Nintendo Channel now available for Wii
Wednesday, May 7th, 2008 at 8:25am by David
Was your Wii flashing blue this morning? Nope, it wasn’t another Mario Kart challenge .. the Nintendo Channel is now available to download! I hopped on my Wii, went to the Shop Channel, and started the download. Firing up the Nintendo Channel plays a short video preview of what the channel contains. After that, I downloaded a demo of Crosswords onto my DS, watched video previews for a couple Virtual Console games, and told Nintendo what I thought about Mario Kart Wii and Wrecking Crew.
It’s a fun channel to explore, so check it out and let us know what you think!
[Thanks for the tip, Roger!]
May 7th, 2008 at 8:37 am
I didn’t realize the DS download service was part of this channel… awesome. I can’t wait to get off work and try out some demos. Smart move Nintendo.
May 7th, 2008 at 8:38 am
This was awesome news first thing this morning. I have looked forward to this channel for some time.
However, wasn’t this supposed to be released at the same time as WiiWare? Don’t get me wrong, I love it, but I just thought I had read it was being released then.
May 7th, 2008 at 8:41 am
DS demo download is awesome, telling them what you think about games could be useless. I wish you could vote on what games you want released for the VC.
May 7th, 2008 at 9:03 am
I just downloaded it, seems pretty damn cool (for once.)
Somewhat related question, this channel should have forced one of my other channels on to “page 2″ of channels. Instead, it took a spot and I lost the everybody votes channel. Not that i’m upset about it, but shouldn’t it have just moved to page 2?
Anyway. Good on you Nintendo.
May 7th, 2008 at 9:05 am
I have a few things on page 2 that I never use – the metroid prime 3 demo i downloaded back before it was released, which of course i never watch anymore, as well as the photo channel. I’ll probably move either the news or weather channel to page 2 for this new one.
May 7th, 2008 at 9:20 am
oh snap. i’ve been waiting for this ds demo service since the wii’s launch.
May 7th, 2008 at 9:24 am
EHHHHHHHHHHHH is this included for Europeans? I know we were getting this channel this month but I didn’t realise it was today? If it’s the same for us in EU I’ll be getting this shortly
May 7th, 2008 at 9:41 am
I like the demo service. Now I don’t have feel like a dork standing in Target playing demo games…
May 7th, 2008 at 9:50 am
Holy Crap!
May 7th, 2008 at 9:54 am
@Jamie, not yet; you guys will be getting shortly one week after your WiiWare Launch.
May 7th, 2008 at 10:15 am
DS demos are great, but do I still have to go to Toys R Us on May 31 to get Darkrai?
May 7th, 2008 at 10:41 am
I was very happy when I had that note from Nintendo this morning. I spent about 25 minutes exploring the channel, watching movies and voting my opinions on games I’ve played. I too downloaded the Crosswords demo (they should really make where to get DS demos more obvious; I went back to the Wii Menu expecting a new Channel, as initially I couldn’t see where to get demos). I enjoyed watching video game trailers from the comfort of my couch rather than on my laptop. A great channel with a slick presentation. I look forward to checking it regularly.
May 7th, 2008 at 10:43 am
@rdaneel72
More than likely. These Pokemon events have always been pretty much exclusive to Toys R Us. Not to mention TRU will offer related discounts on similar games. It’s all a clever marketing ploy to bring you to TRU and further Pokemon fanaticism.
May 7th, 2008 at 10:47 am
Yeah, blue light woke me up alright. 3 am, and I was pissed to find out that my wifi wasn’t working cuz my wii is stupid. I got it working this morning then the update took like 20 mins to do and so I had to leave my wii on all day cuz It wasn’t finished and had to leave for school. It better be done when I get home, and not no epic phail. Then I’ll download the channel if my wifi doesn’t be stupid.
May 7th, 2008 at 12:51 pm
@rdneel72
…and sadly, I will be there too, with my nieces and nephews… possibly even my new sister-in-law to obtain Darkrai.
May 7th, 2008 at 1:20 pm
Very awesome.
I knew this was coming, and it’s awesome. I like the feature of being able to download DS demos from my Wii – that was a smart move.
I think ranking Wii games is going to be a good idea.
Now this is only version 1 of the Nintendo channel (just take a look at the initial font on the startup screen), so I’m betting they’re getting more features implemented right now (haven’t checked w/my friend at NOA yet).
So I’m hoping, too, that they will have a feature to submit VC wishes.
As I said before, this is only ver. 1, so there’s probably more stuff in store for us down the road – I’m guessing we’ll be able to see all the E3 vids later, too!
May 7th, 2008 at 3:19 pm
Just downloaded this… I haven’t looked around it much yet, but what I have seen so far had my jaw dropping. I seldom watch game videos, interviews, etc. on the computer so maybe having this option right on a Wii channel will make me feel more inclined to do so. I like this chance to feel “connected” with what’s new, I think this channel will definitely help keep me more up to date on new releases. I can’t wait to try out the DS demos too. Fun stuff!
May 7th, 2008 at 3:24 pm
[...] (via Infendo) [...]
May 7th, 2008 at 4:07 pm
Same here Hoodoo. I’ve been looking forward as to adding Darkrai to my team ever since I first heard about it on Pokemon.com. Having a Sunday off gives me a good opportunity to go down and snag one for myself. Plus, Nintendo Channel seems pretty DANG sweet. LOVE the DS Demo Downloads!
May 7th, 2008 at 4:46 pm
how do I ds download??
May 7th, 2008 at 5:05 pm
nevermind, I found out
May 7th, 2008 at 8:04 pm
Sweet, Just got finish playing dragon sword and recommending some games. WOW is that game sweet! Really solid channel. Now when people cry about no games you can just point them here. And guess what you have to play the game for more than an hour to have a say so for it….LOL Ouch to the negative fanboys thats going to be lots of hard work right there.
Media reviews are cool but I’m curious to see what the real fans have to say. And also this is free and really well put together. Next up Wii ware! Ok time to go play more dragon sword!
May 7th, 2008 at 8:19 pm
Cool.
Its a nice start.
Now they need to make MANY ore demo’s for the DS and even the Wii for download.
I like it and hope they take it to the next level…
May 7th, 2008 at 8:22 pm
Finally, DS downloads. The one thing that got me about this channel was the intro video or whatever it was. Makes me excited for WiiWare and all the other stuff Nintendo’s offering.
E3 better explode.
May 7th, 2008 at 8:30 pm
While I like the DS download, I didn;t really like how that make you sign up for the Data Exchange stuff in order to have access.
I said “no” and “not agree” to the sending and receiving of data and commercial messages but when I went to try a DS download it was grayed out. Click on it and it brought me to the “Do you want Nintendo to collect information… blah… blah.. blah…”. I couldn’t get a DS download until I said yes. I don’t have to get commercial messages but I did have to say yes to this one.
Kinda crummy.
May 7th, 2008 at 8:41 pm
@Jonkind GOD man it’s not like they are looking at what porn you watched on the internet channel…LOL It’s just play times and a great way to actually address the real customers instead of the internet Wii sellers or the imaginary Wii fans. Hey but if your Wii is chipped or has ran homebrew or you’ve done bad stuff with it then yeah i’d be pissed too yet how do you know they are getting the info any way? Just an idea.
Hell most people are pissed because they have no voice in what these guys do…LOL it’s like complaining about giving data inorder to vote.
May 8th, 2008 at 5:14 am
Run line: Like I said, its KINDA crummy. No it’s not a big deal for something like the Wii probably, it’s just the principle of the thing. Gives me that Big Brother is watching feeling, even if it’s just telling Reggie, Iwata and Miyamoto how bad I suck at Super Smash Bros. Okay, maybe not that but still.
People try to remove spyware from their computers every day, that’s what this is, basically… just in a less intrusive form.
May 8th, 2008 at 10:20 am
Below the “DS download service” it says : Download demos or additional data to your Nintendo DS .
additional data ? Hmmmm..
May 8th, 2008 at 2:17 pm
Additional data is more than likely dS vids that download stations already have. A Firmware update that does more than block flash carts would be cool. something that could allow for pictochat to be overwritten with something cool or new for the DS.