Is Nintendo prepping movies for the Wii?

Movies on the Wii coming soon?
Movies on the Wii coming soon?

One of the big reasons 'movies on demand' may just work is because of games consoles.

In the UK the Xbox 360 is streets ahead, with its online movie service; in the US Sony is edging forward with the news that every major movie studio is now signed up to delivering films through the PS3.

This is all good and well but one quite important name is so far missing from this list: Nintendo.

Movie streaming this year

According to Curt Marvis, President of Digital Media for Lionsgate, this may not be the case much longer.

In an interview with Variety, he has hinted that Nintendo could be prepping a movie service for the Wii.

"The thing that is clearly a force in digital are the game devices," he said.

"I think when we see the Wii come into the market with the ability to stream movies, which I think is maybe going to happen as soon as this year, I think that's going to be a big marketplace for digital distribution."

Movies on the Wii this year! Now this would be something to get very excited about, except for the fact that if it were to happen, it would probably debut in Japan and the US before slowly making its way to Blighty.

Obviously, the Wii isn't exactly prepared for downloading movies – lack of storage is a big issue, and HD is out of the question, but a simple streaming service would definitely suit the Wii and its users.

Via Variety

Marc Chacksfield

Marc Chacksfield is the Editor In Chief, Shortlist.com at DC Thomson. He started out life as a movie writer for numerous (now defunct) magazines and soon found himself online - editing a gaggle of gadget sites, including TechRadar, Digital Camera World and Tom's Guide UK. At Shortlist you'll find him mostly writing about movies and tech, so no change there then.