More to life than Nintendo Wii…but not for long…

I recently had a conversation online with a friend of mine and he bought a Nintendo Wii and has been trying to get me to purchase one as soon as it becomes available. One thing that I’d be interested in is the broadband connection and I would refuse to pay for the ability to log in and play a game with whomever I wanted to. The Nintendo Wii is a great game console system as is most others, but what it comes down to is the features. It probably all started with either the X-box or the Playstation 2 as the originators of broadband competition, but it all changed with the introduction of Nintendo Wii’s built-in Internet adaptor that allows for Wi-fi connection and free broadband playing.

Now what impact would that have on gamers? Well it would be a more “marketable” feature to entice consumers to purchase the system. It has worked, not surprisingly, as Nintendo has sold close to 4 million units in 2006 (all within the fourth quarter) and has also posted a record profit of an increase around 43%. Although, this also happened to be partially contributed by the continued success of the Nintendo DS handheld system – also capable of Wi-Fi game play.

Well why am I blogging about the Nintendo Wii and what does it have to do with marketing? Well to take advantage of its enormous Internet browsing/playing capability, it was recently announced and posted on MSNBC.com that the game consoles would now be able to post news feeds as a way to keep gamers playing, but also tuned into what’s going on outside in the real world. Of course the goal is to make the user continue to play the games on the Wii, but if there is something important going on in the news, you wouldn’t want to risk having them get out of the chair and run to a computer or turn on the radio, right? It just leads to a lost captured audience.

This is just another wonderful innovation on this latest trend to allow people to be more connected not only through their phones or computers, but also through the handheld and game consoles that many of us enjoy for countless hours of entertainment.