This is exactly what Mario won't be doing

I’m sure by now all you Wii owners have been pushed to the brink of insanity as you watch PlayStation3 and Xbox 360 owners contentedly streaming movies and TV shows via Netflix. Well if you can keep the homicidal thoughts in check until spring you will have a more productive kind of revenge. You will be streaming video just like the other kids.

That puts Nintendo only about six months behind the PS3 and much farther behind Xbox. Here’s what you’ll need: A Wii (durr), a Netflix account (starting at $9), and a broadband internet connection. And one more important thing. Like the PS3, Wii owners will need to send away for a free instant-streaming disc. Go to netflix.com/Wii if you can’t wait and feel the need to reserve your disc now – there could very well be a rush when go-time arrives.

This will undoubtedly be a boon to Nintendo as Netflix has 11.1 million subscribers in the U.S. Although Netflix should make out OK as well since there are 3 million Wii consoles here in the U.S. of A. But, really, we all win, because this will be another incentive to increase the amount of streamable content available to those of us who only get one DVD at a time (a sorry bunch we are, too).

This article appears in January 8 • 2010.

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James graduated from Columbia University in 2000 and moved to Austin a year later. Ever since, he has followed the arts and video game scene in ATX, editing and writing stories for the Chronicle along the way. Over his more than 20 years with the paper he has climbed the "corporate" ladder from lowly intern to managing editor.