In a somewhat curious move, Nintendo today announced the creation of the Wii Photo Service, where users can upload images from a digital camera’s memory card and order prints to be delivered to their homes. The service offers individual prints, photo albums, and name cards, as well as a series of six different Super Mario-inspired templates.

The entire service will be monitored by Fujifilm, who will be responsible for orders, payment, processing. and shipping. The Wii merely acts as the point at which you upload photos and begin the ordering process, at which point Fujifilm handles the rest.

The big question about this service is does anyone plan to use it? There are so many photo uploading and printing services already floating around the web; do we really need another? From the looks of things, Nintendo is trying to entice casual Wii users with a service they may not have the tech savvy to figure it out from a computer. In that case, the company is yet again ignoring the needs of hardcore gamers in favor of finding another way to make a quick buck off the fleeting casual market. Oh well, I suppose we shouldn’t really be surprised by news like this anymore.