Nintendo has launched an online video rental service for the Wii in Japan, but there's no indication that the service will be offered elsewhere.
Walt Disney Japan, Sesame Street, Warner Bros. Japan and Pokemon are among the content providers that have signed on, Andria Sang reports. According to Variety, 120 videos will be available at launch, including episodes of Sesame Street and Pocket Monsters. Prices range from the equivalent of 33 cents to $5.60.
The Wii's video channel, called Wii No Ma ("Wii's Room"), actually launched last May, but only with sponsored and original video content. Nintendo had partnered with media giant Dentsu to offer a unique spin on video game console videos: The Wii's Mii characters occupy a living room, and can select content by walking around the virtual space. Sponsored sections offered promotional videos and users could even order product samples to a pre-registered address. Periodically, celebrity avatars would appear to offer special content.
It was never clear to me whether that format would interest Western audiences, but the new channel certainly does. It's a lot like the video services offered on Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's Playstation 3, both of which allow you to rent or purchase movies and television shows.
More importantly, the partnerships with Japanese branches of Western companies bodes well for a Wii video service in America and Europe. There's been talk that the Wii will at some point get Netflix support, so Nintendo could be preparing a big multimedia push. It'd make sense for Nintendo to offer both an on-demand service and Netflix, instead of just one or the other, as a way of promoting the Wii as more than just a games machine.
Still, the company hasn't said whether Wii No Ma will leave Japan. There's always the possibility, as I've said before, that Wii video is on hold for a next-generation Wii, but that itself is just a rumor.
