Wii Room
Wii Room (formerly known as Wii no Ma, officially stylized as Wiiの間) is a Wii Channel originally provided by Nintendo, and now supported by WiiLink. The channel featured the most versatile set of features out of any Wii Channel, featuring video streaming, video shopping, online shopping and messaging.
Overview
Wii Room is an application for the Wii, initially made to collect advertising data for third party companies.[1] The channel was released on May 1, 2009, with the app allowing users to stream free shows and rate them to inform providers. Throughout its lifetime, the channel would gain more features such as renting movies and online shopping. The channel allows users to register up to eight Miis, which is mostly used for aesthetic purposes where they walk around the titular room. The room, which is the main menu of the channel, also synchronizes with real time. Notably, the channel is one of four official Wii channels to only be available in Japanese. The channel was discontinued on April 30, 2012.
The channel was revived in December 5, 2020 by WiiLink (then called WiiLink24), although with many issues, and the only functional feature being streaming archived shows. The full version of the revival, officially titled Wii Room 1.0, was released on July 6, 2024.
History
Conception
Unlike most of Nintendo's software creations, Wii Room was one of few software to not be conceived by developers, but advertisers, producers and managers. During the development of the TV Guide Channel, there were plans to include ads in the app. The producer of the app, Beppu was directly against including advertisements in the channel in any form. When this almost cancelled the entire project, Beppu had an idea to create an app where advertisements are viewed as entertainment, and to cause less friction between advertisers and users. After communicating this to advertiser Dentsu, they agreed to create the TV Guide Channel without ads, and to create a brand new channel with the internal slogan "Advertisement as Entertainment". From this concept, the team split on whether to make the channel themed around a calendar or a tea room. Eventually, the team settled to make the main space of the channel a tea room, and making the calendar a place within it. Concierge Miis were created as a way to have users try out videos on a whim, using the idea of someone walking up to you and recommending media.[2]
The table present in Wii Room was designed after a real table, which was inside a replica of the Wii Room itself, which stood inside Wii no Ma Ltd.
Initial release
Wii Room was officially launched on May 1, 2009 for free download on the Wii Shop Channel. The channel originally just featured free shows to watch, and did not feature any paid items, meaning the channel was completely free to use. The free shows were usually original content, sponsored by a brand to pay for its development. Other than shows, users could visit rooms, which are spaces occupied either by a themed group or companies. These rooms linked to videos, images and more that was themed around a specific topic. Concierge Miis can also visit you, who will greet you and give you a recommendation for a video to watch. A companion app called Wii Room Anywhere (originally titled Dokodemo Wii no Ma) was released as DSiWare was launched on the same day, allowing users to take free shows on the go. The channel was relatively successful, having 2.48 million users by October 26, 2009.
Theatre update
On November 21, 2009, Wii Room received its first big update, adding the Theatre Room. The room allowed users to rent shows and movies using Wii points, and watch them however many times during the rental period. Very few of the content here was original, and was regular shows and movies found elsewhere. Most of the content found were family friendly. Sometime around this update, companies in Wii Room started to hold giveaways within their rooms. These items could be shipped thanks to the Address Settings channel.
By the time the shopping update was distributed, Nintendo confirmed there were over 1,000 titles available to rent in the theatre.[3]
Shopping renewal
On September 5, 2010, Nintendo teased an update on Nintendo Online Magazine, an online newsletter than ran from 1998 to 2012. In the issue, Nintendo collected various teasing comments from the staff to get users speculating about the contents of the update, which was to be distributed "this autumn".[4] On November 1, this update was released, completely renewing the channel. The main room was redesigned from the ground up, putting less emphasis on skeuomorphism and replacing them with buttons. The TV that was previously a link to the shows section was made much larger into a flat screen TV that displayed promotion for various Wii Room content. The main attraction of the update was the shopping feature, allowing users to purchase real life items from the system. Original products were made for the service, but the majority of the items available were regular items sold in other stores. Unlike rentals, Wii Room Shopping did not support Wii Points, and instead asked the user to order through a credit card, convenience stores or cash on delivery. Users could also pay through phone.[5] Around this time, new free programming was starting to get less focus, as the channel became more focused on paid features.
As of February 2012, Wii Room had 8.81 million users.[6]
Shutdown
On February 21, 2012, Nintendo announced that Wii Room would be discontinued on April 30, 2012.[6] A special goodbye room was opened on March 3, featuring dozens of giveaways of previously offered items. On April 28, 2012 a thank you message featuring the development team started being shown on the main TV.[7] As announced, the application was discontinued on April 30, 2012. The company who ran the app, Wii no Ma Ltd., was restructured into Nintendo Network Service Database.
Revival beta
In 2020, a group called WiiLink24 was established. While the service was originally conceived as an alternative to RiiConnect24, it eventually became a project to revive the Japanese channels. On December 5, 2020, they released the public beta for a revived Wii Room, the first time the general public could use Wii Room ever, and 8 years since it closed in Japan. It was released as almost a proof of concept, with very few videos being available. On April 30, 2021, the v3 update was released, fixing many of the issues found in the initial beta.
Wii Room 1.0
On May 1, 2024, the WiiLink team announced that Wii Room 1.0 was releasing on May 11, 2024. The update was to feature a completely new English translation, new content, major bugfixes and new languages. The release was then delayed twice, to May 15, and then eventually indefinitely. On July 2, 2024, the update was reunveiled on Discord, announcing new partnerships, WiiLink Originals and feature restoration such as delivery and DSi compatibility. 4 days later, the update was released worldwide, coinciding with a launch trailer.
Features
Wii Room's main functionality is to stream videos for free through the show room. Users can select videos from categories and stream any video. After the user finishes the video or closes it, they will be taken to a voting screen, where they can give the episode a rating based on four symbols (three before the shopping update). The votes are sent to the host (Nintendo/WiiLink), and is used as data to decide future programming. Videos can also be watched from rooms or Concierge Miis, where they can be recommended to the user.
WiiLink Originals
WiiLink Originals are special programs by the content division to add incentive to using Wii Room. Since its launch alongside Wii Room 1.0, there have been a few original series launched.
| Show | Episodes | Started | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homebrew Tea | 7 | June 6, 2024 | Currently airing |
| Sound Chamber | 6 | September 28, 2024 | Season 1 ended |
| Pineapple News | 7 | December 14, 2024 | Discontinued |
| Obsolete Online | 0 | TBA | Coming soon |
List of official content
In its original form, Wii Room provided a variety of content between shows, movies, physical products and more. Many of these items are either lost to time or unidentified to begin with, thanks to the minimal amounts of preservation the channel has received officially, as well as being online during the modern Internet's infancy.
Title in all languages
Original (Nintendo)
| Language | Title | Romanisation |
|---|---|---|
 Japanese |
Wiiの間（ウィーのま） | Wii no ma |
Custom (WiiLink)
| Language | Title | Romanisation |
|---|---|---|
 English |
Wii Room | — |
 German |
Wii Room | — |
 French |
Wii Room | — |
 Castilian/Spanish |
Wii Room | — |
 Italian |
Wii Room | — |
 Dutch |
Wii Room | — |
 Chinese (Simplified) |
Wii房间 | Wii fángjiān |
 Chinese (Traditional) |
Wii房間 | Wii fángjiān |
 Korean |
Wii 사이 | Wii sai |
 Portuguese |
Wii Room | — |
 Galician (ILG-RAG) |
Wii Room | — |
 Catalan |
Wii Room | — |
 Russian |
Wii Room | — |
 Hungarian |
Wii Room | — |
Resources
References
- ↑ Wii no Ma launch commercial, Nintendo.
- ↑ Wii no Ma Iwata Asks interview, Nintendo.
- ↑ Nintendo Online Magazine December 2010, Nintendo
- ↑ Nintendo Online Magazine September 2010, Nintendo.
- ↑ Wii no Ma Shopping Homepage, Nintendo.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 An important announcement regarding Wii Room, Nintendo.
- ↑ Final Goodbye from the Staff, NintenDaan.