Wii Commences Quest For Telly Convergence

Previously on Televised Revolution, we marveled at the content possibilities of the Nintendo Wii. While Sony and Microsoft designed their consoles as multi-media hubs, The Nintendo Wii has endless possibilities as a gateway to online content.

With a partnership announced between Nintendo and Dentsu, this possibility is closer to being reality.

Reuters have reported that Japans largest advertising agency Dentsu Inc have teamed with Nintendo to offer a video distribution service. The video content will be a mixture of pay and advertising-supported material.

While I see gateway devices like this as the future of television content, it is important to ensure that they are an open gateway, enabling users to seek and utilise as broad a variety of content as they so desire. Dentsu and Nintendo have instead decided that they will seek to create content exclusively for the Wii. The idea of delivering video downloads via the Wii is certainly exciting, but the desire to create exclusive content is ever so similar to Telco’s attempts to do likewise in the past. Telstras content in the early days of the broadband Bigpond service comes to mind.

Televised Revolution isn’t advocating yet another venue by which to download episodes of Gossip Girl, but it does appreciate the possibilities inherent in bringing video content easily to the lounge-room. Creating content in itself simply isn’t enough for a platform to be a success. If Nintendo is going to be successful with this venture, that content had better be compelling viewing.