|
Yesterday, BBC technology news editor Darren Waters highlighted the
'irony' in the fact Wii was the first console of the
Current-Generation to secure hosting the popular
BBC iPlayer.
In his Blog Waters went some way towards discrediting the two most
powerful consoles, claiming: “The BBC's announcement of a deal with
Nintendo to put the iPlayer's streaming service on the console makes
something of a mockery claims by SONY and Microsoft that their
consoles are the true multimedia machines.”
He also revealed both SONY and Microsoft were also in talks with the
BBC about hosting the iPlayer, suggesting the companies were too
inflexible to host the service.
Waters quotes the BBC's group controller for future media and
technology Eric Huggers, who announced the Wii service, as saying:
“If you want to get on the PlayStation or Xbox, they want control of
the look, the feel and the experience; they want it done within
their shop, and their shop only.”
While Nintendo have never attempted to suggest Wii is in anyway a
multimedia machine as SONY and Microsoft have with their systems,
having the BBC’s service available only on Wii is rather a cocky
move. Not only does this increase the multi-purpose functionality of
Wii beyond that which is expected, it also puts a darkened tone on
the fact that no similar offering is even being talked about by SONY
and Microsoft. However, rumours persist of Apple’s interest in
partnering with SONY on PLAYSTATION3.
iPlayer lets users view streaming or expiring download editions of
all BBC television content from the previous seven days. The BBC
announced yesterday that 17 million programs have been downloaded or
streamed, with the service now entertaining 500,000 a day on peak
days. |
