Nintendo Channelling Europe

A new channel has been added for Wii users in Europe today: the Nintendo Channel. According to Nintendo, it will give out info on "past, present, and future first- and third-party titles." There will be game footage, trailers, interviews with developers, software guides for both Nintendo platforms, and personalised game recommendations.

Gamers will also be able to download demo versions of Nintendo DS games onto their Wii, which they will then be able to transfer via wireless to their DS. These demos will each be available to download for a limited time period, and will be erased from memory once the handheld is turned off.

There are also three new games on the retro-gaming shop Virtual Console available from today forward. The first is Nintendo 64 game Pokemon Puzzle League, a puzzler that requires you to match coloured blocks to clear shapes from a playfield before they reach the top, at which point it's game over. Pokemon Puzzle League is 1,000 Wii Points (£7).

Also available is the 1993 NeoGeo game Samurai Shodown, which features 12 swordsmen with unique characteristics battling to fight the final boss Amakusa Shiro Tokisada. Samurai Shodown costs 900 Wii points (£6.30).

Finally, another NeoGeo game, Burning Fight--originally released in 1991--is also now online. The beat-'em-up features three playable detectives tracking down a crime syndicate. Burning Fight is available for 900 Wii points (£6.30).