11.27.2007

The Demo Channel...It's True

As I was perusing the Wii forum on GameFaqs today, I found a thread claiming that the DS Demo Channel for the Wii had been released in Japan. Despite many posts of "Fake!" and "Liar!" I thought I'd check it out for myself, especially since my Wii was pulsing a calming blue. To my surprise, the light was not Toad thanking me for finding another power star, but was indeed the arrival of the Demo channel. The rumors are true. And in Japan, the channel is called Everybody's Nintendo Channel, which makes sense having checked it out myself. This new channel includes short interviews, commercials and previews of upcoming games, a feedback system so you can rate games. It has a very clean layout and is easy to use. Basically there's a big list of available videos, you click on one and it starts playing in a few seconds. You can then click to make it full screen. That's about it.

I watched a few incomprehensible interviews about Wii Fit, which looks cooler than I imagined. But for me, the Demo bit is sort of a disappointment at this point. It's definitely the coolest feature to come out for the Wii in quite a while, but most of the games available aren't...well, games. The ones I understand are a vision trainer, and English trainer, some sort of Tamogotchi thing, a ebook reader, and a few I just can't figure out. What I thought was a Pokemon Diamond demo was actually just a download for current owners of Pokemon Diamond/Pearl. Hopefully, this will be frequently updated with actual games, as this feature is amazingly awesome in concept. But Come On, give me some actual games, Nintendo.

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