By Stevie Smith Apr 11, 2007, 15:13 GMT
Opening with the truly bizarre (and, we might add, monetarily inaccurate) boast of: “We can turn your two-hundred-quid Wii, or your three-hundred-quid PlayStation 3, into a five-quid radio” the Virgin Group has this week revealed a history-making deal that will bring streamed radio direct to Nintendo and Sony’s next-generation videogame consoles.
As of yesterday, users of the Nintendo Wii (£180 GBP) and PlayStation 3 (£425 GBP) have been able to access various broadcasting Virgin Radio stations thanks to the Web browsers imbued within the hardware of each console – though notably Microsoft’s Xbox 360 misses out on the radio opportunity as it presently doesn’t offer its users a dedicated browser.
As neither of the consoles is compatible with streams provided via Windows Media or RealPlayer, they will both stream signals through Virgin Radio’s online 128Kbps player. The stations on offer will include mainstream Virgin Radio UK, the timeless sounds of Virgin Radio Classic Rock, new music temptation through Virgin Radio Xtreme, and the laidback soul of Virgin Radio Groove.
“It’s great for us to achieve another new media first and be the only UK radio station available on both of these massively popular games consoles,” enthused James Cridland, director of digital media, reports Radio Today. “People are treating the [videogame] consoles as part of their home entertainment media centre and now Virgin Radio will be part of that experience. This platform has great growth potential, particularly among early-adopters and the 25 - 44 audience popular with advertisers,” he added.
Beyond the attraction of listening to Virgin Radio through their Wii or PlayStation 3 (though it should be noted that the radio reception cannot be enjoyed while playing videogames), gamers will also be able to purchase concert tickets, CDs, and downloadable tracks through Virgin Radio’s online Ticket Store.
And what of the Xbox 360? Virgin Radio is apparently “working on a solution” that will bring the radio service to Microsoft’s next-gen monster at some point.
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