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Streaming Video Service Coming To the Wii
Posted by
Soulskill
on Sat Dec 27, 2008 03:17 AM
from the no-wii-stream-jokes dept.
from the no-wii-stream-jokes dept.
Gamasutra reports that Nintendo is partnering with a company called Dentsu to "distribute original streaming video programming via the Wii, with a 2009 launch confirmed in Japan, and an eye towards a later Western launch." According to a press statement, some of the videos will be free, and some will cost money. This will help to answer concerns that the Wii was lagging behind the other major consoles in video content.
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The beeb's been doing it for months... (Score:3, Informative)
BBC iPlayer - on the Wii! [bbc.co.uk]
Advertising (Score:2, Insightful)
Dentsu is Japan's largest advertising company, with a 55% share of the ad market. If they are teaming with them, the 'some of the content is free' and 'original programming' in the quote should be taken as 'ad sponsored' or 'ads'.
What about the quality? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:What about the quality? (Score:4, Informative)
You do realize in United States 1080i has ben the norm for years too. And just recently TVs are now 1080p 55 Pixels height (about the size of an Icon) isn't that much of an advancement. It is more on what the broadcast standards are in the area. Most people can't tell the difference between 480i and 720p and 1080i and 1080p for you to tell the difference between 1080i and 1125i you would be watching the pixels more then the movie, and have a really good eye for detail.
The Wii is no XBox or PS3 but it does have enough juice to do the job. The 480i which is the same as most DVD players output. Which gives a rather clear picture. It is no Blueray but it is clean and clear and you can see what is happening without it looking like you are watching life threw a screen. The Wii just needs to decode video in real time, that is the heavy processing. But it is just 2d stuff. Most legal streaming media is at 480 or less even if you have a box that can handle HDTV the size of the data is still to big to get on the internet or most connections.
Parent
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1125i and 1080i are the same thing. OP is just using different terminology. Much like 480i is actually 525i but has some extra lines that aren't used, 1125i is the actual, full range of scan lines in HDTV of which 1080 are actively used.
It's just a difference in terminology. In fact, if you look in the manuals for TVs that talk about 1125i, they'll usually say something like "Supported resolutions: 1125i (1080i)." I've only ever heard of the term being used in Japan. Apparently one of the old analog HD
Re:What about the quality? (Score:4, Insightful)
Second, in Japan HDTV is more common than anywhere else (tens of millions subscribers), and free ISDB translations started in 2003. Once you are used to HDTV, it's hard to go back to SDTV.
Parent
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The output of the Wii is far worse when it comes to games (no anti-aliasing, no motion blur) then it would be with video, yet people still buy the thing like crazy. So I doubt that it would matter much. Anyway, I think the bigger problem would be storage, Wii's 512MB are tiny, you would have to stream everything and you couldn't even buffer a larger part of the movie temporary.
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Re:What about the quality? (Score:4, Insightful)
Parent
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Is it even worth going up to component for the Wii? I mean, the cable is only like 3$-4$, but will the progressive scan mode help out or just smooth things out that I didn't see in the first place?
(720p TV here)
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I'd diagnose your problem as being to stat oriented to have fun.
This is a common problem among gamers who do not actually care if an old NES game is fun becuase of the graphics.
Your pleasure is not found in the actual gaming, but in the looking at the game.
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Why don't wii's play dvds? (Score:5, Interesting)
I mean really this seems like the most obvious feature the wii should have had by default. They are targeting the families that can't afford bigger systems, and they apparently wanted a smaller system that didnt take a ton of space.
so by eliminating the family dvd player, they accomplish both...
so why didn't they?
Re:Why don't wii's play dvds? (Score:4, Insightful)
They are targeting the families that can't afford bigger systems
Not as their main focus. There's a huge segment of their market that doesn't want a 360 or PS3. The focus of the Wii is different, and it covers demographics that aren't touched or satisfied at all by the other systems.
I could afford all three if I gamed enough to feel like spending the money. The Wii got me to buy my first console in over a decade. It's been worth the money.
Parent
firmware update (Score:5, Interesting)
MPlayer on Wii Homebrew plays DVDs just fine.
Even if your Wii is updated? I thought Wii Menu 3.4 disabled the DVDX channel that homebrew programs use to access DVD-Video discs, and I thought new Wii consoles shipped with 3.4. Besides, Wii Game Discs produced next year will likely ship with 3.4 on them.
Parent
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Sad (Score:2, Insightful)
Nevermind that the Wii has some online gameplay (keep in mind that most of the online gameplay games available to PS3 and Xbox360 are war/sports games), that it has had free internet browsing almost from the beginning, with a good enough zoom to get almost full screen video on youtube with great streaming; it's not -HD-, so it clearly sucks.
I laugh at this. I really do. I didn't buy a game system to -cough-
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I simply laugh in the face of the ps3 and Xbox360 fanbois.
They claim this and that...
I point out it's no problem to buy a xbox360 or Ps3 on xmas eve, yet a Wii and Wiifit have been sold out everywhere for over a month and will continue to be sold out till mid january.
The Wii outsells the other two combined without effort... It's crusing them hard and it makes the fanbois panic.
My parents and inlaws like to play the Wii. That in it's self makes it a success that the Ps3 and Xbox360 will never EVER get near
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I disagree. I haven't been able to find a way to enjoy ANY holiday with my family, because all they do is sit around and talk about what happened 30 years ago. Playing Wii Fit gives them something to laugh at: each other. It's fun, it gets them all working together. No 50 year old wants to watch you beat Gears of War, trust me. They might be fascinated by the graphics for 20-30 minutes, but they won't watch for long, and they can't grasp it as quickly if you let them try.
And I'
Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts? (Score:2)
While there's certainly no lack of FPS games on Xbox 360, there's also plenty of accessible family-friendly titles. We've been having great fun over the holidays with the new Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts. The platforming aspects don't appeal to all of the older set, but everyone really gets into the vehicle design aspect of it. Particularly the middle-aged and up men who grew up working on cars.
Rock Band/RB2 is also a big hit, and the singing position is great for those intimidated by controllers.
Xbox.com
Re:Sad (Score:4, Informative)
Parent
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You have a point regarding the abstraction of motion to buttons, but the AC pointing out the inferior game library has merit.
If you look at the shelf of Wii games, most of them are minigame compilations that take only a few quick months to produce and develop.
The original excuse was that, since the minigame compilations are so quick to produce, naturally there will be more of them in the early months following Wii launch. Well, the years have passed and the shovelware still flows -- the decent releases have
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Hype and novelty? After more than 2 years on the market, there is no "hype and novelty" anymore. Wii is now a well-established gaming platform.
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AC above is clearly an idiot. The abstraction is a neccessary evil, not a feature.
Depends, many people enjoy doing crazy jumps and moves and fighting monsters and stuff (yes, that includes Mario games), which they couldn't perform when they would be wearing a a mo-cap suit and have perfect 1:1 mapping. Abstraction helps you do stuff you couldn't do in reality, complete lack of abstractions just puts you back into reality, which is not where most people want to be when they think about games.
Motion-sensing controls and peripherals (like the Wii Fit board) give the user more intuitive interaction with the game
And yet I have never seen such huge obtrusive tutorial texts as in Wii games on any other console.
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Really? I haven't seen it being any different from other consoles. Perhaps with the exception that there are even more casual gamers around, so it's a good thing to make sure they get it.
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The Internet Channel was free for a limited time. I think the first year or so that it was out. There is indeed a fee for it now.
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On the other hand, it's 500 points, or five dollars. Unless something is slipping my mind (and no, DLC extra features don't count), that's cheaper than (or, for NES games, the same price as) everything else offered in the shop channel.
It may not be free, but it's definitely affordable.
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I don't know, but it's a non-sequitur. The Wii doesn't have to be better than the 360, because the only people for whom that is a relevant question are the small number of people who own and frequently use both systems.
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"Examples or stfu"
Mind you im talking about ordinary people here, not geeks like me who almost gets an orgasm by bootstrapping Gentoo. Try if you have the ability to put yourself in the shoes of a normal parent whos just gotten an hour over to watch a flick. Someone with a life, maybe even kids and that do not have hours upon hours to spend on tinkering, reading and researching something. Anything that demands his or hers attention/time is a problem from their viewpoint.
A Wii rarely demands you to install o
Re:Sweet (Score:4, Insightful)
The main adventage simply is that a Wii is connected to your TV, a PC most of the time isn't.
Parent
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True. On the other hand, you can now stream Netflix movies on your Tivo. I'm not sure why anyone would prefer a Wii over a Tivo...
SDTVs; PC and TV in separate rooms (Score:4, Interesting)
Using a PC just plain sucks and rarely works without major hickups
What kind of shit PC are you using anyway?
One without a composite video output. People like to sit in a recliner or sofa to watch long-form video, and this needs a large monitor. I was at Walmart* last night, and the large monitors that Walmart sells for under $300 have only composite video input because they're CRT SDTVs. You would need a $50 device called a scan converter [sewelldirect.com] to translate the 480p, 600p, or 768p RGB output of a computer into the 480i composite signal that an SDTV expects.
Or one in the other room. Almost any TV over $300 is an HDTV with a suitable VGA input. But even people with an HDTV often don't have a PC in the same room as the TV.
Or one that's in use. The operating systems used on most home PCs aren't capable of mapping the remote control and one video card and sound card to one user session (the TV) and the keyboard, mouse, and a second video card and sound card to another session (someone else in the house who is surfing the web or working on a spreadsheet).
Parent
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My Pc uses HDMI out and Component out. I get ZERO hiccups watching Videos on my PC to my TV and it's happily playing 1080p content.
Granted I use a dedicated Media Center PC that I recently eridaced Mediaportal and Windows off of for XBMC live CD install and will never look back.
It's better than absolutely any other solution out there. Everything else sucks big time compared to it.
I'll never ever buy another one of the half arsed "media players" like the crap that Roku, dlink, linksys and the others have m
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My Pc uses HDMI out and Component out.
How far does the cable reach? And a lot of TVs currently used for gaming and video are standard-definition; what would you recommend using to connect HDMI or component out to those?
Granted I use a dedicated Media Center PC
But a lot of people who use game consoles do not own such a dedicated PC. If I were selling products or services for HTPCs, how would I go about convincing potential customers to buy an HTPC in order to get enough customers to turn a profit?
Besides, PC's are dirt cheap today. I built my mediacenter Pc for $400.00
But a lot of people who game on consoles aren't interested in spending an extra $400 just
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It could compete in lots of ways. You can't think of any? It could compete on content, format, quality, convenience...
Re:Wait, what? (Score:4, Insightful)
I think a service like Hulu could compete quite successfully. "Pay" services(Hulu is actually ad-supported) usually have better quality video than free services, and earlier access to content.
You can always torrent high-quality vids, but I don't see that feature making it into the official firmware. Free ad-supported 480p streams is the next best thing.
And besides, many people don't mind paying a bit for the convenience these services bring, especially if they have good steaming quality.
I imagine if they had something like Hulu available on the Wii, then it'd be really popular. It certainly beats youtube when it comes to quality and availability of copyrighted content.
Parent
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Well, hard to speculate without you saying what your location is :).
I've worked with digital content distribution in a variety of markets.
But Hulu absolutely needs to do georestriction, since all content licensing contracts with the studios are for specific regions (USA for Hulu, of course). And don't blame this on the studios themselves; the movies are financed by partners in different region pre-paying for exclusive rights. So in many cases the USA-based studios don't have any right to distribute that con
What's the hardware even capable of? (Score:2)
Anyone know what the Wii hardware is capable of for a video experience. As a SD device, it could do 480p60 or 576p50 at best. But the processor is basically a semi souped-up 800 MHz G3, right? My old 800 MHz G4 couldn't play back 480p30 High Profile H.264 and the AltiVec SIMD that the Wii lacks is a big help for that.
Perhaps the ATI video card inherited some DXVA features?
There's some DVD playback, so we know MPEG-2 works, and I could imagine VC-1 or MPEG-4 part 2 (divx/xvid) working for 480p24. But unless
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h.264 is a pig of a format, on playback at least. Dirac scales better, xvid plays better. What the heck is up with the h.264 hype?
I don't think the Wii will have a problem if this is properly coded, and it might even be done in assembly code to push it even further. I'm sure you could also use the GPU for this sort of thing, don't think OpenCL would be hard even on a GPU like that.
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What the heck is up with the h.264 hype?
Higher quality at lower bitrate? Is there something about that which is difficult to understand?
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The cost is incredible, though. Yes, it's awesome, I love it. It's a pig though, when compared to other formats.
I guess it's an inherit tradeoff, that when space and bitrate drop, to keep the same quality you need to up intensity.
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Yep. H.264 met its goals well. It's just that high performance software playback wasn't one of them :). Baseline profile isn't too bad, but Main and HIgh allow the CABAC entropy coding mode, which isn't amenable to either parallel or GPU processing (unless the video was encoded as independent slices).
I'm biased, but I like VC-1's mix of performance and quality. It's about half the complexity of H.264 (and hence about twice that of MPEG-2), but is within 15% of the bandwidth efficiency of H.264 even at very
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Mostly, but I don't know about everyone else, but when I watch any video of a decent length (usually more then 10 minutes), I get "memory buffer full" (or something like that) errors.
I want to know how they plan on caching the videos when with a few (one to three) Wiiware / VC games and a average amount of savefiles practically fills up the Wiis memory. I don't even want to think about what would happen if you are a VC junkie or play Rock Band / Guitar Hero with DLC. Caching to the ram gives less than 88MB
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You can play Guitar Hero DLC from an SD card, but yeah, I agree with you that this doesn't really sound like something that fits in with the Wii universe. Unlike the HD consoles, both of which set out to be media centers. When the Wii launched they were explicit that they did not want it to be one, which is why it doesn't play DVD movies even though it has a DVD drive.
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which is why it doesn't play DVD movies even though it has a DVD drive.
Which is nice in a way, to be honest; the Wii's DVD drive goes at a steady pace and so should have a longer life time (not to mention the flash storage).
It really makes me rage though that VC titles won't run off SD cards. I know they're worried about AverageDick loading his piratebay ROMs on an SD card into his Wii, but geez you'd think at this point they could figure out some form of minor-to-moderate encryption/checksum system to only allow Wii-bought games to run and let everyone go home happy...
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