Nintendo is closing down a selection of Wii Channels and online services for the Nintendo Wii console from June, the company has officially announced.
The Nintendo Channel, News Channel, Everybody Votes Channel, Mii Contest Channel and Forecast Channel will be among the Wii Channels to be axed.
Nintendo Wii users will also lose the ability to send and receive messages using the Wii Message board.
“We at Nintendo sincerely thank you for your continued patronage of our company’s products,” said a Nintendo spokesperson to Eurogamer, curiously named Mario. “We apologise to those of you currently using these services, and ask you for your understanding.”
“The above services will no longer be available even if they are started up from the Wii Menu. However, services other than those mentioned above, such as the Wii Shop Channel and ‘Today’s Accomplishments’ on the Wii Message board, will remain available.”
The Wii Channels and the messaging board service will be closed down from June 28, but the Wii Shop will remain open.
Such closures could be an indication that Nintendo is preparing to put the Nintendo Wii out to pasture that was originally launched in December 2006 in the UK. Nintendo recently launched the Nintendo Wii Mini, a reduced size Nintendo Wii console lacking internet support and backwards compatibility.
The Nintendo Wii has now been replaced by the Nintendo Wii U, released in December last year. Unfortunately the Nintendo Wii U has been plagued by low sales since launch, forcing Nintendo to drop its annual sales forecast for the console to 4 million units from 5.5 million.
Retailers have dropped their prices for the dual-screen console in recent months in an attempt to boost sales figures. Amazon UK, Asda and ShopTo all exercised an unofficial price drop, cutting at least £50 off the RRP of the Nintendo Wii U Basic and Premium console bundles.
However, at the beginning of the month Wii U sales reportedly rose by 125 per cent in the UK due to new game releases like Lego City Undercover and Capcom’s Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate. The shooter actually attributed to almost half the revenue generated by Wii U software during its launch week.
