Tag: Nintento

N Squared: Netflix & Nintendo’s Wii Team Up

Netflix and Nintendo recently announced plans to bring a little more joy into the world. To the delight of twenty-six million US Wii owners, Netflix’s online streaming video service will soon be available through Nintendo’s Wii gaming console. Netflix, based in the Bay Area, boasts eleven million subscribers to its DVD-by-mail business. Fifty percent of those users are also viewing movies and shows online – an enormous growth from the twenty percent that used the service when it was first offered. Netflix attributes its dramatic growth to the streaming media technology.  It’s a no-brainer that adding Wii to the mix will contribute to a steady growth in the service.

If you’re not hip to the Netflix jive, here’s how it works:  On Netflix, internet video streaming, notated as “Watch Instantly” on the site, is available free with regular subscription service. This functionality enables viewers to watch movies directly on a PC or TV. Videos can also be viewed on Blu-ray players, Roku set-top boxes, and gaming consoles.  Wii, the gaming industry’s most popular console, will be the third console to offer the service.

To utilize the service with no extra fees, Wii owners need to have a broadband Internet connection and an unlimited Netflix subscription plan. These plans start at $8.99 per month. There is a free software disc that Wii owners must pop into their console when they want to watch a movie. These discs can easily be requested on the Netflix website now for free shipment when they become available this spring.

Two competing consoles, the Sony PlayStation 3 and Microsoft’s Xbox 360, already offer the Netflix service. Netflix’s streaming catalog can also be accessed by LG and Samsung Blu-ray players, TiVo, a set-top box from Roku, and even some TVs. In order to compete with the PS3 and Xbox’s high-definition streaming video power, it might behoove Nintendo to develop an HD version for the Wii.  Although there had been some speculation about it, Nintendo confirmed that they will not be releasing Wii in HD. The company maintains that their focus is on the gameplay experience, not visuals.

Currently, Netflix’s streaming service features more than 17,000 movies and recorded television shows. At a time when Americans are forced trim down expenses, Netflix’s choice to capitalize on the streaming media is improving their staying power. The service is cost effective and provides the viewer with a greater depth of service. This value has the potential to encourage subscribers to keep Netflix in queue, if you will.

Top Ten Video Game PR Moments of 2009

Lists
It’s December, and ’tis the season to sit back with friends and family, have some eggnog, and organize an entire year’s worth of events into convenient, easily understandable list form – preferably condensing it to no more than 10 events, otherwise you’ll be… hey what’s that over there? That’s right! It’s a list of the ten most defining PR moments in the video game industry in 2009. What better way to get into the season of unabashed navel-gazing than to summarize the most successful, and failed, attempts at bolstering one’s public image.

#10 – OnLive Streams GDC 2009 – Cloud computing was all the rage this past March when OnLive announced that it had been in stealth mode for seven years and was close to achieving the un-achievable – streaming intensely complex video games to any television or PC. With a major funding announcement combined with a near-fully operational playable prototype, OnLive stole the show with little effort. A perfect PR storm, hardly anything else came close to generating the amout of buzz OnLive did at GDC 2009. Since then, however, we’ve heard hardly a peep, and GDC 2010 is just around the corner. Will it be another seven years until we hear from OnLive again?

#9 – 2K fouls EA at the line – A good thing to keep in mind when promoting your own game is that you should focus on promoting your own game. Never talk badly about a competitor, keep them close for they are your enemy. Such logic was not in mind when 2K Sports community manager Ronnie Singh accused EA of developing a patch for NBA Live 10 before the game was released, saying that their incorporation of community feedback was an exageration. Flame war! These two companies battled it out for days in blogs and on Twitter. Sadly, no one came out on top, and both groups ended up looking silly. What happened to being the bigger person?

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