The Nintendo Channel is free to download, but it does require 248 blocks of memory space. Downloading the new service from the Wii Shop Channel takes up only 122 blocks, but users with little free space after that may see an additional message: the channel requires an extra 126 blocks of available memory on top of its install in order to run.
Upon booting, the channel will first ask users whether they'd like to opt-in to receive commercial messages on their Wii from Nintendo and their third-party partners. Nintendo then offers the user the chance to set up the channel to automatically upload the Wii's daily playtime data. Nintendo explains that this information helps drive some features of the Nintendo channel, such as allowing a user to recommend a game once they've actually played it for at least one hour. If you read the fine print, you'll see that Nintendo will also check how many free blocks of memory space you have remaining on the console.
Get through that and you'll be immediately started off with a Nintendo Channel Digest video, featuring a brief overview of the latest videos and games to appear in the Nintendo Channel. The videos page will have game trailers and commercials for Wii and Nintendo DS games, as well as special videos. One such video is an interview with Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto about Wii Fit.
In addition to offering users ways to search for games and recommend games they've actually played to other users, the Nintendo Channel also enables the Wii to send Nintendo DS game demos to the handheld system. Currently, the channel offers the following eight demos:
NWR downloaded and explored the Japanese version of the channel when it was released, so be sure to watch video and read those in-depth impressions here. However, the US version can already claim to have several improvements over its Japanese counterpart. This includes pausing videos with the 1 Button, seeking through videos with the B Trigger, and adjusting volume with left or right on the D-Pad. Certain screen-scrolling interfaces now auto-hide on the right side of the screen, and, if the Wii Internet Channel is installed, game pages will feature a prominent "purchase" button which offers to launch the Internet Channel and bring users directly to a game page with the choice to proceed to any of several major online retailers.
One interesting characteristic of the service right now is that it's missing certain games from its directory listings. Some obvious examples we've seen incognito are the original Rayman Raving Rabbids, the Madden NFL Football games, all of Capcom's Wii titles, and Nintendo's own Super Smash Bros. Brawl, none which show up in searches. It remains to be seen whether there is some reasoning behind this, or whether this is merely an issue that will be rectified in time.
The Nintendo Channel is free to download from the North American version of the Wii Shop Channel right now.
I dunno I can't say I'm impressed with the channel, it seems thrown together and outdated in many areas.
The first thing I did was watch all the videos related to Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Darkness/Time and yelled at the TV how awful "random dungeons" really are.
*Expect that review this week
Crimm can you considering giving such (what you describe) a horrible experience a 6! That seems way too high.
Crimm can you considering giving such (what you describe) a horrible experience a 6! That seems way too high.
Mystery Dungeon? The review isn't even out yet (and it got lower than a 6)
