Nintendo’s next move: Wii-deo

Kyoto, Japan, December 26: Dentsu, Japan's largest ad agency is preparing to join hands with Game maker Nintendo and launch a video distribution service on the hugely-popular Wii. The move is intended to create a new revenue system, said the Nikkei business daily.

A Dentsu representative said on Thursday that the companies, through their mutual venture, plan to offer programs created specifically for the service. On the other hand, most online channels tend to carry existing TV shows and movies.

The two companies have not yet settled on the type of programming they would create for the service, but reportedly, the programs will mostly focus on cartoons and other entertainment.

The environment surrounding the Wii is likely to be used while developing the program, in order to make the living rooms with Wii-ready TVs more of a fun area for communication among families and friends.

While some programs will be offered free of charge, consumers will be required to pay for the others.

The new service by Nintendo and Dentsu will be started early next year in Japan, and the overseas launches will follow, later in the year.

The Wii, which features a motion-sensing controller that looks like a TV remote, has been far outselling Microsoft Corp's Xbox 360 and Sony Corp's PlayStation 3. As of late September, Nintendo has sold more than 34.5 million units of its popular gaming console game consoles.

The fame of Nintendo’s gaming console is such that it is simply flying off the shelves, even two years after launch. “It introduced video gaming to a lot of adults who weren’t really interested before that,” said the spokesman for a city store.

And with Nintendo still endeavoring to add to the features and deliver more to its fans, the popularity is quite likely to amplify.