Nintendo, the Japanese electronics group, is to launch an online news service through its next-generation Wii console.

The Wii News Channel, due to begin on Saturday, will display news stories and pictures from Associated Press, the news agency. Consoles with a broadband internet connection and the Opera Web browser will be able to access the free service.

The move comes as games machines broaden their appeal by offering new functions and services. Microsoft's rival Xbox already includes a feature that allows users to download audio and video content over the web. A new upgrade to the machine, due this year, will effectively make it a set-top box, capable of receiving internet TV, Microsoft said this month.

Sony's PlayStation 3, which will be released in the UK in March, includes a next-generation Blu-ray DVD system.

On the Wii (pronouced "we"), news will be displayed through an interactive map, which users can navigate with the machine's wireless controller.

Perrin Kaplan, vice-president for marketing at Nintendo, said: "The beauty of it is it zooms in and out of areas of the world. So if you really want to focus on regional news or national news versus international, you just blow up the map of the US."

AP has a two-year contract to provide news and pictures to Nintendo and would like to provide multimedia in the future, said Jane Seagrave, vice-president of new media markets for the New York-based news co-operative.

There were no immediate plans to sell advertising space, Nintendo said.

AP will supply news for the Wii in English, French, Spanish, Dutch, German and Swiss-German, Ms Seagrave said. The Japanese news company Goo will supply Nintendo’s Japanese-language news.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

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