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Google Businesses PlayStation (Games) The Internet Wii Entertainment Games

YouTube Coming To the PS3 and Wii 87

Clara writes "The YouTube blog has announced that YouTube is on its way to the PlayStation 3 and Wii. From the article: 'Have you ever wanted to just sit on your couch and watch YouTube on your TV? Well, now that's possible via YouTube for Television, initially available through the Sony PS3 and Nintendo Wii game consoles at www.youtube.com/tv. Currently in beta, the TV Website offers a dynamic, lean-back, 10-foot television viewing experience.' No YouTube for Xbox, however (Google must simply not have gotten around to Microsoft yet)."
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YouTube Coming To the PS3 and Wii

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  • by Anonymous Coward

    You can already watch youtube on those systems...

    • by grumbel ( 592662 )

      You can watch youtube on those systems, but its not exactly a perfectly smooth experience. On the Wii half the time I tried it videos would either just stop in the middle randomly, continue to play in the background when switching to fullscreen and a ton of other annoyances. So a little compatibility testing and a more streamlined interface would be more then welcome.

      • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

        by retyurecvb ( 1442035 )
        On the Wii it stutters a tad and runs at a poor framerate, which is unfortunate. Would be better if they released a Youtube channel that works without Flash and the Opera browser running, but I don't see that happening any time soon unless the homebrew community cooks something up. I recall there being a port of mplayer to the Wii that supports Youtube streaming which ran perfectly, but it was far from user-friendly. IIRC, you had to copy/paste the URLs into a text file via your PC, so no simple TV-style
      • by Mike Hicks ( 244 )

        I tried YouTube's TV interface on my PS3 yesterday. While I appreciated some aspects of the simplified interface, it seemed that the video playback itself was less pleasant. The framerate just about chopped in half if I attempted to play video in full-screen, and there were some annoyances with the progress bar and control buttons -- the progress bar didn't seem to work right, and the play/fullscreen/etc. buttons were just aesthetically displeasing.

        I also ran into the problem where some videos are "not av

    • uh, if you've ever tried to read 12-point text on a non-HD glass tube, then yes, you are definitely missing something.

      i tried out the new interface last night. it's great. simple and streamlined, yet functional. unfortunately it doesn't solve the crappy framerate and buffering problems.

    • With the internet interface. This one is made specifically to be viewed on a TV screen.
  • Google (Score:4, Insightful)

    by ubergamer1337 ( 912210 ) on Saturday January 17, 2009 @01:21AM (#26494319)
    "(Google must simply not have gotten around to Microsoft yet)." And they will probably take their sweet time, too.
  • PS3 (Score:4, Informative)

    by corychristison ( 951993 ) on Saturday January 17, 2009 @01:26AM (#26494351)

    You can already use YouTube on PS3 via the web browser. It works fine.

    So are they just slapping in a new theme?

    • I would disagree. I have a PS3, and while I can watch YouTube videos on it, there are several minor playback issues -- in particular, the audio and video are not fully synched, and occasionally playback hiccups as it gets resynched. It's very noticable in videos that rely heavily on rhythm, such as drumming videos.

    • No real difference except a big button that says YOUTUBE for non-slashdotters who don't understand that WebBrowser = YouTube. Remember, most people don't know what a web browser is, as far as they're concerned the internet is IE rather than IE being an internet device.

  • I distinctly remember watching youtube on my television through my Wii 2 years ago.

    my house had wifi, the wii picked it up, i went to youtube, and watched a bunch of videos.

    what is new here?
    a streamlined interface?
    is that it?

  • by Anonymous Coward

    Nintendo is good at making games, but it seems to treat there users as baby when ever it comes to options and technical things like an internet browser, if a screen has more then 4 buttons on it It makes the developers fear its too complicated, how much do you bet its internet browser will nothing like Firefox in terms of usefulness

  • From the article
    ""10-foot television viewing experience through a streamlined interface that enables you to discover, watch and share YouTube videos on any TV screen with just a few quick clicks of your remote control. With enlarged text and simplified navigation, it makes watching YouTube on your TV as easy and intuitive as possible.""

    In short it will provide the PS3 and Wii the exact same non-browser based setup that most quality HTPC software has had for years. Except that with most HTPC software now you

    • In short it will provide the PS3 and Wii the exact same non-browser based setup that most quality HTPC software has had for years.

      But most non-geeks still don't own and don't think they want a home theater PC. Otherwise, more of the arcade-style games that are currently released only on consoles would get ported to Windows.

      • But most non-geeks still don't own and don't think they want a home theater PC. Otherwise, more of the arcade-style games that are currently released only on consoles would get ported to Windows.

        I spent a couple of minutes trying to craft a statement as developmentally retarded as this one, but I failed.

        A Home Theater PC might be capable of playing games, but it's not necessarily used for same.

        If I were a games developer with a game that fits well on console, and I wouldn't make dramatically more money by adding a PC port, I wouldn't bother to do one at all. Supporting a console game is practically a non-issue compared to a PC game.

        • by tepples ( 727027 )

          If I were a games developer with a game that fits well on console, and I wouldn't make dramatically more money by adding a PC port, I wouldn't bother to do one at all.

          Which was sort of my point. HTPCs aren't widespread enough that game publishers large enough to have a console license would make more money by adding a PC port.

  • This has been around since launch on the PS3 and the Opera "channel" on Wii. Sure it sounds like they are doing some tweaking, but to suggest that Youtube on these systems is new is just lame. Have the Slashdot editorial staff every played a modern console, or learned how to formulate a Google search?
    • Personally, while I can watch embedded YouTube videos, my Wii won't let me watch them from the YouTube site. Claims my version of Flash is out of date, and it's impossible to update.

      I would like to actually browse YouTube from my Wii, so this new setup is a good thing.

      • Are you sure? Because this is one of the listed features of Opera Wii, if it isn't working for you I suggest a Google search. If it isn't working it is a bug- it should be and I think it does work for the vast majority of us.
        • I'd like to add, that I just used it an hour ago for this very purpose. It certainly should work.
          • Then it's a bug in my system. I get told every time that I only have Flash 7, and need to upgrade. But WiiOpera can't upgrade.

            If it's embedded, it's fine, but surfing YouTube itself is useless.

            • Yeah I would suggest you send an email to Opera, they are quite nice. Or post on their forums. Of course this may not be worth the time to you, but it might as well. I'm also somewhat sure that Nintendo will allow you to re-download channels if you delete them- though you should certainly look that up before trashing it, and re-installing. Best of luck, its a great feature.
  • by pasamio ( 737659 ) on Saturday January 17, 2009 @03:44AM (#26495001) Homepage

    Google, in its infinite wisdom, keeps redirecting me to the Australian version of YouTube and the "YouTube Australia's Official Blog". I thought it might be when I was logged in, so I set my location to be the United States and still got redirected. I logged out and still keep getting the stupid Australian blog. Funnily enough it displays a nice big white area where you would expect the content of the article to be. I know, I know, this is my punishment for trying to RTFA.

    • Go into your web browser's cookie manager and delete the cookies for www.youtube.com and au.youtube.com and you shouldn't be redirected any more.

  • I dunno about the rest of you guys, but I've been able to watch youtube on my wii for at least a year.
  • For those who don't want to read the article, just head to http://www.youtube.com/tv [youtube.com] on the appropriate console browser.

    This is a slight disappointment. It's nice to have a new TV-friendly interface, but it's a little bit stretch to say "Youtube is coming to consoles". You still need the web browser, and the Internet Channel on Wii isn't free. I was expecting a separate free app that was optimised for Wii (or PS3); that would have been more efficient and probably more portable, as paradoxical as it may seem

    • Did I miss something? I didn't buy the internet channel; I got it for free.

      Of course, when I got it, it was a free beta test of the internet channel, buuuut it does everything the regular internet channel does, and if I go to the Wii Shop, it doesn't have an option to purchase the internet channel, and shows me as already having downloaded the internet channel.

      So, if they made it cost money now, it was free for pretty much the first year that the Wii was being sold (if not longer, as I got the internet

      • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

        by Nivoset ( 607957 )
        its 500 points now, i would have had free one, but my wii was stolen
      • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

        As someone else has pointed out and what you're fumbling at: When the "beta" was released a couple of weeks after the release of Wii (in the UK at least), it was free. Subsequent updates to the Internet Channel have all been free for me for the past 2 years or so. Now I believe it costs 500 points to new users. Wikipedia confirms:

        The Internet Channel is a version of the Opera 9 web browser for use on the Wii by Opera Software and Nintendo.[1] On December 22, 2006, a free beta version (promoted as a "trial

  • Not worth it for me if I have to pay - computer is sitting only a few feet away.

    • by tepples ( 727027 )

      Not worth it for me if I have to pay - computer is sitting only a few feet away.

      For $10, North American customers can buy a copy of Internet Channel and Super Mario 3. It might be worth it for people who don't have a PC in the same room as the big TV, who would otherwise have to pay $500 to have another PC built with a video card that has composite out. (None of the PCs at Office Depot have it.)

  • i'm watching youtube videos in opera quite from the start of the wii ... and it's nearly fullscreen.

  • Microsoft has a slightly different content policy on their machine.

    They keep a very tight hold on what may live on their platform, and generally they try to "monetize" whatever goes on it.

    No web browser, no youtube, no BBC iPlayer.

    They have started to slowly embrace the concept user-created-content (and eventually free-as-in-beer content) through XNA, but the real ethos of Xbox is the ultimate walled-garden, money-tree entertainment device. Time will tell as to whether this is the best avenue for them to go

  • I already do this with a Neuros OSD [neurostechnology.com] :-D.

    -Ghostis

  • "Have you ever wanted to just sit on your couch and watch YouTube on your TV?"

    No.

    Besides, you can enter YouTube through your Wii since the Internet Channel exists.

  • imeem.com used to have a special version for the wii browser which let you play all their music, but it seemed to stop working. It had a few bugs, but it was amazing to be able to search for any artist and play all their music instantly.
  • Works quite well. It did work before, or course, but the interface is a bit simplified, and font sizes have been adjusted for being viewed from a distance.

  • From the article: 'Have you ever wanted to just sit on your couch and watch YouTube on your TV?...' No, actually, I never have. And based on the quality of the content on YouTube, I never will.
  • Meh (Score:3, Funny)

    by ArtDent ( 83554 ) on Saturday January 17, 2009 @08:00PM (#26501963)

    Just gave it a try on my Wii. The interface is pretty nice. But it still uses the browser, and the big issue is the suckiness of the ancient Flash plug-in. The video is extremely jittery, so even with the nicer interface, I still don't think it's worth using.

    It's kind of surprising to me that they'd invest this effort, but not bother to try to fix the big issue. I'd think a custom application, like the one on iPhone, would be a much better solution.

    Or Adobe could suck less.

  • Or you can just install TVersity on your main PC. That way you can stream videos to your PS3 OR Xbox, including direct access to Youtube.
  • by Anonymous Coward

    Q: 'Have you ever wanted to just sit on your couch and watch YouTube[...]'

    A: NO! NO, GODDAMNIT! Every fucking time I go to that festering pit of desperate wannabes called YouTube, I do so with a specific purpose and hopefully a specific video link! And I leave the site immediately once I've seen what I need to see.

    Some people have no interest in passively consuming whatever tripe the delusional people who submit YouTube videos produce. DELUSIONAL. Why? Someone who posts assumes that others care. Well, we do

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