Wii News Channel Uses Map Interface

Nintendo has partnered with the venerable Associated Press for news and images for its new Wii News Channel. It debuts on Saturday and requires a broadband connection to the Internet and installation of the Opera browser. The free service uses a map interface to be navigated by the now famous Wii controller. Says Perrin Kaplan, vice president for marketing at Nintendo’s U.S. headquarters in Redmond:

The beauty of it is it zooms in and out of areas of the world,” she said. “So if you really want to focus on regional news or national news versus international, you just blow up the map of the U.S.

I like maps as interfaces, but is this the best interface for the job or organizing news? Or, is it the coolest interface for the remote?
- AP