Nintendo has revealed that TVii - the application that allows users to merge all of their video streaming packages together and change TV channels - will be available in selected European regions at some point in 2013. It looked as though Japan was being left in the lurch but this is not the case as the Land of the Rising Sun will indeed be getting TVii on December 8th when the Wii U launches.
The Japanese TV guide data will be extracted from Rovi's G-Guide service, and will be available to use in the middle of a TV show or video game and even when you're not using the television at all. There is a slight catch however; while the North American channel changing feature will be free to download, Japanese Wii U owners will need to fork out 100 Yen for it - that's around $1.20.
Bizarrely, seeing as we don't have a concrete date for the North American release of the service, Japan could well end up getting it first - quite a turnaround considering it looked like it would miss out altogether not so long ago.
[source nintendo.co.jp, via engadget.com]
Comments 9
Glad it'll be there at launch for Japan
I knew they'd be getting it. Nintendo is a Japanese company afterall.
Jealous they might get it first, but to be fair we did get the Wii U first.
As for the price, that kinda shocks me, it costs so little it's practically free, I don't get why they have to pay and we don't. I mean, not like that little should be a big deal, but still baffles me.
@ShadJV Both GCN and Wii came out in America first and some games like Zelda, Metroid and Mario come out here first which explains the reason why all of them are region locked
Is the 100 yen due to some type of DVR licensing fees? I think Canada has to pay a fee for all blank CD-Rs so the music industry gets their share. Of course didn't Japan also get left out of Wii Sports when the Wii launched? And isn't their Wii U also missing the sensor bar? I guess Nintendo gave them MH on the 3DS so the Wii U doesn't matter.
@rjejr
I suspect it's something like that.
This probably came a bit late in the development of the Wii U. I really hope Nintendo keeps this momentum going for the next few years. Nintendo got tired of its early "channels" on the Wii pretty fast. The Miiverse does seem to have much more potential though.
@rjejr
Did you actually need your sensor bar? I don't know many people who are buying a Wii U that didn't already have a Wii. I left the sensor bar that came with my U in the box and just swapped the plug on the bar I already have and I imagine most people are doing the same. My guess is they didn't intend to include the bar in any package but NOA convinced them that Americans would response more unfavorably to the exclusion of a necessary device in the box even if there's a good chance they already have it.
Remember that as well as the Wii has sold in the US, there's no question that it did even better in Japan. Most gamers over there already have a sensor bar so removing it from the box could save them some Yen. There's also nothing stopping them from picking it up separately if it's needed.
@shinokami The GCN came out in Japan first
But we did get the DS first
@waxxyone actually Japan only sold 12 million wiis (less then the PSP's 19 million) but its because Japan's more of a handheld style gaming community (like me)
I wonder if Australia will ever get TVii though considering the sad lack of anything even resembling Hulu or Netflixx (Quickflix is decidely crappy..I know cause I pay for it) there probably isn't a need!
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