Nintendo Channel for Wii goes live

It didn't exactly launch with much fanfare but, as anyone's who's already flipped on their Wii today will know, the Nintendo Channel is now live. There you'll find easy access to a range of videos, recommendations for new games based on the games you've played (if you give consent for such nosiness) and, of course, game demos you can download to your DS (there's eight of those right now). If you somehow haven't already left for your Wii, you can find a guided tour of the new service courtesy of the fine folks at Joystiq by hitting up the link below.

[Thanks, Dean]

[kastonie @ May 7th 2008 12:01PM]

so anybody else's on screen pointer disappear when entering the nintendo channel? i cant even get past the first screen with the OK button, because the pointer is not on the screen anymore. Even if I hit the home button on the wiimote, there still is no pointer...the only thing i can do at this point is turn the wii off...wtf...

[Chris @ May 7th 2008 12:07PM]

Wow, sucks even when its loading and you cant see the hand its diffucult to do things.

On topic-
Is there mini-games or something we can download that we can actually play on the Wii? like a demo or something?

[Chris @ May 7th 2008 12:32PM]

Since I cant edit....

Wikipedia says something about "WiiWare" and there free downloadable games already released in Japan.

[Ray @ May 7th 2008 1:08PM]

Mine vanished for just a second and came back when the channel booted. It moves a lot smoother in the Nintendo channel. Not all jittery like the wii menu.
I knew about this the instant it happened... because the update light woke me up.

[stephen @ May 7th 2008 12:06PM]

at least they aren't charging us to watch endless hours of advertising ... :)

[martin @ May 7th 2008 12:07PM]

usa only? didnt have this on my uk one today

[Good_Bytes @ May 7th 2008 12:28PM]

I am in Canada, and I got it... maybe UK is soon after.
Or perhaps Nintendo does a gradual release to not overload their servers or something.

[Irritant @ May 7th 2008 1:03PM]

Nintendo Channel launches on the 30th (10 days after WiiWare) in Europe.

http://www.nintendo.co.uk/NOE/en_GB/news/2008/nintendo_announces_q2_release_schedule_7920.html

[Jon @ May 7th 2008 12:08PM]

That certainly explained why my Wii was flashing blue when I got out of bed this morning!

[applefan @ May 7th 2008 12:10PM]

FIRST!!!!!!!......wait........crap.

[Bizam! @ May 7th 2008 12:14PM]

Fake FAIL.....

[Magallanes @ May 7th 2008 2:02PM]

fail of a fake fail.

[01 @ May 7th 2008 5:48PM]

you mean FIRST epic fail of the article? Why yes, yes you are...

[Demaar @ May 7th 2008 12:20PM]

So is it worth plugging in my Wii to get this and have a look? Or should I go back to playing games on the other consoles?

[Jamar @ May 7th 2008 8:35PM]

If the DS download station has those cool Japanese student-made games then yes. Otherwise still yes for all the other game demos but it probably only has American stuff so give up.

[gabe @ May 7th 2008 12:22PM]

Anyone else still having issues with brawl? 3 dual layer verbatim coasters so far :(

I don't think its the wiikey but my crappy DVD burner on my dell notebook. That said mario kart wii rocks!

[Phoenix @ May 7th 2008 12:33PM]

... Maybe try LEGAL games?

[01 @ May 7th 2008 5:49PM]

Anyone else tired of people bitching about their modded consoles not working with their pirated games? No? Must just be me...

[Jamar @ May 7th 2008 8:41PM]

I like living in China. That work is done for you and you pick up the finished product for $.50 to $1. Lots of games I would never imagine buying at their present US prices.

[YetiJames @ May 7th 2008 12:25PM]

I got it, but the buffering on videos was a bit annoying. Still, interesting enough, I suppose for the sneak peeks.

[m-p{3} @ May 7th 2008 12:27PM]

Got the update this morning, but I can't seem to find the DS Demos in the Nintendo Channel. Probably because my Wii is set to French.

[Spiritsnare @ May 7th 2008 1:32PM]

Hit the Find Titles For You button. The DS Download Service will be the last button on the list that pops up.

[tiuk @ May 7th 2008 12:28PM]

Nice that there's finally some benefit to having a DS and a Wii.

[Phoenix @ May 7th 2008 12:34PM]

Hmm. Definitely no UK release yet.

[alexhrose71 @ May 7th 2008 1:47PM]

Well this is all fine and dandy but when are we going to get the Commodore64 channel thats been available in Europe now for a month ? How about the rest of the world Nintendo ?

Commodore were after all a US co. and the 64 did well outside of Europe too. Why the Europe only release ? Did Commodore Gaming only buy rights to use the Commodore name in Europe ??? Anyone know ?

[Phoenix @ May 7th 2008 1:57PM]

Commodore 64.. .Channel? I'm in the UK and I haven't heard of this

There's C64 games in Virtual Console...

[macserv @ May 7th 2008 2:56PM]

Hope you've got 249 free blocks on your Wii. I certainly didn't. Unless Ninrendo releases HDD support, I won't be buying any WiiWare games. Ferrying data back and forth with the SD card is annoying and slow.

What's funny is that I'm in this predicament because I like to give Nintendo my money for VC games. You'd think they'd like to make it as easy as possible for me to continue to do just that.

[Andy Anonymous @ May 7th 2008 5:17PM]

Satoru Iwata recently said in an interview that they're aware of the inconvenience that the Wii's low system memory poses to their most devoted fans, and that they're working on a way to satisfy them. So at least that's something.

All they need to do is enable support for external PC hard drives via USB, and all that would take is a single firmware update. Of course, their main concern is piracy, so they're probably working to figure out how to do it without making it easy for people to swap playable VC and WiiWare games online.

[o29 @ May 7th 2008 5:20PM]

(there's eight of those right now)

I hate to be the grammar nazi, but subject/verb agreement?

[Deed @ May 8th 2008 5:16PM]

Fuck you Amerikkka I want my goddamn channel here.