Wii TV?

We read that Nintendo is to now launch a TV channel which will be accessed through its successful Wii console. The channel will potentially deliver video on demand to the 18 million of the consoles that are already connected to the Internet and there are reportedly some 40 million households worldwide with a Wii! The channel will also broadcast lifestyle shows, cookery, cartoons and other similar material on a free to view basis.

The games industry is certainly pushing boundaries and has a huge audience base. It is likely the appeal of games will further increase as more editors and user tools for altering the game will become more common. Online appeal is going to continue to increase with gaming communities being focused to specific groups or in community games (collaborative gaming) or even linking networked and console games! Finally, the iPhone and mobile applications will create new experiences and increase network gaming.

To-date the booktrade has given little recognition to the game market but as books become film and film becomes games and visa versa perhaps its time to exercise some of the huge war chest of acquired rights?

Is Publishing Game For Something Different?

So in a week that there has been much industry debate about the Stanza, Fictionwise hook up on the iPhone we saw a far more interesting move that received scant coverage. Games giant Nintendo is to release a cartridge containing one hundred out-of-copyright book titles including works by Shakespeare, Dickens, Bronte and Dumas. These will be able to be read on its portable games console and offer yet another digital alternative.

Nintendo say that their devices, which have two screens, can be held as a book with the stylus being used to turn and bookmark pages, search for texts and zoom.

The cartridge will be priced at £17.99 in the UK and offers a clear price shift from the expensive ereaders on the market today. Nintendo intimate that further titles will be available for download using the console’s WiFi connection and appear to be serious in their offer to their considerable user base.

Forget whether the books are the right ones, forget whether the screen offers the best reading, even forget who is the biggest games player, the point is that this move signals that convergence is rife. Games consoles could offer a safer bet than the eink readers and at a cheaper price point. They clearly offer an established community and the opportunity for existing users to merely extend their cartridges. The games environment could offer some interesting opportunities to mix text, manga and games.

Many say they want to increase the number of people reading and capture the young who they believe are being pulled towards online and games but how many will see this as an opportunity and how many dismiss it out of pure snobbery. We only hope that the venture moves forward, publishers embrace it as an opportunity to experiment and other players such as Sony and Microsoft follow.

Interesting times!

Try Out Technology in a Hotel Near You

Hotels are so different; it’s what makes stopping in them such an adventure. Having spent so much time travelling both for pleasure and on business, it’s interesting to reflect on what we expect today; wireless, cable TV as well as room service. Hotels from the largest, swankiest to the boutique are such fun today and could become the test ground for so much design and technology.

An interesting development that started before the crunch but will no doubt be accelerated by it is the shift towards mixed condo and hotel developments. From Trump Towers to new builds, mixed developments appear to offer the best of both worlds; first class accommodation and first class apartment life. It’s not for all but neither is apartment life.

It was therefore interesting to read a report on hotel technology in the New York Times on how they are working with technology companies to regain their edge.
Sheraton has teamed with Microsoft to create its new Link@Sheraton lounges. Westin teamed with Nintendo to outfit some of its fitness centers with Wii consoles and games like Wii Fit. The Gansevoort Hotel Group teamed with Sony to develop a new lobby business center with Sony computers and PlayStation 3 game consoles as well as digital book readers and cameras.

Technology companies, in turn, have a chance to show off their devices and services to a desirable demographic. They can make them aware of new features, devices and start to encourage people to try something new.

Control4, known for its home automation systems has teamed up with The James hotel in Chicago. Currently under trial the system will allow guests to operate the lights, the blinds, the thermostat and the television using one remote. Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group, plans to use the same system to create a welcome experience at its Las Vegas property, scheduled to open in late 2009. Guests arriving in their room will be greeted by the drapes opening, the lights automatically turning on and the television displaying a customized message with the guest’s name. The hotel will offer 400 megabytes of bandwidth when it opens.

So next year the BEA conference will be in New York. We will book into a recommended hotel in Manhattan and forget the fluffy robes we want a Kindle or a Sony in the room!

Super Mario Goes Back to School

Your Japanese students want to learn English but are failing to make the grade. What do you do? Tokyo Joshi Gakuen school in Japan believe that they have found the answer in deploying that darling of Japanese students – Nintendo.

Reuters report today that junior high school teacher Motoko Okubo has introduced the handheld DS and textbook software. The move clearly surprised students, whose personal devices have todate been banned from the classroom. Interestingly the move has also show encouraging results and the report quotes her saying, "The students are really concentrating and have fun in gaining skills such as spelling," she said.

Japan's education ministry leaves decisions on teaching tools to schools and so far, it's only English that is being used at the all-girls school. However other schools are now using the device in maths and Japanese classes and Nintendo's range of advanced and easy-to-learn games now include education titles.

Is it one off or the being of a trends to use ubiqitious deves to engage and encourage students to learn? Will it only succeed in high tech savvy countries such as Japan? It is an interesting exercise to use the devices that the students are familiar with and use outside the classroom to help them in the classroom. We have seen the huge adoption of games consoles and perhaps they offer a more engaging student interface and wiser investment than even a laptop or a whiteboard.