Rumour: Nintendo looking at bringing eBooks & iOS content to the Wii U

eBook Readers

Today, a rumour surfaced from Forget The Box claiming that Nintendo are looking into bringing an eReader-style service to the Wii U that would offer a variety of content to its users. The source, an unnamed Los Angeles-based software developer, was apparently approached by Nintendo and “offered assistance in porting and publishing some software from iOS to the Wii U so it can be played on the Wii U’s touchscreen controller.”

The gamut of content this service may offer includes everything from from books, magazines, newspapers, and comic books to Virtual Console instruction manuals, official game guides, and back issues of Nintendo Power. Supposedly, Nintendo are already pursuing third-party companies to try and persuade them to bring their publications to the Wii U.

Nintendo is actively seeking publishers to bring electronic versions of popular magazines to the Wii U in the future. A wide variety of these magazines are related to sports, politics, technology, entertainment, celebrities, music, cooking, and fashion. If you already have a subscription to a specific magazine, the Wii U has the ability to automatically download the latest issue as soon as it’s available even if the system is turned off and you’re asleep.

Forget The Box notes that this (rumoured) information falls in line with the idea that the Wii U will be very focused on providing valuable services for gamers and users. On a technical level, this can’t be too difficult to provide, so it’s a smart way for Nintendo to further extend the applications of their hardware.

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Comments, Reactions, and General Hooliganism

  1. Would be great!

  2. ILikeNintendo

    Great!!!

  3. RockD79

    This is interesting. Going after the Kindle Nintendo?

  4. I don’t know much about this stuff.

  5. dill

    awsome

  6. Hylianhero64

    That’s nice, but I thought that the Wii U tablet controller can’t really be used when it’s away from the Wii U itself. I guess it’s not really a necessity, but it’d certainly be nice to read eBooks on the go. The controller supposedly does have a CPU in it (for downconverting video signal) so maybe it’ll be possible? There’d need to flash memory too, though… I guess only time will tell.

    • THE I

      Apparently, the Wii U controllers will have a small amount of build-in memory. But, I have no idea whether it’s there to store temporary files or actual apps/games.

    • F0

      The idea is that eBooks and other content will all be streamed to the controller from the Wii U console.

  7. tripple A

    you dont have to sit right next to the console to use a wiiu pad theres probably a good range for the signal nothing amazing but good enough how hard is it to read a ebook on your sofa!

    its the internet etc possibillitys that im looking forward to…

  8. Nitwit_Speed

    I hope this becomes a huge headlining feature for the Wii U. The Android store is more in the spirit of Nintendo-style gaming than the PS360, so branching off and becoming a part of that wave as well as being a fullpower TV console (with a boss controller) is a smart move. And with rumors that Xbox 3 will run on Windows 8 (don’t quote me on it), that helps make the consoles different instead of just trying to be better versions of each other, which works in favor of the Wii U the most because of Nintendo’s emphasis of different instead of better (although it usually is anyway!)