There are a lot 
of ways to stream Netflix to your television these days — including, in some cases, directly through the television itself. But new data from ABI Research shows that the method of choice for most people is through game consoles.
Owners of game machines spent an average of seven to eight hours per week watching streaming video, the company found.
With the Wii U 
releasing sometime next year, Nintendo’s hoping to give its predecessor one last big push.
For the first time since its introduction in 2006, the Wii has gotten a facelift. Rather than being designed to stand vertically, the buttons on the new streamlined system are labeled for horizontal placement. It’s a small shift, but one that will make the system easier to integrate with other audio/visual components, like your cable box and other consoles. It’s also one that comes with a hitch.
When it comes to audience 
reach, Netflix owes a debt of gratitude to the video game industry.
A new Nielsen Co. study finds that Netflix users are primarily streaming content to television sets – with half of those customers streaming the service through their Wii, PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360.
[In an interview with Gamasutra editor-at-large Chris 
Morris, Nintendo’s Satoru Iwata says his company began thinking about the Wii U right after the Wii’s launch, and outlines the firm’s home console and software pricing strategies.]
Hindsight’s a funny thing.
Given the staggering out-of-the-gate success Nintendo saw with the Wii, you might have expected the company to push back its next generation planning for a year or two to focus on ensuring third-party partners understood how best to succeed on the Wii, ultimately extending its appeal in the market.
Nintendo, for the 
majority of this console generation, has been content to play its own game. Now it’s ready to take the fight to Microsoft and Sony.
The company on Tuesday unveiled its next generation home video game machine — dubbed Wii U — that will be flush with the high-definition graphics gamers have come to expect, as well as a unique, touch-screen controller. It’s scheduled to launch in 2012.
Nintendo raised the curtain
on its latest videogame console, the Wii U, on Tuesday, but there was one key piece of hardware missing at its presentation — the console itself.
Instead, Nintendo used the Nokia Theater to turn the spotlight on the controller that consumers will use in a variety of ways to play games.
For the past five years, Nintendo 
has ruled the home console space, and it has led the handheld category for more than four times that long.
Now it’s hoping to bring the best aspects of both fields together.
With a new console set to be released
next year, Nintendo has cut the price of the Wii.
Beginning May 15, the system will drop from $200 to $150 and will come bundled with hit title Mario Kart along with the Wii racing wheel peripheral. At the same time, the company plans to launch a ‘greatest hits’ line of games — called Nintendo Selects — that will cost $20 instead of the usual $50.
Conduit 2 is hardly perfect, 
but it’s much better than most shooters on the Wii. The action is fairly well paced and the boss battles are fun. More importantly, though, the game never takes itself too seriously, injecting humor into the action — such as an enemy who shouts, after you’ve been shooting him for quite a while, “That’s it! I’m through negotiating!” The story, though, is pretty thin and some moments will have you wondering what the heck is going on. The multiplayer mode is a welcome addition, given the natural fit between online play and shooters. For parents, this is an example of the Wii’s limited online capabilities working in their favor, as they can easily monitor who children are playing with.
It’s official. Nintendo will have a new home console in stores next year.
The company confirmed the rumors Monday morning, saying it would have a playable version on display at this year’s E3 trade show in June. That’s also when the company plans to announce details on what will make the unnamed system notably different from its predecessor and competing systems.
Chris Morris: Journalist 