Wii Gets Video Rentals [Nintendo Adds Video Rental Service to Japanese Wiis]

This past weekend, on Saturday, Nintendo unveiled a new feature to Wii across the Japanese Island, as a new channel called “Wii’s Room” was added to the consoles. The service currently allows rental of TV episodes and movies from Japan’s most popular TV network.

Prices for the rentals range from just $0.30 USD to $5.65 USD. One can assume that the price is dependant on the popularity of the content. This service is similar to what has been offered, successfully, on the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3.

Screenshots coming out of Japan show a user’s Mii sitting in front of a screen watching the content. A similar feature is used in Xbox Live’s Netflix streaming serviec when you watch videos with a friend.

12 companies have signed on to provide content for Wii’s Room, including most of the major Japanese television networks and major film studio Warner Brothers. Disney Japan is set to join the partnership next year, which may add movies to the service. The blog Siliconera reports that even popular, modern titles are available like ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’, in addition to older cartoon shows like ‘Sesame Street’ and ‘Pokemon’.

DVD rental service Netflix offers video streaming service on both the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. Last month, we reported on a rumor that Netflix might be coming to American Wii’s, possibly in a Wii HD. This Japanese deal has nothing to do with the American DVD mail rental service, but doesn’t rule out the possibility of a Netflix service coming to American Wii’s.

So far, Wii’s Room is only in Japan. Siliconera also reports that users will be able to stream their videos to Nintendo’s DSi wireless handheld, which potentially could be an interesting application for a streaming video rental platform, and a place where Nintendo could get a leg up on Sony and Microsoft’s video rental services.