Wii + DS = BFF
The biggest feature, for me at least, is the ability to download DS demos from your Wii to your DS. For some reason, I am still amazed that this is even an option. Probably because it seems so logical and intuitive that I can’t believe it is happening on a Nintendo console. I figured it had to be busted and require some sort of crazy implementation code that you had to acquire from a medicine doctor in the heart of the Amazon. But, it turns out, I was wrong. You simply choose your game on the Wii, turn on your DS, choose the ‘download and play’ option as the Wii prompts you to do, and then wait thirty seconds. Bam, I had Rayman: Raving Rabbids 2 demo on my DS. While the game selection at the moment is pretty limited, only eight games, it does have a decent variety with games, from Brain Age 2 to Ninja Gaiden DS. It works so well that I wonder why Nintendo isn’t featuring and Wii demos on the channel. On second thought, maybe Nintendo is right on this one.
Of course, like all Wii channels, there are about a million and ten missed opportunities, mostly thanks to the user-friendly interface. It’s a bit of a pain to search for games and it still seems a little unclear on how games will be chosen to be shown on the channel. Will Nintendo be keeping this space entirely child-friendly or will you be able to see trailers for more adult oriented games in the future? It would be cool if the channel got more interviews and exclusive videos like the interview with Miyamoto.
Once again, though, the channel isn’t really directed at us at all. It’s clearly designed around offering videos for people who don’t update themselves daily on gaming news and don’t seek out the videos themselves. I’d kick and scream because I’m a selfish hardcore gamer who wants things marketed towards me, but if it means that one more person accidentaly stumbles onto Okami or some other game they’ve never heard of, then I can’t be against it in any way.
So for the first time, I am actually pretty pleased with a new channel right off the bat. It’s not useless like the Everybody Votes channel, it isn’t gimped like the weather channel and the interface actually works really well unlike the Internet Channel. Bravo, Nintendo, you had to get it right one of these days.
