Hey humans! So Hastings was
telling us the truth after all -- the Nintendo Wii will be joining the other two game consoles to stream
Netflix starting some time in early Spring.
Like the PS3, a special Netflix "instant-streaming" disc will be required for the Wii, and it goes without saying that HD's out of the question since the Wii itself can't push above 480p. There'll be no additional fees beyond Netflix's usual monthly subscription. Time for a game of Mario Kart to celebrate, no?
Update: the
Netflix sign-up page is now live! [Via
Joystiq]
posted January 13th 2010 12:59AM
just one of the features that will soon be coming to the next generation wii/wii2/wiiwii/wiiHD/wii360/wiicast/puu/number2/revolution2/grandsonofthegamecube/homo snesion/whatever it might be called
I still love my ORIGINAL xBox with XBMC as my media center.
Netflix doesn't have many movies for streaming. Not many in HD at all. It's full of old films and ones you have never heard of.
@jaz
Its got lots of classic good movies everyone has already seen. Plus alot of really old movies no one wants to see. And Indy stuff no on cares about.
Its got some good stuff, but it doesn' take long to run out of things to watch. Dexter +1.
@jayleigh
I currently have a Wii and a Netlfix account. Of the 227 films on my queue, 68 of them are available streaming. It costs netflix $.05 to stream a video, and $.60 to mail one out. The more streaming they do, the more $ they can save to use to purchase streaming rights for more movies.
I don't know why anyone has a problem with Wii streaming Netflix. It doesn't negatively affect anyone. If you want HiDef, you prob have a blu-ray or PS3 already. I don't think Nintendo is trying to lure more people to Wii, I think they are trying to prevent their Wii owners from moving to other systems.
I hate streaming movies on my computer so this news is very exciting for me.
I've got a 360 and the netflix streaming would be nice except that our DSL connection isn't really up to streaming HD video. What happens is that it will start out looking really good (720p, it would seem), then partway through the video stops and the screen goes blank except for a line saying that it has to adjust for changes in the network, and then it comes back and it looks completely abominable with terrible compression. Later it will often hiccup again and then be back to 720p. Aside from the times when it looks absolutely atrocious, those hiccups are incredibly annoying/jarring, when your trying to watch a movie. I'm hoping that netflix on the Wii will avoid this since it won't be trying to stream 720p, it will be going with 480p. And 480p looks pretty good to my eyes. If it will play the streams without the hiccups and drops to terrible compression, I'd call it a win. Of course, we shall see how well it performs come this Spring.... Also, I wish it didn't require a disk, but I'll take hiccup-free streams over that.
Does it require you to enter a friend code every time you want to play a movie?
Regardless of the 480 quality (lets face it, depending on your pipe the compression is going to kick in and the streaming quality would be less than that of a DVD to begin with, even viewed on a computer or Netflix enabled BR player) this is still a good thing.
If you've already got a Wii but not a BR player, no more streaming to your laptop, do it to your main system with the Wiimote as a nice point-n-shoot remote control.
Plus, as someone else pointed out as well, the more 'set top boxes' Netflix has in the customer pool, (which one assumes increases their potential customer base as well), the more incentive to increase streamable titles.
Quality-snobs may scoff, but they can always do their streaming to a BR player, Xbox, whatever. The availability of Netflix on Wii is still good news for them.
too little, too late.
This is great news! If only I didn't live in Canada...
@decypherSMC netflix is expanding with streaming only internationally this year to atleast one country. could be canada or throughout europe somewhere. so this is a great move as most of the world has a wii vs a ps3 or 360. if more people sign up for netflix then more content netflix can get, they already said they need to get more sign ups so they can get deals worked out with hbo, showtime, epixhd much like they did with starz. and only 1/4th of the usa even has hd.
@gamedude360 That'd be awesome if it were coming to Canada. I have ps3 and a wii.
Nintendo needs to stop trying to play catch-up with the PS3 and the 360. It is the clear loser in multimedia from the start; 480 output is clearly the limitation here and most if not all of us tech-heads here at engadget have 720/1080 LEDs/plasmas.
@firstGloomyBear they aren't just gearing for the minority here, netflix wants mass appeal, so everyone. many only stream 480p for a while. pc cant even do hd. so you have several options. if u want netflix and dont have an hd tv or just want it on an extra tv thats not hd. you either can buy a wii if you are a gamer, or get the roku sd which is 79.99 but the wii wil support 480p the roku sd only 480i so you have the option of the roku hd that also does sd at 480p via component. for $99. netflix wants to be on everything that it can play on. its all about having choices.
I wonder if the disc is going to be free
@paranoea911 yes much like the ps3 one its free
From someone who use to love Nintendo i am actually turning my back on them and sort of hate them now. Sure graphic isnt everything but wii is crap really. Even old XBOX is better then Wii in term of performance.
I do want high resolution on my LCD and soon LED. I wish more people would realize how cheap N is and how expensive their hardware is compared to what you actually get.
They dont even enable DVD so they can earn even more. And Wii isnt cheap to start with. Sure its a little cheaper then 360/PS3 but i would buy any one of them then wii. Actually i have both :)
@vampyren it cost money to allow dvd movie access, why would nintendo pay that? almost everyone has multiple dvd players
@gamedude360
This is exactly the mentality that makes companies like Nintendo cheap B!
Not everyone wants to have several boxes under their TV's you know.I maybe want to buy a Wii for my daughter, does that mean i should get a separate dvd player is she wants to watch movies? Think a bit outside of your box.
Considering how much wii costs it should even be able to play BD i think. I mean seriously the only selling argument today is the control so atleast DVD player should be included as standard.
Sorry but i'm tired of people defending Nintendo at this point! As consumers we should stick together and put more requirement on companies not the other way around.
Just wait until Blockbuster catches up, though, with their instant streaming 8-track tape!
OK< now for the serious question...I have a Wii connected via WiFi to my FiOS router. I am still using an old Sony CRT TV. Any ideas on how large the picture would actually be? Doesn't sound like streaming HD would be feasible anyway...so I'm glad I never bought an HDTV...just wondering, and please feel free to laugh at my expense ;-)
Im such a tech dummy, but wish I knew mor and thats why Im here!! So I was totally sold HD cables for my Wii.. Of course the picture is not any better!!!!