Nintendo Channel coming to US with WiiWare launch
by Ross Miller 
{ Apr 24th 2008 at 12:55PM }
While a far cry from The New York Times' "full game downloads" claim in January, DS owners can download demos that will then be sent to the portable and last until it's shut off. The Japanese version, launched in November 2007, also provides videos. The Nintendo Channel is coming to Europe on May 30.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
flameofdoom666 @ Apr 24th 2008 12:59PM
FINALLY! It better be worth the wait!
Dustin @ Apr 24th 2008 1:01PM
It's nice to see that they are finally getting around to these features, but they sure seem half-assed.
supakoopa @ Apr 24th 2008 1:17PM
What seems half-assed about it?
Greyseal @ Apr 24th 2008 1:33PM
No Demos = half-assed
FOXHOUND @ Apr 24th 2008 1:51PM
I'd just like to see more Mii integration; since I doubt Nintendo will handle my other requests anytime soon.
Requests such as:
-Increased HD space either through ability of an external HD add-on recognition or better SD card saving ability
-Instead of releasing individual videos(or demos)as a channel, a single channel to download them from. Technically, the Shop Channel could have this subsection(it sort of does with MP3, but still)
-DROP THE DAMN PER-GAME FRIEND CODES. I can understand safety and all that rubbish, but if I've already got an address book with all the Wii-friends' system codes; why can't we just use that recognition to connect to them that way? I already send mail via that method afterall.
-Bluetooth usage for in-game chat to the aforementioned friends/opponents. My cellphone bill was through the roof the month 'BRAWL was released, LoL. >:\
-Someone mentioned it in another article, but where are those other console colours? :0 The immature side in all of us can't wait to hear someone ask for a "Yellow Wii, please" while waiting in the storeline for their less embarassing coloured one.
-Though various Nintendo VIPs have said they dislike it; for those whose like(or need)trophies & achievements to show off how 'special' they are, perhaps a "Wii High Scores" Channel(please feel free to come up with a better name, LOL); based off records on their savefiles or any newly released games that could send scoring data.
Donald @ Apr 24th 2008 3:13PM
For a high score board, may I suggest "Wiiners"?
TheOverlord#2 can has Mario Karts?(B:1461-5875-9923) @ Apr 24th 2008 3:24PM
Mario Kart Wii has it's own channel for leaderboards. Its not a channel for every game, but it's a start.
If Nintendo wanted to do Bluetooth voice chat later on, they could implement it for the MKWii channel! (Start your e-mails...NOW!)
whistlepig @ Apr 24th 2008 1:06PM
not into the wii that much but its cool to see the review after you played it for an hour feature
John Z @ Apr 24th 2008 1:07PM
YAY*!
(*: This exuberation is offered as a general, all-purpose expression of joy. This syllable is presented at face value, makes no indication to the console preference of the individual speaking it, nor should it be construed as a declaration of bias, express or implied, toward or against any one console, company, system, nationality, race, gender, religion, physical capability, or sexual orientation. By reading this effluence of happiness, you waive all rights to accuse the commenter of, in this instance, being a fanboy or a hater for or against any video game company, including, but not limited to, Microsoft, Nintendo, and/or Sony. This celebration is subject to the proper execution of the topic at hand and may be withdrawn by the commenter at will, without penalty. Your acknowledgement of this indication of excitement is subject to these terms and conditions.)
tl;dr: YAY!
iofthestorm @ Apr 24th 2008 6:46PM
Comment of the week, definitely.
Alexander @ Apr 25th 2008 2:02AM
I laughed out loud and it is 2:01 am est best comment ever
PojoMofo @ Apr 24th 2008 1:15PM
Im so glad I have a PSP and a PS3, these Wii to DS features are a freakin joke
religiousjedi @ Apr 24th 2008 3:05PM
Congratulations. Go enjoy your preferences in that corner while I look forward to this in my side.
Fernando Rocker @ Apr 24th 2008 1:15PM
This is a demostration... it looks very good. Great interface...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yxnx0UOnCs
=p
el serpiente @ Apr 24th 2008 2:16PM
=O
TheOverlord#2 can has Mario Karts?(B:1461-5875-9923) @ Apr 24th 2008 3:33PM
=D
iofthestorm @ Apr 24th 2008 6:47PM
=)
What was the =P for? I thought it was going to be a rickroll, but it wasn't.
Martez @ Apr 24th 2008 1:32PM
"There will be no demos for WiiWare titles"
Fail.
Fernando Rocker @ Apr 24th 2008 1:33PM
The demos are optional... developers chose to release demos or not.
TellTales said that they are going to release a Demo for Stronge Bad.
Martez @ Apr 24th 2008 1:37PM
If some developers have confirmed demos, why say there will be no demos? Meh.
The Wii needs a HDD, chop chop. 512mb does not cut it.
Fernando Rocker @ Apr 24th 2008 1:45PM
It doesnt need an HDD... it's just need support to read the games directly from the SD instead of copy the games from SD to the Wii memory.
A $15 2GB card can hold several 50MB games (the same size of the majority of 360 Live Arcade games)... plus a 50MB game from Live Arcade is 720P, so, an equivalent Wii game would be like 25MB because the lower resolution.
So, only SD support would be good. Besides, you dont need to save the videos that you can see in this channel, because is all streamed.
Reboot @ Apr 24th 2008 1:46PM
With Sony and Nintendo's reluctance to release demos (and perhaps with the latter, it's due to space limitation on the hardware), I'd be really curious to see Microsoft's numbers correlating the purchase ratio of users who try out the demos to see how many of them purchase the game on XBox Live.
I completely understand it's a time constraint on the developers who just want to release the best game possible as quickly as possible, but if a demo results in significantly more sales, you'd think they'd be more interested in it. *shrug*
Jerk Face @ Apr 24th 2008 1:49PM
@ Reboot
Actually, they seem to be selling LESS when there are demos. Check out the recent posts about it on Joystiq.
Martez @ Apr 24th 2008 1:50PM
@Fernando: Being able to run games of an SD card would be nice, yeah- but if I were to purchase a ton of games from WiiWare and VC (which I can only assume Nintendo would want me to do), I don't want to have to swap cards or remember which card has which game, etc. I also don't want to have to buy SD cards when I have a perfectly viable USB hard drive. It would be so much easier and nicer if they just let me plug in my WD Passport and let me store everything in one place.
FOXHOUND @ Apr 24th 2008 1:58PM
Fernando---
Buying SD cards for savefile backup or game downloading would be nice... if the damned console would actually do it for ALL of its software(I'm eyeing SSBBRAWL and VC downloads especially). All the supposed retorts of "security/piracy" issues are a crock-o-shiz too. How hard would it be to write code to let every VC title downloaded on a console to include that console's ID or MAC address so it couldn't be copied onto another one? Or at least go by the user's screen name/account information like the other two consoles. My greatest fear with the Wii is that if it gets a hardware failure or stolen somehow; because I can't recover anything without redoing the effort or repurchasing.
I wouldn't bitch about the Wii's hard drive space so much if it wasn't so inadequate - but it is, so I(and many others)do. And eff the whole "delete & redownload" thing; that's way too tedious and frankly shouldn't be necessary when the other consoles at least started off with at least 2O+ gigabytes of space this generation. I can understand wanting the system to be inexpensive, but c'mon...
Ethan @ Apr 24th 2008 3:57PM
Or a USB stick.
BPM [SSBB: 5026 4120 1186] @ Apr 24th 2008 3:59PM
@FOXHOUND:
It's already possible to backup VC games onto an SD card. And trying to move them to another Wii, you get an error message saying it can't be copied to that system.
And if the system does break down, you can send it into Nintendo, and they can transfer your account to a repaired/replacement system.
As for stolen... Don't know about that.
D_Average @ Apr 24th 2008 1:47PM
Sweet. So glad we don't have to wait till Fall for this one, that would be horrible.
t_m @ Apr 24th 2008 1:58PM
is it me or is nintendo finally starting to get the hang of this online thing?
Half of me thinks they had this stuff ready all along, they just wanted to prove to everyone who bitched about the gamecube's online abilities that they could win without decent online ;-)
FOXHOUND @ Apr 24th 2008 2:00PM
"Half of me thinks they had this stuff ready all along, they just wanted to prove to everyone who bitched about the gamecube's online abilities that they could win without decent online ;-)"
If that's true(and at this point, wouldn't shock me), I'm duct taping the GCN broadband adapter I bought years back to a cinderblock and throwing it through their window. >:\
FSK405K @ Apr 24th 2008 2:09PM
So this is like the Sega Channel, right?
FOXHOUND @ Apr 24th 2008 2:46PM
+1
I choked and laughed. XD
motang @ Apr 24th 2008 3:29PM
About time!
Mario fan @ Apr 30th 2008 9:14AM
This is going to be the MOST coolest WIIWARE launch ever, i cant wait for release!
IndianDan @ Apr 30th 2008 7:46PM
I have a site launch for both of these. I also will get up at Noon for this event. also I love Nintendo.