Wii Street U Being Discontinued
Early on in the Wii U’s life there was a free app that could be downloaded called Wii Street U. It combined Google’s street view with the GamePad to create a highly immersive experience. A user could explore almost any place in the world, and by look holding the tablet up and moving around could look at the still picture of the street view in a full 360 degrees. It wasn’t quite virtual reality (we talk about this in our VR talk in the first episode of NintendoTimes Radio), but the effect was very cool and I know a few of my non-gamer friends were blown away by the technology.
After its introduction, a $5 charge for the app was implemented and I’m not sure how successful the service ever became. Perhaps another sign of the impending NX platform, Nintendo has announced the service will end at 8pm PT on March 31, 2016. No word on whether this type of program will be implemented on a future Nintendo device. It’s unfortunate to see it end, especially for those who still use it and even more so for those that paid for the program.
Nintendo’s official statement is:
Service for this software will be discontinued at 8:00 p.m. PT on 3/31/2016. Once service is discontinued, this software will not be usable. Thank you for your use and support of this software. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.
[Sources: Nintendo, GoNintendo]
Craig has been covering the video game industry since 1995. His work has been published across a wide spectrum of media sites. He’s currently the Editor-In-Chief of Nintendo Times and contributes to Gaming Age.
