Topic: Nintendo TVii Impressions

[NWR_Neal]

At first glance, TVii seems to be a waste of time.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/impressions/32865

Yesterday, I used Nintendo TVii, Nintendo's new way to interact with television and media, for the very first time in the comfort of my own home. It was also probably the only time I will have a meaningful interaction with Nintendo TVii.

You see, TVii in its current state is just a little bit more than a glorified search engine. Sure, it's neat that it recommends movies and TV shows for me, and I can search for specifics movies and TV shows, but little can actually be done to view these items in Nintendo TVii.

For example, if I wanted to watch Parks & Recreation, I could check the TV guide to see when it is next on, and then use the Wii U GamePad to turn on my cable box and turn on the channel. Sure, during the show I could use TV Tags to comment on the show, or view the generated TV Moments to see what I missed if I had to leave the TV, but it's a minor communal aspect of it. That is something I could just as easily do on other forms of social media with less of a hassle.

If I wanted to watch older episodes on Parks & Recreation, I can also boot up episodes on Hulu Plus. However, the method to use Hulu Plus in TVii is ass-backwards. Over the course of more than a minute, I pressed the icon to watch Parks & Recreation on Hulu Plus, watched TVii close, then saw Hulu Plus open and take me to the page where I could play the episode. It's lengthy and inconvenient.

The one aspect of Nintendo TVii that seems interesting is the Sports section. For the NFL, NBA, and NCAA Football and Basketball, every game shows up in a manner similar to ESPN Gamecasts and the multitudes of similar web or mobile applications out there. It's neat, but it's an experience that isn't that new or compelling. Still, I look forward to giving it a whirl with NFL games, and for marquee sporting events, it might be fun to pop on to see the community response.

To me, Nintendo TVii fell short of the expectations Nintendo set for it. It doesn't really offer anything new; it just offers a slightly different way to do something we can already do online with the community interaction. Aside from that, it's not much more than a search engine for cable, Hulu Plus, and Amazon Instant Video (Netflix and DVR support coming in 2013). Unless Nintendo completely overhauls Nintendo TVii in the coming months, I doubt I will ever use it with any regularity.

[ShyGuy]

At first glance, this article seems to be a waste of time.

[Razorkid]

I think the fact that it IS a glorified search engine and aggregate for all your tv services is the best thing! Nothing else on the market does the same exact thing while being hooked up to those services and your tv simultaneously as well being able to control it all from one device. 


Sure, I wish programs from other services would just launch to your tv inside some sort of Nintendo TVii wrapper instead of having to launch that app service with all the slowness that entails. This I hope will be fixed with future optimization of the OS. Also, the more cable/tv/movie streaming services you have, the more you'll get out of this.


I think more than anything, this is such a novel way of watching tv that it will take sometime for one to get use to as well as the community to build around it to make the social aspects more compelling. This service seems to be most appealing when:


-A person has time on their hands to sit and watch tv and is in a browsing mood
-A person is watching a show that they see weekly and want to interact with the community simultaneously
-A person is watching a live event (sports, press conferences, news events, etc.) and want to interact with the community


Outside of those use cases, it really does only devolve into a search aggregate of your local content, but that's not a terrible thing for a free service, especially when its all on one device.


I feel like this is the sort of thing that will only become more compelling with time as the community grows and frequent use. But I agree that although it is very serviceable, it's not as exciting as I thought it would be out the gate. I have high hopes though 

[StrawHousePig]

Here's my impression: Hey! Look at me! I'm a glorified TV guide with a confusing remote of limited function. I think I'm supposed to simplify things but what's the fun in that?

[KITT 10K]

Needless to say, I am NOT impressed by this so called "feature". On a scale of 1-10, 1 being the worst 10 being the best Nintendo TVii rates a -2 for me.

[lynnvin]

Oh, Geez - pretty lame article. Your expectations were unreasonably high. What were you expecting - that it would cuddle you, rock you gently and sing you lullaby's.

[ShyGuy]

I think what you guys really wanted was Da Hopper from Dish! Meatloaf! an some beah!

[lolmonade]

I think I may have had too high of expectations of Tvii.  When Nintendo presented it, I thought it would be a way to integrate hulu, netflix, Amazon Video, and cable into one solid interface, effectively replacing the need to have the separate apps.  That might be too much to ask, and I imagine Hulu,netflix, etc may not be willing to let Nintendo have that level of connectivity into their apps.

Maybe i'm being too critical, but I find the interface clunky, and Tvii just adds a new step to get to the shows I want to watch.  In an ideal world, i'd think the point of it would be to eliminate the need of the individual apps, and be a streamlined and efficient interface to view the different shows available to watch.

Isn't that how they were advertising the service?

[Disco Stu]

Also, the search simply doesn't work.  I tested out searching for a TV show that I know is on Amazon Prime streaming, and it TVii came up with no results.

[NWR_Neal]

The idea and concept of Nintendo TVii, that, you know, Nintendo showed off at the September unveiling, seemed much grander than what it actually is.

Were my expectations high? Yes, because Nintendo helped put them there. There are a few novel things about this, but I don't think it is really as engaging as Nintendo thinks it is. Maybe I'll be proven wrong, but I'm not optimistic for TVii's future.


And yes, lolmonade, I took how Nintendo pitched it as saying "you can watch Netflix/Hulu in the app" as opposed to the reality, which is "we'll kick you out of TVii and bring you to Hulu."

[Ceric]

Yes, You should never have to leave TVii to watch the show you selected and it should be fast.  It wouldn't be so bad except for the super slowness of switching to anything on the WiiU.

[ShyGuy]

Ideally, we want every show, game, and movie on demand on every device. That's a long ways away. thankfully, Nintendo did just bring us one step closer.

[Razorkid]

Ideally, we want every show, game, and movie on demand on every device. That's a long ways away. thankfully, Nintendo did just bring us one step closer.

I agree with this. I just expect that this service is only going to get better as time moves forward. I think the problem most people are having is that they're only trying to enjoy one aspect of the service (search aggregate and expecting more than what that function provides) and not using TVii as well for the social/DVD extras type functions that it also has. Technical slowness and wanting programs to launch straight from TVii aside, I don't think it's purpose is to be a cumbersome remote. I think it's suppose to make tv watching an interactive experience and a more informative one for those who dig looking up background info on stuff they are watching.

Like I said above, if you already know what you wanna watch, TVii is gonna serve the simple purpose of pointing you to where it is and what time it's on. But if you want to interact with your shows or just want to sit and browse your personal catalog without having to go to each app, TVii will be immediately compelling.

That's just how I see it.

[NWR_insanolord]

I get basic cable at school that doesn't come with a guide, so the TV guide functionality along with the remote ability is actually useful to me, and the social stuff seems interesting. If they continue to work at this I think it could be really great.

[Pixelated Pixies]

Unfortunately I can't say I'm surprised. Let's hope Nintendo are able to improve the service at a later date.

[TeaHee]

I like being able to search on the pad while watching something on the TV.  The stat tracker for sports right on the gamepad is nice (I don't have a tablet).  I am anticipating interesting comments for big sporting events.  I have a few gripes, but, hey, its free.

[TruenoGT]

I loaded it earlier today and think it's pretty cool actually. I don't have cable, but watch a combination of broadcast (antenna) TV and Amazon video. It seems like a nice way to get information about what's on and a way to compile schedules and information about shows I watch. I was surprised it worked with broadcast TV as there was no earlier indication it would (that I saw). I'm excited to use it during the NFL games this weekend to see stats and chat with other Wii U'ers!

[Neifirst]

Although Neal did touch on it halfway through his impressions, I think the Sports tab is the most useful one.  I've already tagged the Chicago Bears and Bulls, plus WVU, Florida, and DePaul for college hoops and can see the upcoming TV schedules much more conveniently.  Living in south Florida, I don't always get the broadcasts for the teams I follow.  Thanks to TVii yesterday, I found out we'll get the Giants at 4:30 on Sunday instead of Chicago-Arizona.  Usually you have to wait for the Sunday morning paper to find out what's actually going to be on for the out-of-town NFL games.  It's a small thing for sure, but hey, it didn't cost me anything extra!

[NWR_insanolord]

The sports thing is neat, but I hope they expand it to other sports. I'm sure baseball will come once the season rolls around, and I would hope hockey would be there if they were actually playing, but I'm upset by the lack of soccer.

[rlse9]

Hopefully this is something that will get better with time because it seems like an idea with great potential.  If it was fast with a slick interface it could definitely be useful.  Displaying statistics for sports you're watching could be useful but for social interaction I find Twitter better than anything this will probably have, I've found following a few of the local sports writers to definitely add to the experience of watching sporting events.

I forget what the name of the site, but I know there is a site out there that shows a map of what football games will be shown where for the following Sunday.

[Fireponcoal]

This feature is a total mess.  Direct TV and Fios both have IPad apps that work beautifully.  The Direct TV app especially.  The DVR feature will also never be activated through Direct TV because Netflix and Hulu are their main competitors.  TVii I fear will always be a kludgy mess.

[Fireponcoal]

And by feature I mean TVii and not what was written above.   :

[jwriston]

I really like Nintendo TVii so far. It's easier and more fun to navigate than competing apps/services. I'm excited to use the interactive aspects. It's not completely revolutionary but I'm sure TVii will only improve as time passes.

I much prefer IGN's initial impressions. They're a tad more optimistic.

[LittleIrves]

Count me in the "TVii is actually neat/useful" boat. Especially since I just have Broadcast/Antenna TV and so we normally have no on-screen guide or anything. So even just the TVii "grid" feature has been useful so far.

I've spent lots of time just clicking from Show to Cast to Movies to Wikipedia to other Movies, then watching a Trailer... I know you can do this on a tablet, but 1) I don't own one and 2) the fact that this same device can then change the channel using IR, and you can see moment-to-moment reaction from other users on it...  I think it's a great little addition. Not a "game-changer" as Reggie and his cohorts might want to think. But a nice bell and/or whistle.

[NWR_Neal]

I'd totally glad people are enjoying it. I just didn't, even after checking it out during the Lions/Falcons game last night.

I do echo some people's thoughts on how it's more of a novel addition as opposed to the reinvention of home entertainment that Nintendo sold it as. My expectations might have been high, but I put that blame squarely on Nintendo.