In a bit of console role reversal, it appears as though Nintendo is looking to Microsoft when it comes to the Wii U. Sources confirm to AdWeek that Nintendo met with several media distribution companies during last month's CES, seeking to explore their content options for the Wii U, particularly in the areas of sports and music. Among those they are said to be considering a deal with is Comcast, though "a select number of top content companies" and Web video developers were also mentioned.
AdWeek sources also state that Nintendo is directly looking to emulate the model set forth by Microsoft, expanding the console's purposes beyond gaming and into home entertainment, though to what extent is uncertain. It's unknown if anything will actually come of these meetings, as one source notes "This is very preliminary. It could go nowhere". Nintendo is already treading new ground with the Nintendo Network, and it may be too far outside their comfort level to begin offering content on the same level as Microsoft. For many, however, it would be a welcome change.
Nintendo Courting Media Partners For New Wii [AdWeek via MyNintendoNews]
| BBcode help |
| [b]Bold text[/b] |
Bold text |
| [i]Italic text[/i] |
Italic text |
| [url]http://www.dtoid.com/[/url] |
http://www.dtoid.com |
| [url=http://www.dtoid.com/]Web link[/url] |
Web link |
|
| [img]http://www.example.com/robot.jpg[/img] |
 |
Post a comment! You can also post a photo below:
Comment with Facebook
Click connect and comment instantly!
|
Comment with Dtoid
New? SIGN UP - it takes 5 seconds
|
20 comments | showing # 1 to 20
|
Comment with Facebook
Click connect and comment instantly!
|
Comment with Dtoid
New? SIGN UP - it takes 5 seconds
|
Comments policy
Destructoid is an open discussion community. You don't need to "audition" to post a comment - just speak your mind. We respect differing opinions on the site, so have at it. Be smart, funny, insightful, clueless, or cute -- but back it up with substance. Keep your cool, keep it fun. We only ask that you act respectfully and above all: don't be a troll and ruin it for everyone else. Don't bring down gamers or we'll, you know, gently shoot you in the face and stuff you into a flaming mailbox. Each comment is your opportuntity to make this community awesomer. Is that even a word?
Avoiding the banhammer only requires common sense: spamming, trolling, racism, NSFW stuff, and other forms of sucking will not be tolerated. If anyone is griefing please report abuse. Be good. Don't suck!
Contest:
6:00 PM on 02.21.2012 | 
Because they fetched Netflix and Hulu for 3DS? The next part of the equation would probably wind up being YouTube, or better yet, cable. They've cared, even if only a little. You just haven't paid it any attention.
Nintendo needs to find an identity before it brings on the brunt of this ADD they're looking to gain from courting media distributors, because no one, including them, seems to know what this system really is.
@Mark Mann
Despite my words right above, I have to ask a simple question: Just because they don't now, means they never can?
Even when it comes to what I just said I'm not damning them from ever doing more, I'm simply asking, saying, they need to do something solid first before they start flailing around in other areas -the Wii U isn't solid yet, even int he games department, no matter how solid any other Nintendo console has ever been. Their quantum leap into the future sort of makes all their other console releases moot.
And nintendo is not treading new ground, they're walking the ground already tread for the past decade by others
I don't know if I'd say that netflix and hulu are more convenient than dvds, especially, when neither of them have even half of my dvd library. However, we are at the point that I don't think it will be a big deal if the WiiU can't play DVDs (although it was some bullshit that the Wii wouldn't play DVDs by default when it was physically capable of doing it through homebrew. It would have saved me a lot of trouble to just be able to watch dvds on my wii, than to reorganize my entertainment center and dig up an old dvd player.)
Its about time Nintendo start copying other people, because those same people have ripped off Nintendo so many times, that its hard to keep track anymore. Even though the argument could be made that Nintendo had Wii No Ma, which is a video-on-demand service from Fuji Television in Japan, long before Microsoft was doing all this new television network stuff on the 360 recently, but no one thinks of stuff like that from Nintendo, because NOA just has Hulu Plus and Netflix over here. In Japan you could order a pizza from your Wii, for god sakes!
That's the problem. Sony and Nintendo don't try as hard in America, despite having westerners running operations here who should be following consumer trends. Nintendo has the most consoles but they've never fully capitalized on their size. I'm glad they're finally fighting for my attention in the streaming space.
I get the argument that Nintendo's design decisions can alienate others, but the idea that they "barely trust anyone else to make software for them" seems odd to me considering the window they gave to third-party companies at the launch of the 3DS and motion plus.
Well, at least Iwata has gone on record admitting that they, in fact haven't been very open with their platforms in the past and trying to do everything in-house when they should have outsourced things, and that he was specifically trying to do better about this in the future.
News like these just show he was at least somewhat serious.
This seems to me like an extension of that.
Well, yeah, I thought that was self-implied. I was only talking about set-top boxes.