Wii News Channel Offers AP Stories and Photos

Need a time-out from your Nintendo Wii and hours of Madden NFL ’07? Catch up on current events through the Wii News Channel.

According to this story, the news channel was created through a partnership between Nintendo and the Associated Press. The free service, which requires a broadband connection and the Opera web browser, primarily features AP stories and photos. An interactive world map helps you locate news for various regions, and multiple languages are available.

This type of convergence with online providers is inevitable, but attracting gamers with a news channel seems odd at best.