Netflix streaming has been available to XBox 360 and PS3 owners for a while and now the Wii is finally gaining movie-streaming ability. Several concerns have been raised by this. The obvious issue is that the Wii's resolution is only 480p, so HD streaming is out of the picture. Secondly, current hardware limitations require an instant streaming disc similar to that of the PS3; this is a minor inconvenience but annoying nonetheless. Lastly, there were worries that the load time for Wii streamed movies would be slow. Interestingly enough, of these potential problems, the third looks to be the least worrisome. Testing has shown that the Wii's load times are often faster than the PS3's, so the underdog in this competition isn't quite so far behind as you may think.The fact that the competition exists at all is a more compelling matter than it may appear at first glance. With most current consoles, the user has the ability not just to play games, but to browse the web, play music, watch movies and more, including the new ability to stream movies from Netflix. When did video game consoles cease to be just video game consoles? An early offshoot of gaming was the Game Boy Camera, released in 1998, which interfaced with the Game Boy printer to essentially use the Game Boy (or GB Pocket, Color or Advance) as a camera. This was one of the earliest signs of the trend we are seeing today in multimedia, all-in-one type consoles. Arguably, the success of the iPhone can be attributed not so much to its cell phone capabilities, but to its App Store, which has made the iPhone one of the most versatile handheld systems in history. The major players in the video game industry have caught on to this trend and seek to simplify users' access to the various media we use regularly. By definition, however, just the fact that there are multiple competitors in this market means we will never have the perfect all-in-one console for all of our needs (unless of course one of the hardware manufacturers gained a monopoly, but this is unlikely in a creative market). As such, for me it will always come down to which producer has exclusive rights to the best games, not the best internet browser or even the highest quality Netflix streaming.
