nintendo's strategy. It seems that after focusing solely on the gaming functionality of its home console, Nintendo is now open to exploring multimedia content on the Wii.

We'd love to get some perspective from readers on this issue: How do you feel about this new service? Do you plan to use the Wii to stream Netflix movies to your home, or will you get your movie content from other sources?

Netflix will soon allow users to select and watch movies directly from their Wii consoles.