If you’ve got a network connected Wii and a Netflix account with streaming capabilities, today is your lucky day. Via a press release, Nintendo and Netflix announced that U.S. and Canadian subscribers will be able to download and install software directly to their Wii consoles to allow Instant Queue streaming. Previously, the Wii console required a Netflix CD to be inserted in the disc drive for Instant Queue access. The software is available for free from the Wii Shop Channel on your console. The full press release is after the break.

Netflix Now Available as a Download from the Wii Shop Channel

Watching Movies and TV Shows Streamed Instantly from Netflix is Now Just a Click Away

REDMOND, Wash.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Beginning today, Netflix members in the United States and Canada can stream content through their Wii™ consoles with Netflix installed on their Wii Menu. The Netflix disc that was used for instant streaming on the Wii console will no longer be required. Netflix members who have a plan starting at $8.99 a month ($7.99 in Canada), a Wii console and a broadband Internet connection can now instantly watch movies and TV shows streamed directly to their TVs by simply downloading Netflix from the Wii Shop Channel. This new channel is available at no extra cost. The new disc-free option installs Netflix on the Wii Menu, making it convenient for Wii owners to quickly access streaming movies and TV shows.

“At this time of year, consumers have a near-insatiable demand for family entertainment,” said Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime. “And this simplified Netflix access will help bring families together more quickly, more easily and in more ways than ever before. More than 3 million Wii systems have already connected to Netflix, demonstrating how easy the service is to set up and use.”

“Wii is a consummate home entertainment platform and has quickly become one of the best and most popular ways to enjoy movies streamed from Netflix,” said Reed Hastings, co-founder and CEO of Netflix. “The availability of Netflix right on the Wii Menu adds significantly to the ease and convenience that attracts our members to the Netflix streaming experience and is an important step in our efforts to continuously improve the service.”

Wii offers consumers the most fun right out of the box. Precision motion controls, online access and great games are all included at no extra charge. For a suggested retail price of just $199.99 ($209.99 in Canada), Wii owners get:

• The Wii console, Wii Sports™, Wii Sports Resort™, a Wii Remote™ controller, a Wii MotionPlus™ accessory and a Nunchuk™ controller
• Access* to hundreds of downloadable games in the Wii Shop Channel, including original games like World of Goo and classic games from the NES™, Super NES™ and Nintendo 64™ eras
• Access* to a variety of entertainment and informational channels, including the Nintendo® Channel, which provides information about current and upcoming Wii and Nintendo DS™ games
• Access* to streaming Netflix movies and TV shows

The Netflix service has been available on the Wii console in the United States since April 12, 2010, and in Canada since Sept. 22, 2010. For more information about how to stream Netflix through a Wii console, visit http://www.netflix.com/wii or http://www.netflix.ca/wii.

Remember that Wii and Netflix feature parental controls that let adults manage the content their children can access. For more information about this and other features, visit http://wii.com and http://www.netflix.com.

* Broadband Internet connection required. Netflix streaming requires Netflix subscription.

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In a short but sweet press release, Nintendo announced that sales of its Wii gaming console have topped 30 million units in the United States. The feat took only 45 months to accomplish which Nintendo claims makes it the fastest selling console ever. USA Today writes, “More than 73 million Wiis have been scooped up worldwide, which puts the console on pace to becoming the best-selling video game device ever. That title is held by Sony’s PlayStation 2, which has notched about 140 million in sales.” Not bad Nintendo, not bad at all.

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June was a topsy turvy month for gaming sales according to NPD, as overall sales were down 6% year-over-year but up significantly from May. Leading the way for June was the Xbox 360 which sold 451,700 units, which more than doubled its May sales of a measly 194,000 units. Hot on the heels of the Xbox was the Nintendo Wii which sold 422,500 units and the PlayStation 3 which sold 304,800 units. June was also a good month for hardware and accessory sales, as hardware sales were up 5% year-over-year and and accessory sales were up 6% year-over-year. Though console and accessory sales were brisk, software sales declined 15% from last year, with Red Dead Redemption as the one bright spot in an otherwise disappointing month. In its second month of sales, the popular title from Rockstar continues to be very well received with the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions taking two of the top three slots for the best selling software titles in June.

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Today, Nintendo posted its 2009-2010 fiscal earnings, and the Japanese gaming giant is beginning to stumble. For the first time in six years, Nintendo’s annual net profit fell, dropping 18% to ¥228.64 billion ($2.45 billion) in this fiscal year, which ended in March 2010. Nintendo blamed the slide on the appreciation of the yen, a late 2009 price cut on the Nintendo Wii, and the lack of strong game titles to drive the sale of hardware. Speaking of hardware sales…they lagged a bit, with Nintendo selling 20.5 million Wii consoles, down from 26 million in the previous year. The DSi showed a similar decline as Nintendo sold 27.11 million units, down from 31.18 million in the previous year. Despite the decline, Nintendo remained optimistic for the current fiscal year with a forecast of: ¥200 billion in profits, 18 million Wii units, and 30 million DSi units. The Japanese gaming company dismissed concerns over increased competition from the XBOX 360, the Playstation 3, and the Apple iPad citing its knowledge of the gaming business and its unique hardware, which appeals to a wide audience. Nintendo did not comment on the future of the Wii hardware, but did confirm the rumored 3DS, a new handheld gaming device that will allow 3D gameplay without the need for special glasses.Read (PDF File)

This February, Microsoft Xbox 360 sales bested those of the Sony Playstation 3 and Nintendo Wii for the first time since September of 2007. The February sales figures were: Xbox 360 422,000 units — up 8% year-over-year, Wii 397,900 units — down 47% year-over-year, and Playstation 3 360,100 units — up 30% year-over-year. Take-Two Interative’s BioShock 2, which hit store shelves on February 10th, can be partially credited for the surge in Xbox sales. BS 2 sold over 750,000 copies, 75% of which (562,000) were for the Xbox 360. Nintendo’s Super Mario Bros. Wii, sold 555,600 units raking second on the game sales chart and Activision’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 came in a respectable third.

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After a strong 2009 holiday showing, the gaming industry once again demonstrated that it is not recession-proof. According to a report released by NPD Group, U.S. retail video game software sales fell to $597.9 million, a 12% year over year decline. Leading the pack in video game sales is the New Super Mario Bros for the Wii and Mass Effect 2 for the Xbox 360 which sold a staggering 572,100 copies in the six days following its late January 26th launch. Hardware sales also took a beating in January with sales reaching a mere $353.7 million, a 21% decrease from  January 2009 and a precipitous drop from the $2.2 billion in sales recorded for December 2009. Nintendo once again claimed the top two hardware spots having sold 465,800 Wii consoles and 422,200 handeld DS units. Microsoft sold 332,800 Xbox 360 consoles in January 2010 and reclaimed the third position over Sony’s Playstation 3 which sold 276,900 units. Bucking the downward trend, sales of accessories rose 2% which is a bit of good news in an otherwise disappointing month.

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Netflix and Nintendo are teaming up to bring Netflix’s streaming media service to the Nintendo Wii this spring. In order to actually get some streaming content going, Wii owners will obviously need to have a broadband internet-connected Wii and a subscription to a minimum $8.99 Netflix plan. Similar to the PS3, the Wii will not be an embedded solution and will require a Netflix application disc which must be inserted in the Wii while accessing the Netflix content. Wii owners ready to jump on board can sign up now to receive additional information and reserve an application disc at Netflix’s website. The disc is free and will ship this spring when the service launches.

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I don’t want to grow up, but even if I did, I still would be a…can you hear it in your head now? Good. Toys R Us has released a few of their steals and deals for the fast approaching Black Friday, and some of them aren’t half bad. TRU will be offering a BOGOHO (buy one get one half off) sale on all PSP and DS games, The Beatles: Rock Band will be $49.99, and The Beatles: Rock Band “Special Value addition” will set you back $134.99. We’re not exactly sure what Toys R Us is trying to tell us with this next set of deals but all Xbox 360 and Wii hardware purchases will include a $15 gift card for Subway, Wendy’s, or Cold Stone Creamery — why not just include a free bottle of replacement bong water — also, “select games” will include a $25 iTunes gift card. The BOGOHO and Beatles offerings are good online or in-stores but the free gift cards are an in-store deal only. So what’s the verdict? Anyone going to head out to Toys R Us at 5am on the 27th to rub elbows with soccer mom’s trying to get a Tickle Me Elmo for these deals?

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Dust off your old pair of Vans and get ready to party like it’s 1995, because Tony Hawk: RIDE has finally been released in North America. Available for the Nintendo Wii, Playstation 3 and Xbox 360, the game’s main attraction lies in its wireless skateboard controller that’s chockful of motion sensors and allows players to more or less feel that they themselves are on a real skateboard and part of the game. The game and skateboard are bundled together for $119.99, a far cry cheaper than your hospital bill will be after playing this game drunk at your office Christmas party.

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2009 has not been a good year for video games here in the US. While console sales were up significantly compared to July, August marked the sixth consecutive month in which industry sales have declined year-over-year. According to numbers recently released by NPD Group, overall gaming sales were down 16 percent YoY despite positive sequential growth for each major console other than the Sony PlayStation 2. Accessory sales were up 2 percent but game sales were down 15 percent and console sales dropped a massive 25 percent. Of note, PS3 sales in August were up over 72 percent compared to July’s numbers (121,800) thanks to a recent price drop. Here’s how August hardware sales break down:

• Nintendo DS: 552,900
• Nintendo Wii: 277,400
• Microsoft Xbox: 215,400
• Sony PlayStation 3: 210,000
• Sony PSP: 140,300
• Sony PlayStation 2: 105,900

As far as game titles, EA’s Madden NFL 2010 for Xbox 360 was the highest-selling game in August with 928,000 copies sold, followed by Wii Sports Resort for the Wii (754,000) and then EA’s Madden NFL 2010 for PS3 (665,000). Square Enix’s Batman: Arkham Asylum took both the four and five spots, having sold 303,000 copies for the Xbox 360 and 290,000 copies for PS3.

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After what was a pretty terrible June for the video game industry, Nintendo looked to July’s highly anticipated Wii Sports Resort release to revitalize casual gamers — and their wallets — and reverse the steep slide the company saw at the start of summer. Fast forward: It did. Nintendo announced this past week that the sequel to its ever-popular Wii Sports title sold over 500,000 titles during its first week of availability beginning July 26th. For those keeping score, that’s about one copy sold every 1.5 seconds. At $50 a pop, it’s also about $25 million in gross revenue. Wii Sports Resort packages 12 mini games onto one disc and includes a MotionPlus accessory, which “brings unmatched accuracy to games that have been specially designed for it.” In other words, it improves upon the revolutionary concept popularized by the standard Wii controller and makes it much more accurate. So, did anyone pick up a copy of Sports Resort this past week or are you all still too busy drooling over preview videos of Project Natal?

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Many would say the worst is behind us where the recession is concerned but gaming giants Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft would probably disagree. An industry that stumped analysts and remained strong throughout the recent turbulent economic climate is finally beginning to feel the impact of the wave of reduced spending that has attacked most industries in recent history. Video game sales began declining slowly in March but NPD Group has just released June numbers that show a slightly more alarming drop than we’ve been seeing over the past few months. US sales in June dipped a substantial 29 percent YoY — a record drop — and consoles sales were down a whopping 38 percent. Long story short, an industry that held strong on the back of Nintendo’s Wii and DS/DSi is looking like it may finally be approaching relative saturation. The odds of another Wii-like breakthrough reaching market any time soon are slim to none but something better happen in the near future to woo gamers back into opening those wallets. Drops in console pricing are rumored but still not confirmed, though we have little faith that minor price adjustments would have the kind of impact the industry needs to rebound significantly.

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We’ve long since given up on Blockbuster and the debacle that is Total Access. As the company continues to struggle with the evolving home entertainment industry, Blockbuster repeatedly reminds us all that it just doesn’t get it. That won’t stop it from trying though. According to the Wall Street Journal, Blockbuster will finally begin piloting the addition of video games to its through-the-mail movie rental service sometime in June — the goal will still be to launch the service nationally in 2H of this year. This isn’t the first time we’ve heard rumblings of video games being added to the pot but apparently it took a bit longer than expected to get the pilot rolling. Still no word on how video game packages will be priced or whether the half-price in-store game rentals will indeed be part of the offer, but to be honest we don’t really care. The Blockbuster ship has already sailed as far as we’re concerned.

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Yes. Performance Designed Products has just unveiled the Wii accessory every Wii user has been waiting for — even if he or she didn’t know it. That’s right people, say hello to the Energizer Induction Charging System for Wii. PDP’s Energizer-branded line of accessories packs a few gems but none as sweet as this new Wiimote charging dock, which makes use of wireless induction charging technology to facilitate contact-free charging of Wiimotes. Badass. Users won’t even have to remove the protective sleeves or wrist straps from their Wiimotes; just plop that sucker on the charging dock and let induction do its thing. The dock can also be laid flat so Wii MotionPlus users won’t even have to disconnect the adapters to juice up their controllers. Fantastic. The Energizer Induction Charging System for Wii is slated to hit stores next month for $49.99 — a bargain at twice the price.

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While video games may have been able to sail through the recession in the past, it seems that March proved to be a rather tough nut to crack for an industry that provides a great way to escape ones woes. The NPD Group reports that sales of video games in the US fell 17 percent in March to $792.8 million while hardware sales fell 18 percent, bringing in only $455.6 million. A drop of this magnitude did come as something of a surprise, though many analysts attribute the decline to two major differences between March 2008 and March 2009: First, Easter was in March in 2008. Also Super Smash Bros. Brawl was released, a game that went on to be the fourth best selling title in all of 2008. Just in case you’re the type who loves keeping score, the Wii reigned supreme in March with 601,000 units sold followed by the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 at 330,000 and 218,000 units respectively.

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