Nintendo Wii owners were recently left feeling a little under appreciated with the news that Playstation 3 owners will be getting Netflix broadband video streaming next month. Blog rumblings indicate that Netflix streaming will be coming to the Wii eventually, but may not arrive until next year with the shipping of a modified, HD-capable Wii variant. This image was sent out to some Wii owners in a survey last march, and the console owners have been eagerly anticipating the streaming service ever since. The blog's leak sources insist that it's not entirely impossible the launch could also happen before the holidays.

Back in March a company by the name of OnLive unveiled their new broadband gaming service, which aims to replace the traditional game console with what's essentially a broadband-connected dumb terminal. Under the system, which has been proposed in various forums for years now, major title games are completely streamed over your broadband connection -- for a monthly subscription fee.

Back in March a company by the name of OnLive unveiled their new broadband gaming service, which aims to replace the traditional game console with a broadband-connected dumb terminal. Under the system, which has been proposed in various forums for years now, major title games are completely streamed over your broadband connection -- for a monthly subscription fee.

As Australia's plans to filter the Internet grow ever more expensive and ridiculous, the Sydney Morning Herald reports that video games are in the government's crosshairs as well. Australia's planned $125.8 million Cyber-Safety filtering system -- opposed by most ISPs as impractical and technically impossible -- includes two blacklists -- one which filters illegal material (no opt-out) and another that filters material deemed offensive by the Australian government (users can opt out).

Back in March a company by the name of OnLive unveiled their new broadband gaming service, replacing it with a broadband-connected dumb terminal. Major title games are completely streamed over your broadband connection -- for a monthly subscription fee. Initial demonstrations were on closed networks, and of course everyone wants to see this service in the real world -- where the company admits you'll need to live within 1,000 miles of a data center. For E3, the OnLive folks rented an empty Los Angeles home and demonstrated the service to Joystiq using a Time Warner Cable broadband connection -- somewhat amusing (or frightening) given Time Warner Cable's recent ambitions. The service is currently entering closed beta and will jump into open beta this summer.

Earlier this week, a job post at the Netflix website resulted in speculation that Netflix would be bringing their popular broadband streaming service to the Playstation 3, and potentially the Nintendo Wii. In comments to Gamesindustry.biz, Netflix vice president of corporate communications Steve Swasey dances the familiar PR two step, neither denying or supporting expansion to the PS3 platform. "For now, Netflix streaming on game consoles is exclusively on the Xbox 360 - and it's a terrific hit," says Swasey. Netflix proclaims that 1 million users have watched over 1.5 billion minutes of video since the service launched in November of last year.

The increase in broadband speeds means we're increasingly offloading a lot of content from the local PC and into the Internet "cloud" -- your Google applications being just one example. Offloading gaming content so that the heavy lifting is done remotely (eliminating the need for costly in-home consoles or PC hardware) has long been a dream hampered by sluggish connectivity, but a new company by the name of Onlive hopes to change that.

• Australia's Blacklisted Hyperlinks to Cost Webmasters $11,000 a Day [maximumpc.com]
• Recession Isn't Holding Back Mobile Broadband Subscribers [cellular-news.com]
• Telus to invest $500-million to improve B.C. broadband [theglobeandmail.com]
• AT&T takes smart grids residential [telephonyonline.com]
• Is BT losing its bottle on Phorm? [pcpro.co.uk]
• CEA: Cable Should Rely On Common Downloadable-Security Scheme [multichannel.com]
• Irish ISPs Point Out They're Under No Obligation To Follow Three Strikes Policy [siliconrepublic.com]
• Discovery sues Amazon over Kindle patent infringement; won't seek to stop sales [cellular-news.com]

User Rogerquake writes in to note that in an interview with QuakeUnity, id Software's John Carmack and Marty Stratton discuss QuakeLive, a free ad supported version of Quake3 that's being delivered entirely in-browser. "John and Marty discuss the QuakeLive backend infrastructure, which is hosted at GNi in San Fransisco.

The Associated Press reports that Nintendo will begin offering video content via broadband-connected Wii gaming consoles starting in 2009. This won't be a serious threat against existing Internet video delivery services -- not only because the Wii lacks HDMI, but because the console will only be delivering "original Nintendo content," and not third party TV shows and films. Nintendo isn't being more specific about the content, but we're guessing it will be cute, non-offensive, and colorful fare that may involve a certain energetic Italian plumber.

HD film streaming, courtesy of your broadband connection and Netflix, should arrive on the Xbox 360 starting November 19, reports Engadget. Details are scarce for now, but the service will debut with about 300 films, and will be part of the new Xbox "Experience" upgrade, which drastically revamps the console's GUI. Gizmodo has a preview of those changes, for those interested.

The Inquirer is reporting that search giant Google will soon be purchasing video game developer Valve, which you might consider a strange purchase unless you're familiar with Valve's broadband game distribution platform, Steam. While Steam started off with a few hiccups and bandwidth struggles we highlighted at the time, Valve has since built the platform into a formidable distribution system and social gaming engine. When getting off the ground, Valve approached several major players (like Yahoo and Microsoft) for help, but nobody was interested. The latest Steam statistics show that frequently, 1.2 million of Steam's fifteen million plus registered gamers are using the system at any one time.

Update: Valve is claiming that the report is a "complete fabrication."

• iPhone 3G is named gadget of the year [yahoo.com]
• McCain invented the Blackberry [theinquirer.net]
• No pr0n surfing for Qantas A380 passengers; 'cached internet content' only [theregister.co.uk]
• We're saying bye to landlines [floridatoday.com]
• Verizon Wireless - Contract-free starting Sept. 21? [cellphones.ca]
• Bright House Flicks On Switched Video [multichannel.com]
• Google to buy Valve [theinquirer.net]
• Vodafone cleared for “Unlimited” claim [techwatch.co.uk]

The Entertainment Software Association has traditionally been kinder to illegal filesharing than have other entertainment trade associations such as RIAA and MPAA. However, a former RIAA executive and an ex-RIAA lawyer are now in head positions at the ESA and that has some people wondering if there is going to be a RIAA-style crackdown on the illegal filesharing of computer games. Some believe that this could even lead to targeting people who get pirated copies of the game solely to get around DRM. There is additional concern that the gaming industry is not big enough to fight back against RIAA-like lawsuits if indeed the same methods used by RIAA were implemented by the ESA.

• P4P: The Internet's New Shortcut? [forbes.com]
• Sony PSP becomes a Fon in Japan [i4u.com]
• RIAA Exec Jumps To The ESA: Expect Lawsuits Against Video Gamers [techdirt.com]
• Comcast To Bring Web-Style Widgets To TV With Intel [multichannel.com]
• BBC iPlayer upgrade prompts new ISP complaints [theregister.co.uk]
• Comcast vs. BitTorrent, What’s Next? [torrentfreak.com]
• Security Researcher Defends Plan To Release Gmail Hacking Tool [informationweek.com]
• Opera update draws the curtain on seven security vulns [theregister.co.uk]

• NY comptroller advises to scrap $2 billion network [reuters.com]
• ISPs concerned at game developer’s “strong arm” approach [samknows.com]
• HSPA Subscribers Hit 50 Million [cellular-news.com]
• You knew this was coming: Apple sued over iPhone 3G issues [newsfactor.com]
• Verizon Revisits FiOS Installations In New York [multichannel.com]
• 30% Of Internet Users Admit To Buying From Spam [techdirt.com]
• Nokia admits major Series 40 security problems [theregister.co.uk]
• Virgin wants a broadband Bolt [seekbroadband.com]

Some additional information on the free Wii promotion that insiders leaked last week now comes via more official channels: From today until August 17, 2008, new customers who sign up for Comcast Preferred Plus or Premier Triple Play package will receive a complimentary Wii system. A Comcast insider also tells me that potential Wii warriors will need to pass a certain credit screening threshold "to be determined by market"; if they don't pass, they will be required to pay the $250 Wii deposit to sign up for the Nintendo Wii offer.

Sony has launched the Playstation 3 video store, bringing yet another broadband video delivery avenue to market. The store offers roughly 300 movies in both standard and high-definition formats for rental, ranging from $2.99 to $5.99.

Microsoft has announced that a new version of the Xbox 360 will be released which triples the console’s storage capacity. The new console is going to be priced at the same price as the original 20GB console ($349). The price of the lower-storage version will be decreased by $50.

A video game publishing company called Trion World Network is working on ways to harness the power of broadband in order to change the way that online gaming works and hopefully to launch the next generation in gaming. story continues..