Nintendo Channel Expands

Nintendo Wiis began pulsating blue on Wednesday, alerting gamers to the availability of the Nintendo Channel, which supports DS downloads, game trailers, and user ratings among other things.

The new channel, already released in Japan, lets Wii owners wirelessly download demos to a Nintendo DS. Current demos include Brain Age 2, Flash Focus, CrossworDS, Jam Sessions, Rayman Raving Rabbids, Cooking Mama 2, Disney Friends, and Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword.

But the Nintendo Channel isn't just for DS fans; the service lets Wii owners browse user-recommended games that are enjoyed by type anyone or gamers, casual or hardcore, and single player or multiplayer -- including both Wii and DS games.

In turn, Wii owners can recommend any game they've owned for more than an hour, presumably to avoid hype ratings. Links are also provided to by the game online using the Wii browser.

Overall, the rating system and game browsing seems to be a nifty workaround to a lack of Wii demos, something both Xbox 360 and PS3 owners regularly enjoy.

To top it off, the Nintendo Channel features streaming trailers, interviews, informative videos, and box shots of both Wii and DS games. The video quality is somewhat grainy given the obvious use of compression, but widescreen is supported on many items.