Nintendo Channel to hit Wii next month, alongside WiiWare

Speaking with Wired, Nintendo of America has revealed that it will launch the Nintendo Channel alongside WiiWare next month. Already available in Japan, the Nintendo Channel will allow gamers who have played WiiWare games for at least an hour to review the game. These reviews will then be public, which is an interesting alternative to playable demos, of which Nintendo has absolutely no plans to provide to gamers. 

Additionally, the Nintendo Channel will offer a list of upcoming Nintendo DS and Wii games, which can be sorted in a number of ways based on the user’s preference (release date, genre, etc.). Most exciting, Nintendo DS demos will finally be coming home — players will be able to beam game demos to their handhelds, which will remain there until the unit is turned off. No more fighting at the local GameStop with pre-teens over the DS download stations.

When the service launched in Japan last year, other features like streaming web videos were also available, so it looks like Nintendo are planning to offer quite a bit of content. But is it too little, too late? Or do you prefer Nintendo’s approach to the services Sony and Microsoft are offering?