Take a look at that new UI! It's clean, it's useful, it's a sign of what should be going down on all the Wii's channels. And, behind the scenes, probably is.

Updated Nintendo Channel - first look [Go Nintendo]

Miami Law is a game that wants to be a police drama, balancing action-packed shoot-outs, car chases, crime scene investigation, and detective work in order to create the ultimate cop show for the Nintendo DS. Play as Law Martin from the Miami P.D. or FBI agent Sara Starling as you struggle through mini-game challenges on your quest to uncover a criminal conspiracy.

The DS demo contains two mini-games, "Confirmation of Guard" and "Car Support", the former being a guard counting game and the latter a high-speed chase with gun play. It's available right now on the Nintendo Channel of your friendly neighborhood Wii.

The new, free Nintendo Channel on Wii went live last month. It primarily features DS and Wii interview and preview titles, and since we get plenty of those on the internet, it was easy to overlook. But it also apparently lets users rank the games they've played, creating user-generated usage statistics on the site.

Downloading the Nintendo channel also lets you rank titles that you've played for more than an hour. Pick one, and the service will ask you the gender and age of the person in your house who enjoyed the game the most. It also asks you whether you think that it's a title more for "gamers" or for "everyone," whether it's more fun alone or with friends, and whether you consider it more hardcore or more casual. Finally, a slider you can pull with the Wii Remote allows you to rank (to a pleasing drumroll sound) just how much you liked it.

It can be fun - and surprising - to see what the user base thinks of your favorite titles.

The ranking system lets you find titles you might like based on user recommendation s- if you're searching for a casual title for everyone that you can play with friends, for example, the service will pick some for you based on how other users have evaluated them. Titles that have been ranked already show their user data under their listing - for example, 95 percent said that My Life as a King is more fun to play alone, while only 26 percent would call it a "hardcore" title.

57 percent of Wii users said that Dragon Quest Swords is a hardcore title, while more than half think it's only for "gamers". It even shows you how many total hours have been played of a given title - both in total and average per person, and what other titles users who enjoyed it also liked. Dragon Quest Swords players have only played eight hours and 56 minutes though, across 4.17 sessions. This kind of information about your fellow players can be a bit addictive.

What do you think, Kotaku readers? Would you check the Nintendo Channel for the opinions, recommendations and rankings of other Wii users for a Wii, Wii Ware or DS title you were considering purchasing? How important do you think it'll be to the digital distribution platform in general to incorporate user rankings?

[Thanks to Gamasutra for pointing out the service.]

As seem in the video walkthrough we posted earlier this month, the Nintendo Channel is a place to download videos, get recommendations, and check out upcoming products from Nintendo and friends. Basically a very convenient way for you to be marketed at without having to get off the couch and type in a web address.

The Nintendo channel also includes the DS download service, though you have to agree to send your console usage data to Nintendo in exchange. No big deal though. It'll just make the marketing a bit more focused, that's all.

Wii's Nintendo Channel set to launch [GamesIndustry.biz]

Nintendo Channel - Details of Information Sent to Nintendo [Nintendo, via Game|Life]

• Dr. Mario Online RX
• LostWinds
• Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life As A King
• Defend Your Castle
• Critter Round Up

Dr. Mario Online RX is shown priced at 1000 Wii Points, more commonly referred to as $10 USD. While we're not taking this as 100% confirmed yet, we will continue to be able to sleep soundly tonight assuming that the five titles listed above are prime candidates for next Monday's launch.

Nintendo Channel is an interactive guide to what's new in the world of Nintendo - now available for easy download from the Wii Shop Channel. Watch trailers, mini-documentaries, product demonstrations, and gameplay videos. Browse the game guide pages to get information about your favorite games on Wii and Nintendo DS. You can even click to order games straight from your Wii, if you have the Internet Channel installed. Make sure your Wii is connected to the internet, and get started!

Nintendo Channel Coming to U.S. Alongside WiiWare [Wired]