Nintendo Wii To Get Netflix Streaming

motang writes "Netflix and Nintendo is set to announce Netflix streaming service for the Wii soon. Subscribers who have the unlimited streaming service can watch non-HD version of the movies on their Wii with a special Netflix disc inserted." The thing I can't understand is why the PS3 and Wii have to require a disc. Both are capable of downloading applications and executing them. Why should I be required to dedicate my disc slot to stream a movie? Of course, my netflix queue is half-filled with Ken Burns documentaries, so if I lost the disc, I think that would just make the wife happier.

Comments

The disc is DRM

[BadAnalogyGuy]

By requiring you to have the disc, they make it difficult for most people to use the system without proper authorization.

Will it hinder most Slashbots? No. But it isn't meant to stop hardcore copyright infringers. It's meant to stop the average guy from sharing his copy of Netflix with everyone in the neighborhood.

Q&A

[girlintraining]

Why should I be required to dedicate my disc slot to stream a movie?

DRM vendors love their physical, read-only media. No matter how advanced or compact portable storage gets, they'll always want for it. If for no other reason than they can continue to play tricks with the formatting and physical defects, creating new mutant DRM schemas to visit upon people's machines. Think about it -- why do we have BluRay, which has a maximum capacity of 50GB? They already have solid-state memory devices that only weigh a few grams and have that much storage capacity -- and they don't degrade, scratch, or fall apart after a few months.

It amazed me that people closely watched the HD-DVD vs. BluRay "format war", and never once did they stop and think -- wait, why are we still relying on optical read-only media in the 21st century?

Re:Deaf and Hard of Hearing still snubbed

[loafula]

Why don't you just learn to hear? Huh?