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The BBC has explained its decision to put iPlayer on Wii instead of PS3 or 360, calling the move “ironic” and saying the announcement makes a “mockery” of Microsoft and Sony’s multimedia aspirations.
“How ironic that it is the Nintendo Wii, and not the Playstation 3 nor Xbox 360, that becomes the first of the current generation of consoles to have a truly dynamic range of online video content,” said BBC journo Darren Waters on his blog.
“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.”
The BBC announced yesterday that its iPlayer software – and the BBC programming that goes with it – is now available in early form on Wii.
There’s plenty more through the link.
Viewing 19 responses
morriss said:
Is that the only reason they did it?
Tonka said:
So that’s what the i stands for.
Looks at iMac/iPod/iPhone
;_; ;_; ;_;
Tonka said:
Sounds like MS and Sony dind’t want it.
Ah, cool. Flash update on the way for the Wii.
“Xbox Live, its [MS] walled garden online service.”
IMO it’s MS fear of Flash that makes it a no go. Since the iPlayer is web based the PS3 will be able to access it once they update the Flashplayer.
jetsetwilly said:
The blog entry says “According to the Beeb’s Erik Huggers it’s because Sony and Microsoft wanted to “control” the iPlayer.” – which is unsurprising if true.
patlike said:
Not surprising at all, tbh.
Tonka said:
Fuck. I just had a look and it won’t let me access it from outside of UK. But you guys don’t have bands broad enough to use it either.
Talk about irony…
kasai said:
the BBC have nothing on there channel anyway so I doubt anyone is going to be missing anything. Unless you love Eastenders
that_happy_cat said:
I don’t think it’s ironic. Nintendo’s mass market audience is full of people wanting to watch BBC’s summer lineup. THe synergy between god awful programme making AND a never ending puke-duction line of unplayable mini-games is undeniable.
Also… can people please stop putting “i” in front of other words? It’s starting to rally get on my nerves.
Random_H said:
Keep your 480p Video.
And your irony.
Alex
Tonka said:
You tell them Alex. You tell them good.
patlike said:
@Alex:
DizkoSkatinSuperstar said:
A shining example of post-Hutton BBC editorial impartiality there.
patlike said:
Heh. He’s really not mincing his words, is he?
bloke said:
Blimey – I’m really looking forward to using this. In the absence of being arsed to remember to record stuff, the iPlayer works perfectly OK. And now it’s on my bedroom telly
What’s not to like?
/never take anyone called Darren seriously BTW.
morriss said:
Yeah because supporting iPlayer = True Multimedia Machine.
Psychotext said:
Hey BBC… we pay for you so I’d reconsider saying stupid stuff like that. I’ll have a couple of thousand people demanding you port it to the gamecube before you know it. =)
Whizzo said:
Considering how much the BBC repeat everything iPlayer is almost redundant on every platform.
grandmaster said:
I think it’s more likely that Sony and MS don’t want to be involved because they can’t be seen to offer free media content when they want to sell/rent their own.
elredeyegrande said:
You can get the iPlayer working through the Media Extender on the 360. It’s a less than ideal solution, but hey it works.