New firmware update for Wii and possible hint at worldwide release of Digital Photo Channel July 23, 2008

Two bits of news for all of you. First up is that Wii owners should have a new firmware update awating them. What does it do? Well… nothing yet for us. The update description is on the Nintendo website and here’s what it says:
“Photo Channel 1.1-a
An update was made available for the Wii console which provides behind-the-scenes support for a new service that has been released only in Japan.”
So basically they’re teasing us with an update for a channel that we don’t have. Well, thanks to Google Translation of the Digital Photo Channel page on Nintendo of Japan’s website, we have a hint that says we might be getting it eventually. It says:
“Back to the future, this service is world-wide (North America, Europe) and expand in the future.“
Sounds like we’ll be getting the Digital Photo Channel eventually and they also might add more features in the future. I hope it’s soon!
[Via Nintendo of America and Nintendo of Japan]





















Not that it really matters at all…but I think this is called the “Digital Print Channel” in Japan. At least, that’s what the translation looks like.
@hattrick: Thanks. I’m sure there are a few different translations that are all similar due to the nature of Japanese and how different it is from English. Go Nintendo called it the Digital Photo Channel, and that’s where I saw much of the info on it, so that’s why I called it that. Until it comes out in the US, there isn’t really one official name for it I suppose.
And what will do this wonderfull new channel?
im glad that so far i havent found a reason to update my firmware since they disabled the freeloader. i kinda hope that it stays that way atleast until a new freeloader is made
What it does is allow you to use your Credit card to get FujiFilm to print it and send it to you via mail.
hattrick is correct. The katakana characters say “digi-came-printo chyaneru,” which is Japanese pseudo-English for “digital camera print channel.”
This looks like it’s going to be some sort of shutterfly/snapfish-style print ordering service. I just can’t get myself all that excited about that.
Well, the good thing is that we might be able to finally do more with our pictures now instead of just viewing them and editing only to view on the wii or send to other wii.