Premium content on Wii?
Reggie says it's possible.
Nintendo of America's recently appointed president and COO Reggie Fils-Aime has indicated that Nintendo Wii will allow publishers to sell downloadable content through microtransactions similar to those in place on Xbox Live and proposed for Sony's PlayStation 3 online service.
When asked by US magazine Game Informer whether publishers would be allowed to charge for items released via the service, as Ubisoft and Bethesda Softworks among others have done on Xbox Live, Fils-Aime responded in the affirmative, although he said the decision ultimately rests with publishers. "If our licensee partners want to go in that direction, it's certainly possible in our system," he told GameInformer.
Fils-Aime also reiterated the company's plan to allow for downloadable content. "If you've gotten to a particular part in a game, we could push content out to you, so you get to battle a new boss. Maybe you get a new artifact; maybe you get a new weapon," he said.
These items could be downloaded in the background using the console's WiiConnect24 service, which will also allow the system to function as a server of sorts, opening Animal Crossing towns and other player-specific content to friends without the console being fully turned on.