Nintendo bringing Hulu Plus to Wii and 3DS consoles

Nintendo finally catches up to Xbox and PlayStation in the streaming content game

If you own a Wii or 3DS and you've been growing restless with the slim pickins in Netflix's streaming catalogue, you can now relax.  Nintendo announced Friday that it will bring online television streaming service Hulu Plus to its Wii and 3DS consoles.

Hulu Plus is the paid option of Hulu, costing $7.99 per month and will be available on the Wii and 3DS by the end of the year. Current television channels under Hulu's paid plan are ABC, NBC, FOX, Comedy Central, MTV, and others.

Back in January 2010, Nintendo announced its Wii consoles would be Netlix-accessible -- Netflix's cheapest plan is also $7.99, incidentally -- and some have been waiting since then for the other shoe to drop, this shoe being Netflix's major competitor in online streaming content, Hulu.  Netflix also came to the 3DS over the summer--but still, no mention of Hulu, until now.

The Xbox 360 and PlayStation3 gaming consoles currently have both Netflix and Hulu Plus, so it only made sense that Nintendo would follow suit.

This announcement concerning Hulu Plus comes several months before Nintendo debuts its new console, the WiiU. And while thus far, Nintendo had been behind on bringing streaming content to its current generation of gaming consoles, this new deal may put the company ahead of the curve.

There's no word yet as to whether the WiiU will have the same compatability with Netflix and Hulu. But Nintendo's current handheld gaming device, the 3DS, will be Hulu compatible, according to Friday's news. It's also not clear whether next-generation hand-held competitors like the PS Vita will be similarly Hulu compatible.

The PS Vita will drop in Asia in December of this year and in Europe and North America in February of 2012. The Nintendo 3DS was released in Asia last December and in Europe and North America last March.

Friday's announcement came with news of added features for the Nintendo 3DS, including the ability to record 3D video, new recording artists joining Nintendo Video, and new animated video from DreamWorks Animation SKG.

Also, 4 new Nintendo 3DS games soon will be added to the Nintendo eShop.

These titles include Freakyforms, a game where players create creatures and bring them to life; Pushmo, where players solve more than 250 puzzles by pulling and pushing blocks; Swapnote, which allows Nintendo 3DS owners to send 3D messages to their friends; and Dillon's Rolling Western, a 3D tower defense game.