In a move surprising no one, Nintendo says they are closing a number of services for the Wii console:
"The affected applications are as follows:
- Nintendo Channel
- News Channel
- Forecast Channel
- Everybody Votes Channel
- Mii Contest Channel
- Data exchange with Wii Friends*
* Exchange of Wii messages on the Wii Message Board, exchange of Mii characters on the Mii Channel and message/data exchange within some games will be disabled.
From 28th June 2013, the above services will no longer be available even if they are started up from the Wii Menu.
However, services other than those mentioned above, such as the Wii Shop Channel and "Today's Accomplishments" on the Wii Message Board, will remain available."
Given the Wii U's availability since November, and Nintendo's attempts towards making the console as successful as its predecessor, the discontinuation of these services doesn't exactly come as the biggest surprise. It's also a likely result of the company trying to encourage sales for the offline Wii Mini.
