Nintendo Wii Launches News Channel

PHOTO: Jason Squires

Nintendo has announced the launch of their News Channel accessible exclusively on the Nintendo Wii system.

Like the recently launched Weather Channel, the News Channel will have an interactive globe version of the Earth where users can zero in on an area of the world to get news related to that specific town, city or region.

The channel is available to Wii users now and will require an update to access it as well as the Wii's Opera browser downloaded. The news will be provided by the Associated Press.

"What Wii has done for video gaming, we hope it will also accomplish for news," says Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime. "Just by pointing at your TV screen, you become your own interactive editor, instantly accessing the latest headline stories, whether they originate in Kansas City or Kyoto."

The interface is easy to use and allows Wii users to spin a virtual globe and point to the location of a news event using the Wii Remote. There are stories from various news categories including Business, Sports, Arts/Entertainment, Technology and Science/Health. The global view allows stories to be grouped by region instead of category.

Icons show which stories have been read, which stories are text-only and which ones come with news photos. Stories are constantly being updated if the "always-on" WiiConnect24 is being used. This will allow stories to be updated frequently, even while you are sleeping.

The Associated Press also is in talks with Nintendo to provide additional multimedia content int he future.

Now Tara Reid can party all night, get drunk and pass out and read about her awful state of a career on her Wii when ever she gets around to waking up.