Nintendo reveals TV guide service for Wii

by Kyle Orland { Nov 2nd 2007 at 9:00AM }

In all the excitement about the Wii's planned Virtual Console gift giving service we somehow missed another important channel announcement in Nintendo's recent graph-packed financial results briefing. The TV Program Schedule Channel will ... wait for it ... let Wii users view the TV program schedule! On their Wii!

According to the briefing, the Channel will allow for searches by genre or actor and let various members of the family register their favorite shows. "We want Wii to become a kind of a friend to the TV set in the living room," Nintendo President Satoru Iwata said. "So it will be nice if people will turn on the Wii console when they want to search for interesting TV programs." Or, y'know, they could just turn on the TV and use the integrated on-screen guides included with most cable systems. Then again, we thought the Wii Forecast Channel couldn't compete with cable's Weather Channel, but we still love spinning that on-screen globe, so what do we know?

While no U.S. plans for the service were announced, the Interactive Program Guide service Nintendo is using includes U.S. data from Gemstar-TVGuide, so a domestic release seems possible. Japanese users can look forward to the service in Spring '08.

Tags: channel, program guide, ProgramGuide, TV guide, TvGuide, wii

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

Jerk Face @ Nov 2nd 2007 9:04AM

...

Stupid?

jsn @ Nov 2nd 2007 9:44AM

totally... they'll give you a tv guide but they can't implement a decent friends system? ...

Blazur @ Nov 2nd 2007 9:59AM

Yes, the Wii is very stupid.

Jerk Face @ Nov 2nd 2007 10:04AM

No, no. The Wii is fine; Nintendo's CHANNELS are often stupid. Not all, but most.

NATO_Duke @ Nov 2nd 2007 10:21AM

Awful idea. They want it to be a friend to the tv? Who the hell wants to turn on a console, to browse what may be on the tv, then go back to the tv to then find the channel. I think my cable menu system handles that job just fine without the extra steps and wasted time. If the Wii could handle the input of the stations, and then allow you to use it to control (like a Wii cable box) then that woud be nifty. Otherwise, not so nifty.

This is just a poorly thought through concept. Unless you have no cable (or sat dish) this would be of no aid - and if you have no cable, you dont really need a console to tell you what's on those 10 or so stations you have.

Crono (NDF - Knight of the Old School) @ Nov 2nd 2007 10:30AM

If if you didn't have cable or satellite, its still useless. With all broadcasts going digital (and almost all stations already gone digital), a program guide is included even for OTA TV.

This is a waste of time, unless its a portent of things to come (like a USB TV tuner). Now THAT would be a good idea.

Jerk Face @ Nov 2nd 2007 10:41AM

There is no way in the darkest, blackest Hell, that you will ever watch TV on your Wii. It will never, ever, EVER happen. NEVER.

Crono (NDF - Knight of the Old School) @ Nov 2nd 2007 10:56AM

I know, but a guy can dream.

rv @ Nov 2nd 2007 11:12AM

Useless already for anyone with a cable box. Still inconvenient if they don't- you have to turn it on, wait for it to load the listings, change input and go to the channel. If you want to watch something else after the current program is done, you have to do that all over again.

Mr Khan @ Nov 2nd 2007 3:37PM

As i said before, those of us who don't have digital cable or satellite could use this. If you just wanted to channel surf, you could run this, leave Wii running, then flip back to TV input, and flip back again

It certainly isn't widely applicable (and there are definitely better channels that team could have created) but it won't go unused

Almack64 (NOF - Ultrazord) @ Nov 2nd 2007 4:28PM

Yeah it's actually nice for those that don't have digital cable. My wii is actually always on usually running the internet channel for quick info on wikipedia while watching movies or recipes when cooking (I can see the living room tv from my kitchen). It's actually very convienent. I'm simply push the input button on my remote and pick up my wiimote which is always sitting nearby.

Antonio @ Nov 2nd 2007 9:05AM

Great, another channel I'll look at once and never use again.

DonWii @ Nov 2nd 2007 9:05AM

Until they reveal the TV Channel, so I can watch shows on my Wii on my TV, I'm not interested.

James @ Nov 2nd 2007 9:09AM

Could be a nifty idea. Won't replace my EyeTV, and there's always crappy Sky for the living room TV.

Christopher @ Nov 2nd 2007 9:12AM

another channel i'll use once... then forget about.

Hey.. got an idea... stop following in the footsteps of the cube and actually release some games. That and fix your non existant online play... and the dreaded wii codes... seriously.... All I have gotten is graphs.... and more graphs.. WHO AM!? LISA SIMPSON!

milestailsprowe @ Nov 2nd 2007 9:12AM

I was excited for a sec when I saw the title but then I read its a TV GUIDE channel and now Im sad

samfish @ Nov 2nd 2007 9:17AM

Yay?

This is stupid unless they announce, like, Joost for the Wii or something.

WiNG @ Nov 2nd 2007 10:16AM

wtf how did your avatar get even more illicit?

Zertoss @ Nov 2nd 2007 10:52AM

I'm guessing it got more illicit by samfish changing it.

Artist: Sakura Kasugano (or something like that, I find that site hard to read) :)

Crono (NDF - Knight of the Old School) @ Nov 2nd 2007 10:59AM

Sakura Kasugano is the Sakura from Street Fighter.

Zertoss @ Nov 2nd 2007 11:10AM

And also the moniker this artist goes by. Feel free to look for yourself.

Crono (NDF - Knight of the Old School) @ Nov 2nd 2007 12:00PM

Deviant-artist?

Scaught @ Nov 2nd 2007 9:20AM

This would have been a great feature for the Super Nintendo. But for the Wii, not so much.

Jerk Face @ Nov 2nd 2007 10:42AM

LOL You win!

phuink @ Nov 2nd 2007 9:22AM

Why not just press "guide" on my remote control?

Mr Khan @ Nov 2nd 2007 2:33PM

A lot of us are still running around in Analogue Cable land (no box)

yeah, its a sad life :(

Zertoss @ Nov 2nd 2007 9:26AM

I thought they were marketing the Wii as purely a game console. If they want it to be the TV's best friend now, they need to give it DVD playback and other media center capabilities.

Crono (NDF - Knight of the Old School) @ Nov 2nd 2007 10:35AM

Unfortunately, I have to agree. If they're going to start pulling these kinds of downloads and "channels" then they need to go all out, not half assed.

Put up a "media Center" channel that will stream media from your home network. Release it alongside a free software download for windows/Mac/linux that connects up your wii and transcodes on the fly (offloading all the hard work to the PC)

Then give us the 5-10 dollar download for a MPEG2 dvd decoder so it plays DVD's also. Then you'd be eating into Microsoft and Sony's territory even more.

This post started halfway sarcastic, but damn that would be awesome.

stangfan @ Nov 2nd 2007 10:27AM

Doesn't just about every cable and satellite service already have guide??

So I guess I'm supposed to turn on the Wii, switch my TV to the Wii, look what is on TV and then switch back to my TV.

Wow what a waste of time....

deaftly @ Nov 2nd 2007 9:31AM

such a dumb idea seeing that just about every cable/satellite provider has a built in tv guide anyway

Van Faulk @ Nov 2nd 2007 9:37AM

fuck yes. I can actually see using that. I hate using th eprinted guides since they are so innacurate.

FK @ Nov 2nd 2007 11:32AM

Someone still uses printed tv listings? My head asplode.

mouse_clicker @ Nov 2nd 2007 9:41AM

Wow. You gfuys are pretty vehemently against a free product that has absolutely no impact on you whatsoever. Now, do you guys take pills to stay this pissed off about everything or is it a conscious effort?

-Moses

rockintom @ Nov 2nd 2007 9:45AM

Er, of course we are against it. Yes, it is free, but instead of giving us something free and useless, they could have made something that is free and, possibly, useful?

Cody S. @ Nov 2nd 2007 9:46AM

Nintendo is spending time on useless crap rather than making something worthwhile for the Wii.

Get it now?

jsn @ Nov 2nd 2007 9:47AM

Free is nice and all, but don't you think they could have used the time the spent developing this and put it towards something that actually improved the systems online capabilities?

James @ Nov 2nd 2007 10:21AM

I just picked up Prime 3, and it's not worthwhile? WTF?

I suppose I'll put Strikers and TP on the non-worthwhile list. Maybe Galaxy in a couple of weeks too. Brawl must be non-worthwhile too or something.

NATO_Duke @ Nov 2nd 2007 10:24AM

Mouse - this is a site where we give our opinions on news items in gaming. Sorry that we dont all start singing Nintendo's praises just because they program something new. Its a dumb idea.

If you dont like reading opinions from people, you are at the wrong site.

ThornedVenom @ Nov 2nd 2007 9:47AM

Nintendo's new service: TV....
=> ***FUCK YES***

... guide.
=> ***ouch***

It can only be useful if it could be set to message you a reminder of when your favorite show is on while you're ingame.

Spilt_Milk @ Nov 2nd 2007 9:53AM

Does anyone play the wii long enough to miss a tv show?

deaftly @ Nov 2nd 2007 10:20AM

im still on my first set of batteries for the wii motes :(

ssuk @ Nov 2nd 2007 10:00AM

Why, oh why do I see all these cool feautures staying in Japan and maybe America... I somehow feel that PAL regions will be screwed over as usual with these new Wii Software things. It's what I've come to expect from Nintendo.

Psyclerk @ Nov 2nd 2007 10:05AM

The box I got from my cable company already has this. There's no incentive to use the Wii version, since if I use my cable box, I can actually set my DVR to record any interesting shows I find.

Next up, the Wii Power Channel. A channel that lets you know if your Wii is on or off.

t_m @ Nov 2nd 2007 10:07AM

I'm not sure anyone has cable over here is japan. Quite a few people have satellite though.. i think.

Before bashing something, it might be worth considering that not everything in the world works the US way.

I've certainly never had a TV (in the UK or Japan) thats had a programme guide. Though with the advent of digital TV its becoming more common I guess.