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We′ve already seen Sony and Microsoft dip their toes into video distribution on their Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 consoles, so it seems only natural to see Nintendo following suit.

Starting in the Spring of 2009, Nintendo will kick off its own brand of video distribution in Japan. But instead of offering movies and television shows, as Sony and Microsoft have done, Nintendo will instead offer cartoons and more “family-friendly″ programming on their Wii console. Many of these offerings will even be created especially for the Wii video service.

While some video offerings will come with a fee, some will be made available using advertising to cover the actual costs of the offerings.

Nintendo hasn’t announced a specific date for the service outside of Japan, but they have stated that the Wii video service will expand worldwide at a “later” date.

We’ll keep you posted on any new developments with the upcoming Wii video service as they become available. It should be interesting to see what Nintendo has in store for Wii owners with this new service next year.