Netflix Heading To Nintendo Wii?

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Netflix has easily become the most popular video rental service in the United States, through both its DVD rental mailing service and it’s online streaming service. While they also stream to extenders like the Roku, one of the bigger extender portions of Netflix’s streaming share is the current-gen video game consoles, like the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

Last October, we reported that Netflix coming to the Wii was ‘confirmed’. While we haven’t heard anything about it since then, the Netflix CEO, during an interview at the D: All Things Digital event at CES told interviewer Peter Kafka that the chances of getting on the Wii were “excellent”.

Video rentals are nothing new to the Wii. In November, we reported on the launch of the “Wii’s Room” channel in Japan where users could rent TV episodes and movies. That service is provided by Nintendo in Japan, where Netflix has no presence. Unlike Netflix’ “all-you-can-eat” plans where they allow unlimited viewing for a monthly fee, the “Wii’s Room” charges small prices (from $0.30 to $5.65) for each rental.

One roadblock to the Netflix streaming possibility is the fact that the Wii doesn’t support HD playback. Netflix supports HD streaming to media extenders (Roku, Xbox 360, PS3, etc.). The Nintendo Wii is no technical powerhouse and cannot support 1080p. Some in the blogosphere have raised the question as to if consumers on the Wii would bother with non-HD video.

One solution could be the rumored “Wii 2″ or “Wii HD” – a new console rumored from Nintendo for months now that would support 1080p video output. Such a device could support HD streaming from Netflix. For now, Wii users will have to enjoy their Wiis, sans Netflix streaming.