Nintendo plans to launch a video channel in spring 2009 for its money-printing machine, the Wii game console.

The video-distribution service will initially only be available in Japan in collaboration with Dentsu, the country’s largest advertising firm. According to the AFP news group, Nintendo expects the service to offer a mix of free and pay-per-view videos.

"Nintendo and Dentsu shall use the environment surrounding the Wii so that living rooms with Wii-ready TVs would become more of a fun area for communication among families and friends," the firms said in a translated joint statement.

Nintendo is following Sony and Microsoft, which both already offer video services on their flagship consoles. Nintendo, however, plans to focus on original, family-oriented programming to differentiate their service.

While few other details are offered about Nintendo’s video channel, it’s likely safe to rule out anything but streaming videos being on the service, given the console’s lack of a hard drive. ®

Via Theregister

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