New service to feature celebrity Miis, DSi connectivity, and both free and paid programming.
In December of 2008, Nintendo announced that it would be partnering with Japanese Media Giant Dentsu to bring a new video-on-demand service to the Wii. Today the channel was unveiled as “Wii no Ma”. The channel will offer a main menu that resembles a living room, and up to eight registered Miis can exist in the virtual room and interact with each other.
Clicking on the TV in the room will take you to your selected programming. Once players are done viewing the video, they can rate it by placing their Miis in colored squares. Clicking on the plant in the room takes users to a partner company’s page featuring videos of their services and products, which can be purchased and delivered to a pre-registered address.
Nintendo is planning to team up with celebrities to present special programming. The celebrity Miis will visit the virtual home and present the video to your virtual family.
The DSi will also be heavily integrated with the new channel. Players can transfer video to their DSi for on-the-go programming by downloading the “Dokodemo Wii no Ma” Channel. This application can be downloaded from the DSi shop.
Nintendo mentions that while the service is currently limited, it will grow over time. No details on video pricing have been made available.
Wii no Ma Channel and Dokodemo Wii no Ma Channel will be available for download in Japan on May 1st.