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Wii News Channel launches

Nintendo releases its Associated Press-driven online news service for the Wii in Europe and North America.

As part of its strategy to attract nontraditional gamers to its latest console, Nintendo has offered a number of nontraditional features for the Wii, including Internet browsing and a Weather Channel with forecasts from around the globe. Today the third such offering arrived on the system in the form of the Wii News Channel, a feed of recent Associated Press stories and pictures delivered to the Wii via its Internet connection.

There are currently eight news sections: National News, Regional News, International News, Sports, Arts/Entertainment, Business, Science/Health, and Technology. Users can view the headlines for each topic or spin a virtual globe to see all news by city or region. Different icons indicate whether the news story can be shown by region and whether it has photos attached.

Later in the year, an updated version of the News Channel will be made available in Europe, which will show "more extensive" European news for free.

205 Comments

  • neo16161616

    Posted Apr 1, 2007 9:33 am GMT

    w00t!

  • xatman911

    Posted Feb 1, 2007 10:02 am GMT

    Who needs Sky or Ntl service providers for tv when you have the Wii, lol.

  • zeldaknowitall

    Posted Jan 31, 2007 4:56 pm GMT

    haha! that would be cool if the tempurature went up when spinning it. spin it real fast to splash water out of the ocean!

  • Toxic_Platypus

    Posted Jan 31, 2007 7:57 am GMT

    ztermin8ter shut up both wii and 360 own wnd o story

  • Fooljeff

    Posted Jan 31, 2007 6:50 am GMT

    When you spin the globe the temperature should increase everywhere.

  • DFTricks

    Posted Jan 31, 2007 4:40 am GMT

    Right now it sucks for French Canadian cuz if you want french news you get the news from France -_-' and the only way to get Canadian news is to put ur Wii in english. It's the first time Nintendo dosent make contact with the french part of Canada.

  • Krazykraz01

    Posted Jan 29, 2007 11:50 am GMT

    Um, you can, Alexandru.

  • cjcr_alexandru

    Posted Jan 29, 2007 9:28 am GMT

    Now, you can't read the articles from gamespot.com using the Wii, can you?

  • DiscGuru101

    Posted Jan 29, 2007 8:51 am GMT

    --The international news is very extensive. Im loving it. MS needs to bite the bullet and publish a web browser for the 360.

  • theKSMM

    Posted Jan 28, 2007 11:39 pm GMT

    The Wii's additional features are interesting virtual tchotchkes that I find amusing. I still think most people are going to go to their PCs or broadcast TV for their news and weather, but I think it's interesting to have the channels there if you happen to already have the Wii remote in your hand. (And I still think the Wii's browser is a lot better than the PS3's.)

  • xtermin8er93

    Posted Jan 28, 2007 7:39 pm GMT

    Hoo cares, da Wii suks. Da Xbox 360 roks!!!

  • Zacek1000

    Posted Jan 28, 2007 1:55 pm GMT

    Great! I want to see the news on my TV!

  • GonzoGuy

    Posted Jan 28, 2007 12:53 pm GMT

    I love spinnin the globe.

    "To die for an idea; it is unquestionably noble. But how much nobler it would be if men died for ideas that were true!"
    H. L. Mencken

  • GrimBee

    Posted Jan 28, 2007 9:18 am GMT

    Henry_the_Horseradish - "hahaha. PS3 comes with a controller too remember. If any one has ever paid anything but $10 for a HDMI cable then you're an idiot. "

    You say things like "you have to buy a gamecube controller"... yet, you add it as a full price peripheral. If everyone is going to the second hand/cheaper product route, and not the official product route, then basically you can get an SD for £5, a gamecube controller for £2.
    You know, if you think non-official stuff is better..

    You are basically stating that the wii is expensive, with accessories and a few games. Yet, completely deny that the ps3 is expensive and "value for money" as a games machine.

    Comparing prices of the ps3 and the Wii is a bit silly, its like saying "I can either buy a car or a van". Only one type of product will suit a very specific kind of user, the wii appeals to more users as it is made to be like this.

    Out of the box, with a game the wii is £179.99. If you want extra stuff, you can get it.
    Ps3 is expensive right out of the box costing over 2x more than a wii, with NO games. When you say the wii is expensive, yet the ps3 is value for money, surely you can't stand by that, because they are completely different products. Likewise you cant say that a Van is value for money when you dont want to carry things in it.

    Anyways, I think that the news channel will be good, and it only makes other console zealots furious (Like henry here) because their fave console hasn't quite nailed exactly what it is supposed to be doing. Wii is a step closer to getting what it is supposed to do out of the door. And it looks mighty fine from where I am standing.

    I can see your point about VC games being expensive, but not about the ps3 being "cheap" and making excuses for it whilst bashing everything about the wii.

  • kavadias1981

    Posted Jan 28, 2007 2:55 am GMT

    In British t.v news all we ever hear about is Iraq this and John Reid that. I personally love being able to read about what is actually happening in the world using Wii News.

    It is a really great channel and so simple to use. I really look forward to seeing what new channels will be appearing this year.

  • magesx

    Posted Jan 27, 2007 10:11 pm GMT

    Associated Press? They couldn't get anything unbiased?

  • ClassicMegatron

    Posted Jan 27, 2007 9:11 pm GMT

    Pretty cool. The zoom works alot better on the news that with the browser.

  • Maquis_UK

    Posted Jan 27, 2007 2:55 pm GMT

    and it rocks. :-)

  • zintarr

    Posted Jan 27, 2007 10:42 am GMT

    $10 bucks says Microsoft copies this by summer. They better because I am a bit jealous about this one

  • Brainkiller05

    Posted Jan 27, 2007 9:17 am GMT

    Awesome, it's works very well great feature.

  • frostybubbler

    Posted Jan 27, 2007 7:21 am GMT

    I am also really impressed with the Wii News Channel. The slide show is the best!!

  • UltraWoody

    Posted Jan 27, 2007 7:12 am GMT

    No, there is no life outside of gaming. You need to stay home and play some Gears of War or Dead Rising. That'll fix you right up.

  • wingchunstudent

    Posted Jan 27, 2007 5:04 am GMT

    I just downloaded it and it is amazing. There is life outside of gaming.

  • Dreski83

    Posted Jan 27, 2007 3:45 am GMT

    If Nintendo wants to tip toe around the online matter, I hope they do even better with the Wii and DS

  • Willdyer10

    Posted Jan 27, 2007 1:11 am GMT

    Its a great channel!

  • Dolacide

    Posted Jan 27, 2007 12:16 am GMT

    That's cool.

  • Kravyn81

    Posted Jan 26, 2007 11:50 pm GMT

    You know, ever since I was a wee lad growing up in the hills of Irish Spring, there's always been one thing I've dreamed my gaming console to have, and that was a weather channel. I guess dreams really do come true.

  • trd_matrix000

    Posted Jan 26, 2007 10:12 pm GMT

    yeah i was really impressed.. very nice looking... the thing that makes the wii better for stuff like this, and the internet, is the whole mouse-like pointer.. no one else can copy that!! "(for now)

  • cobrax80

    Posted Jan 26, 2007 9:41 pm GMT

    it's a pretty awesome channel!

  • Igwababa

    Posted Jan 26, 2007 9:26 pm GMT

    Its kind of ironic how much media is in the wii even though nobody ever even though of it as a media hub

  • PuffstaJones

    Posted Jan 26, 2007 9:23 pm GMT

    Its pretty cool, i was impressed.

  • plutoknight

    Posted Jan 26, 2007 8:44 pm GMT

    I just got a look at this thing.........

    Pretty, pretty neat. Especially for the cost (free!!). It seems like all the major game consoles are becoming simply more than gaming machines....

    My Wii can check News and Weather on the fly. My 360 can watch movies (and TV shows? I can't remember). my PS3 can..........um...........browse the internet. Seriously, though, this news channel is pretty nifty. I like being able to see whats going on in the world without stealing a computer from someone in the house. And its.....right there. On my Wii. Which also plays games from a bazillion other consoles. Seriously, when MS said Nintendo was their biggest enemy.....they hit it on the head o.o.

  • grafkhun

    Posted Jan 26, 2007 8:35 pm GMT

    i got it and it is neat... worth eve- oh yeah i forgot it is FREE!!!! yay.

  • CyleM

    Posted Jan 26, 2007 8:34 pm GMT

    I love it because its nintendo and it is easier than having to get up and turn on my computer so i can just do whatever i want to on my Wii...

  • MarioMainic

    Posted Jan 26, 2007 8:30 pm GMT

    i like the news.

  • robfield

    Posted Jan 26, 2007 8:15 pm GMT

    I won't be surprised to see sony copy this idea...600 dollars you should get a little more

  • skywalker333

    Posted Jan 26, 2007 7:10 pm GMT

    quite good. i would like more pics though. not 1 in every 50 stories.

  • Valen_Ca

    Posted Jan 26, 2007 6:49 pm GMT

    This news thing is actually pretty cool, you can use the globe from the Weather channel to view what part of the world the stories are coming from.

  • Chainblast

    Posted Jan 26, 2007 6:37 pm GMT

    It is what it is, but it is good at what it is. Especially considering it's free. I hope the online store and the internet browser are brought up to speed in the style and polish that the news and weather channel have been treated to.

  • Afreak3

    Posted Jan 26, 2007 6:34 pm GMT

    I think it's cool how you can just turn on your Wii, and check the weather. Or the news. Or sports. I think Nintendo has completely outdone themselves. I think the Wii will go down as the most popular game system in history!

    -Afreak3

    P.S. OMG! I just saw some Wii's in EB Games! They're actually in stock now! It's unbeleiveable!

  • elektrixxx

    Posted Jan 26, 2007 6:10 pm GMT

    Interesting.

  • vaejas

    Posted Jan 26, 2007 5:58 pm GMT

    It's nifty! Like, quite nifty.
    Web browsers will learn a thing or two about how to cope with user preferences of text size and link navigation.

  • Chief_Kuuni

    Posted Jan 26, 2007 5:24 pm GMT

    can't wait to get a wii to check all of this stuff out

  • Lasafrog

    Posted Jan 26, 2007 5:17 pm GMT

    I was just messing with this feature, it's a lot of fun and like everything Wii, very easy to navigate. Very intuitive and creative presentation.

    God, Sony sure sucks.

  • Zaxex

    Posted Jan 26, 2007 5:16 pm GMT

    It's free so why not.

  • funsohng

    Posted Jan 26, 2007 4:59 pm GMT

    updating now

    and there's another argument-that-has-no-meaning going on

  • juanfraino

    Posted Jan 26, 2007 4:27 pm GMT

    I like it

  • Scorpion13497

    Posted Jan 26, 2007 4:13 pm GMT

    It's nice being able to look at the news then just switch to a game.
    Oh and I'm suprised nobodies addressed Henry on this but...
    When Henry said that everybody else is losing money and Nintendo are making, it's because Nintendo needs it. All they have for their income are the DS's and games. Microsoft and Sony have computers, software, movies, etc. Plus, you also have to include Wii Sports, which cost (just a guess) about $10-15 a piece, making it $173, so they'll proberly sell it to the stores for $220 or so, then stores mark it up. Sorry if that was mindless ranting and made no sense

  • coldfire447

    Posted Jan 26, 2007 4:00 pm GMT

    one more reason for me to get a wii

  • metroidprime_1

    Posted Jan 26, 2007 4:00 pm GMT

    Cauze the news takes to long and da wii gives u want fast and Easy. its another reason why to get a wii

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