Issue 139 | The Hound: Nintendo Maths: iPlayer + Wii =

By James Temperton 10.04.2008 4


James Temperton :: Issue 139 :: 10th April 2008

Industry analysis with added bite.

Could it really be possible? Can the underpowered little Wii really stand a chance at beating the big boys at the big money game? Whilst Sony, Microsoft and Apple (along with countless other players) battle it out to dominate the on demand video sector, the BBC have come along and thrown a rather large spanner into the collective works.

Called the iPlayer it is totally free, easy to use and packed full of great BBC content. Anyone in the UK with broadband can use it and it is already becoming ludicrously popular. With the PC and Flash versions already proving a major success, the BBC is looking to move its iPlayer system onto various other platforms. Their first two targets are the iPhone and the Wii. Surely more will follow, but for the time being, it would seem the Wii has a nice little monopoly to play with.

Apparently both Microsoft and Sony were approached with the iPlayer proposal but an agreement could not be reached as both companies wanted to 'control' the system and have it implemented into their own online shops with a specific look and a specific style. The BBC didn't want this. Nintendo, it would seem, were more than happy to welcome the iPlayer with open arms. All it requires on their part is some clever trickery to get the Wii to support the Flash coding used in the iPlayer, something it can't currently do. Whilst for the time being the iPlayer will only work on the Internet Channel, there is talk of the BBC developing and launching an iPlayer Channel for the Wii. Exciting times.

The man who made the announcement, the wonderfully named Erik Huggers, (the BBC's Group Controller for Future Media and Technology) had this to say at the time:

Our partnership with Nintendo marks another exciting milestone for BBC iPlayer. It underlines our commitment to reaching new audiences by making BBC iPlayer available on as many platforms as possible. The BBC's catch-up TV service can now be accessed on an increasing number of different platforms

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"Their first two targets are the iPhone and the Wii."

But, interestingly, the iPhone dosnt support flash.
(due to a dispite with Adobe).

This means the BBC are going to look for other codexs anyway.
Which is fantastic news, as it means more chance of a dedicated wii-chanel using a much more optimised codex for the wii.
Flash is a nice standard, but if you got a known targer system spec, you might as well make something designed specificaly for it.

Some Divx varient I would gather. (Wii can handel divx at SD res)

Anyway, all good stuff, even if I cant use it outside the uk.

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Great article as usual.Smilie

That part in the news stories about a possible dedicated iPlayer Wii channel interests me most. Imagine a combo of a configured iPlayer function with that TV guide channel out in Japan. That would seriously own.Smilie

( Edited 10.04.2008 20:46 by Phoenixus )

Top article James Smilie

Hopefully they will release a dedicated Wii channel by the end of the year, it would be seriously awesome. Using Opera maybe a little long-winded for some n00bs.

Cubed3 Admin/Founder & Designer

jb said:
Top article James Smilie

Hopefully they will release a dedicated Wii channel by the end of the year, it would be seriously awesome. Using Opera maybe a little long-winded for some n00bs.

Totally agreed. I really can't see Nintendo not making a dedicated channel to this. It makes perfect sense and can updated quickly as an option when its available.

Good work Hound.

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