It took its time coming, but Nintendo has finally opened another distribution and monetization channel. Now, you can play Wii games in your hotel room - starting with some Marriott chains and a few other select hotels.
So if you're staying at the Renaissance hotel on Times Square in New York (check out the view from the hotel, below), and figure out that all the distractions that garishly lovely city can offer are not enough for you, well, pull out the Wii ! Or if you want to go and watch Spamalot and don't want the kids to watch anything remotely British, well, pull out the Wii !
Two things are interesting:
a) That the Wii is still not easily available in stores, but Nintendo decided to go ahead with this strategy anyway. This is good - hopefully once they have enough data, they will realize that not only do they need to ramp up production for the average Joe's out there, but that there are vast untapped reservoirs of moolah just waiting for their itchy little fingers
b) The second fact is that Nintendo is bringing some of their blockbusters to the hotels, including Super Mario Galaxy and Mario Kart. These are their premium properties; given the captive audience they would have in the hotel rooms, I am not sure if the lift in effective revenue per customer (via a higher sell-through/ percentage of people paying for this option) will be worth it. But on the other hand, this will help them serve these games up to whet the taste buds of potential buyers, as well as keep a strangle-hold on their current fanatic players
Well played, Nintendo
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