News: The same day as WiiWare.
The Nintendo Channel has been available to Wii owners in Japan for some time and it's making me envious of our neighbors across the Pacific more and more every day. But Nintendo has finally confirmed (to Wired's Game|Life blog) that the Nintendo Channel will launch in the U.S. on May 12, the same day as the WiiWare service.
The Nintendo Channel will include Wii game reviews posted by Wii owners (according to Wired, you'll have to log at least an hour of gametime before it will let you post a review), streaming videos, sortable release lists for upcoming Wii and DS titles and downable DS demos that the Wii can wirelessly send to your DS. Sadly, the demos will be erased from the DS system's memory when you shut the system off (it will work exactly like the DS Download Station's that are available at many game retailers).
Best of all, the Nintendo Channel will be a free download from the Wii Shop Channel. May 12 can't come soon enough.