While North American Wii owners have been enjoying Excitebike: World Rally for several months now, Europeans have been anxiously awaiting the day when they could join in on all the fun. That day is rapidly approaching as World Rally is hitting the European WiiWare service as Excitebike: World Challenge on February 5.

Drawing on the retro appeal of the NES original, this newest Excitebike installment features 9 different locations, 16 different tracks, Wi-Fi play, and a track editor. It was developed by Monster Games, creators of Excite Truck and last year's Excitebots: Trick Racing.

Excitebike: World Rally was originally released in North America on November 9, 2009.

EXCITEBIKE WORLD CHALLENGE BRINGS ENGINE-REVVING, STUNT-DRIVING FUN TO WiiWARE

28th January 2010 – Pull a wheelie, face daredevil jumps and go up against other crazy racers in the newest instalment of the legendary Excitebike series, available to download only from WiiWare next week!

In Excitebike World Challenge, you will race your way to glory through 9 exotic locations worldwide, and compete with friends using the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection as you choose from multiple camera angles and tilt your way to smooth landings, all with the precision of the Wii Remote. An intuitive Track Editor also allows you to choose from all available obstacles and put together your dream course, then share courses with friends to see whose creation skills reign supreme.

Drive your motorbike through an obstacle course and attempt to reach the finish line in the shortest amount of time. Each of the 16 different tracks has a finish time goal that you must beat in order to unlock additional feature of the game, ranging from the next set of tracks to new bike colours.

The first Excitebike game debuted in Japan in 1984. Since then, the series has built up a loyal fan base who love the thrill of the high octane action. This latest instalment for WiiWare returns to the series roots by remodelling the original classic.

Devilish multiplayer tactics add to the fun. The terrain-altering effects introduced in Excite Truck, on Wii allow you to create ramps to give you a shortcut over an obstacle, or hills to confuse rival drivers around you, for example. In terms of action, Excitebike World Challenge will be as exciting for newcomers to the series as for fans of the previous games.

See why this game became a legend more than twenty years ago and experience it updated for 2010, when Excitebike World Challenge becomes available to download on WiiWare on Friday 5th February for 1000 Wii Points.

As the Wii Shop Channel and Nintendo DSi Shop are continually updated with exciting and refreshing games and applications, make sure you keep checking the Nintendo Channel, Wii Shop Channel and Nintendo DSi Shop for all the latest news and releases on already available and upcoming Virtual Console, WiiWare and Nintendo DSiWare titles.

Be sure to also check out Nintendo of Europe's WiiWare portal, which functions as the main hub for the latest WiiWare news and game sites, while at the same time providing the perfect entry point for newcomers to the service. Weekly and all-time Top 10 lists show which WiiWare titles the UK's Club Nintendo members are currently downloading most, and which are the most popular of all time.

The portal also provides step-by-step tutorials explaining how to connect the Wii console to the Internet and how to download WiiWare games, as well as a video showing how to use Nintendo Points. Visit www.wiiware.co.uk for all the details. Downloaded games can be saved to Wii's internal memory or SD card and added to the console's Wii Menu or SD Card Menu for anytime easy access.

Besides Excitebike: World Challenge hitting WiiWare next Friday, European gamers can also enjoy Eco Shooter: Plant 530, which is releasing tomorrow.