Nintendo unveils 'Nintendo TVii' for Wii U (video)

Nintendo showed off some of the Wii U's new television functionality during its New York City press event -- first unveiled during E3 2012 -- including a built-in DVR powered by TiVO, and search across several content providers (Netflix, Hulu Plus, Amazon Instant, and cable television). It's unclear whether the DVR functionality is built into the console or not, but we'll be sure to find out as soon as possible. Nintendo's director of strategic partnership Zach Fountain's calling the service a "personalized program guide" and he showed off how you'll be able to interact with content -- movies and television shows can be searched via text entry, or explored in a general category sense (movies, tv, sports, etc.). If QWERTY text isn't your kind of thing, a rotary entry in the lower right corner offers another way to seek out content.

The service is only for US and Canadian Wii U owners for now, but Fils-Aime said the company's exploring an expansion into other parts of the Americas. Nintendo TVii is free with the purchase of a console this November. Click on past the break for the company's brief video demo.

Gallery: Nintendo TVii

Gallery: Nintendo TVii press shots

Joseph Volpe contributed to this report.

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Nintendo unveils 'Nintendo TVii' for Wii U (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 13 Sep 2012 10:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.