Nintendo President Claims You'll Use Nintendo TVii Every Day

[MikeWehner]

Nintendo President Claims You'll Use Nintendo TVii Every Day

Nintendo is betting on its media aggregator to be a "better mousetrap" for consumers.

Nintendo's always outspoken Reggie Fils-Aime thinks the Wii U's built-in TVii feature is going to get you to use the new console every day, regardless of your gaming habits. In speaking with The Seattle Times [http://seattletimes.com/html/technologybrierdudleysblog/2019376473_qa_nintendo_boss_on_wii_u_appl.html], the Nintendo of America president even went so far as to call the social media app "a better moustrap" that the company feels will get consumers more comfortable with the console and eventually lead to more games being played.

Nintendo TVii is somewhat of a hybrid cross between a social network and a media aggregator. When you're looking for something to watch, the TVii app will search all of your available streaming services and your local cable listings.

The TVii service doesn't provide any actual content of its own, but rather relies on your existing subscriptions to services like Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Instant Video. The Wii U's tablet controller can be used as a second screen to watch content from these services even while your main TV is being used for something else.

Users can then share opinions, ratings, and comments about the program they are watching via built-in Facebook and Twitter functionality. TVii will also work with Nintendo's own Miiverse social network, which connects you to the gamers on your friends list.

It's unclear how Nintendo hopes TVii will actually lead to more people playing videogames - regardless of how familiar they become with the new gamepad. Using a tablet as a navigation tool to watch The Big Lebowski on Netflix is a bit of a far cry from playing a platformer or shooter, but if you do end up using the Wii U every day because of it, it's a win/win either way.

Source: The Seattle Times [http://seattletimes.com/html/technologybrierdudleysblog/2019376473_qa_nintendo_boss_on_wii_u_appl.html]

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[Mr. Omega]

Well, in a business sense, they seem to be going about it in a somewhat smarter way. Rather than fight the competition, they're trying to work with them while adding their own little thing to it. And that whole "watching content that isn't on the main TV" will look good to parents or kids with a lot of siblings. I can already see the commercials made for it.

I'm not really interested in using my game console for TV, or even the whole MiiVerse thing in general. The claim is exaggerated, but that's marketing speak for you. It'll probably be interesting for a lot of people, just not to me.

 

[ToastiestZombie]

You should really say Nintendo America President Claims... instead of Nintendo President Claims... mainly because Iwata is the main president, and it could make a bit of confusion.

OT: I'm actually quite looking forward to this idea. It sucks having to go into Netflix, find out they don't have the thing you want then have to go to whatever else to find what you want. So something that simply shows me what service I have has what is good, especially when I can watch it whilst people are still in the room. Looks like a massive upgrade from the Xbox and PS3 video streaming services.

 

[Rassmusseum]

My immediate thought upon seeing this article is: how does one pronounce the phrase "Nintendo TVii"?

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

This is an excellent idea. I've got a homebrew enabled Wii, and I almost never play games on it, but I use the media player apps (my favorite is WiiMC, although I sometimes use MPlayer CE on videos that it has issues with) pretty much daily. I honestly think Nintendo screwed up the last two gens by ignoring the possibility of allowing their hardware to work as a media hub, especially last gen, what with the launch of DVD and the expense of the early players. The free DVD player is a big part of why the PS2 won that console war, and I'm pretty sure Bluray only won its format war because of the PS3.

 

[RanceJustice]

Will it be able to do these searches in a way that respects my privacy? Or will it be datamined to hell and back and sold to the highest bidder? Will you be able to add your own dynamic listings even say... a RSS feed of your favorite torrent site's TV listings? So how will it work with regards to those with say, high end digital cable packages? Will it be able to show me the entire Comcast digital listing for every channel, similar to the guide I'd get on the screen? I can't imagine it will actually allow me to watch any medium that isn't Internet-based (ie Cable TV). Will it be capable of playing content hosted on the local network through say, NFS or SAMBA shares? Will the player be able to handle 1080p video files and even more important, will it have codec support from everything from FLAC audio to 10-bit MKV container H264 video with multiple subtitle streams? I'm rather sick of how consoles have been claiming "media" capability but are limited to such a small amount of codecs, streaming crap, or proprietary formats, that its useless for me. If it has the codec support of at least a WDTV Live box or VLC player 2.0, now we're getting somewhere. Will I be able to totally avoid the social networking features if so I choose?

If it can't provide the features I'm looking for while respecting my privacy, I don't see how it will be useful. It will be a waste to create these "media" functions if they're so completely underwhelming and not even able to incorporate free and open source software compatibility (ie. no royalties for FLAC or SAMBA etc...), to meet a "baseline" of usage, much less claiming that they have something new that will revolutionize TV. Consoles still have a long way to go to even provide functionality in line with say, VLC Media Player 2.0 / MPC-HC / MPlayer software or a WDTV box's video player. Stop providing all this "social" crap if you can't even get the basics right. Create a strong core as a media player, then move to a media center similar to XBMC etc... and do it all with the users in mind, not advertising dollars.

 

[SuperTrainStationH]

... So how will it work with regards to those with say, high end digital cable packages? Will it be able to show me the entire Comcast digital listing for every channel, similar to the guide I'd get on the screen? I can't imagine it will actually allow me to watch any medium that isn't Internet-based (ie Cable TV)...

Nintendo specifically said that Nintendo TVii would have that functionality back when the service was first announced.

 

[Beautiful End]

My immediate thought upon seeing this article is: how does one pronounce the phrase "Nintendo TVii"?

Umm...my guess is...as if you were yelling it at someone...?

Nintendo Tee VEEEEEEEEEEE!

I dunno...

OT: That's a smart idea. Sony and MS obviously beat them to the punch and, while I admit Nintendo was innovative and creative with the motion controllers and stuff, they fell behind on that social media thing. Combine that with the fact that you use your tablet without bothering someone else and it sounds like a good deal.

Too bad I still won't get a WiiU.

 

[General Vagueness]

This is probably the most unbelievable thing I've seen all week... Nintendo's calling this TVii?

So the only real thing this is bringing to the table that others aren't is that it adds local cable listings (And even then, the Ps3 has done that for about 3 years with PlayTV). So Nintendo's reasoning for why they'll get a WiiU instead of sticking with the Tablet they already have, is that they believe people who have Netflix still want to watch regular TV.

Yeah, are we seeing the problem with that logic yet?

"Nintendo's reasoning for why they'll get a WiiU" they, who?

 

[Pebkio]

Oh Peter Molyneux, your grandiose claims never cease to ama... what? Reggie Fils-Aime said that? Are you sure? This seems like such a Molyneuxism. Well... okay then.

Oh Reggie Fils-Aime, you're sure going to be disappointed...

 

[Something Amyss]

So...I can watch netflix on the controller, just like I can do on my tablet, phone, and computer?

Wait...Why don't I just use my tablet, phone or computer?

 

[GTwander]

You know... I didn't get the memo whatsoever, but the moment I saw the title of this thread I said to myself;

"Shit, Reggie must be high again".

 

[General Vagueness]

This is probably the most unbelievable thing I've seen all week... Nintendo's calling this TVii?

So the only real thing this is bringing to the table that others aren't is that it adds local cable listings (And even then, the Ps3 has done that for about 3 years with PlayTV). So Nintendo's reasoning for why they'll get a WiiU instead of sticking with the Tablet they already have, is that they believe people who have Netflix still want to watch regular TV.

Yeah, are we seeing the problem with that logic yet?

"Nintendo's reasoning for why they'll get a WiiU" they, who?

People whose houses don't just have a TV and nothing else.

but you said that was about why they'd do that "instead of sticking with the Tablet they already have"
any way you put it it sounds like you're saying everyone has a tablet, which isn't even remotely true