Wii Movie Service Hits Japan

While Sony and Microsoft both have movie download services here in America, over in Japan, the three hardware makers have yet to get anything similar started. Until now, that is. Fuji Soft announced today that it will kick off a movie download service tomorrow (June 17) for the Wii.

The Fuji Soft service is actually just a section of its current "Minna no Theater Wii" (Everyone's Theater Wii) video viewing service. Available since January, the service has offered digital rentals of mostly anime episodes.

Tomorrow, the service's movie section will take its first feature length movies. Fuji Soft has signed a deal with Cinema Now to bring major Hollywood productions to the service. Thirty-four Western movies will be available initially, including such offerings as Mission Impossible, Eagle Eye and Breakfast at Tiffany's. Fuji Soft plans to continually add to the lineup.

The movie channel will also see Japanese and Korean films. Fuji Soft says that a total of 250 titles are due to be made available gradually.

Despite the new feature-length offerings, the rental process appears to be unchanged. To use Minna no Theater Wii, Wii owners must download a 500 WiiPoint viewing app, which takes the form of a WiiWare title. This is used to browse the growing catalog of titles and stream video footage at DVD quality. Video viewing fees start at 300 WiiPoints for a two day viewing period.

Do you think you'd make use of something like this on Wii if someone brought out an American version? Let us know in the comments section. And be sure and state how much you'd be willing to pay for a rental.

http://uk.wii.ign.com/articles/995/995151p1.html