After arriving home from work this evening, the steady blue glow from my Wii alerted to me to an unread message. Turns out Nintendo had mailed me to let me know the Wii News Channel is out a day early and available to download. Operated in a very similar style to the Weather Channel, it seemed fun and simple to navigate. Like the Weather Channel you can use the globe function to find news from around the world in an entertaining, tactile fashion. News headlines can also be viewed in a slideshow.

As the options for news multiply, Nintendo is putting a simple solution for straight news right in the palm of your hand-in the form of the Wii RemoteTM. The News Channel, free to WiiTM owners, will debut on the console's Wii Menu beginning tomorrow, Saturday, Jan. 27. Using the international resources of the Associated Press, the News Channel gives you key stories in multiple categories from across the country and around the world.

***Update***
There's a few screenshots of the news channel too if you're interested.

News At Your Fingertips: AP And Nintendo Launch Wii News Channel Across Americas

Instant Access, Constant Updates

REDMOND, Wash., Jan. 26, 2007 - As the options for news multiply, Nintendo is putting a simple solution for straight news right in the palm of your hand-in the form of the Wii RemoteTM. The News Channel, free to WiiTM owners, will debut on the console's Wii Menu beginning tomorrow, Saturday, Jan. 27. Using the international resources of the Associated Press, the News Channel gives you key stories in multiple categories from across the country and around the world.

"What Wii has done for video gaming, we hope it will also accomplish for news," says Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime. "Just by pointing at your TV screen, you become your own interactive editor, instantly accessing the latest headline stories, whether they originate in Kansas City or Kyoto."

"The Associated Press is always looking for innovative ways to expand its audience for news and information," said Jane Seagrave, vice president and director of AP's digital division. "The Wii News Channel extends our global reach even further, on yet another platform, offering our news to people who otherwise might not see it."

The simple user interface allows Wii owners to spin a virtual globe and point to the location of a news event using the Wii Remote. Stories will be listed under headings including Business, Sports, Arts/Entertainment, Technology and Science/Health to allow users to quickly access information in the order they want. At any given time, dozens of stories might be available for each category. In the global view, stories can be grouped by region instead of category. Icons show which stories have been read, which stories are text-only and which ones come with news photos. Because Wii caters to all different ages, the interface allows users to change the size of the text. By using the "always-on" system functionality of WiiConnect24TM, stories will be updated frequently, even while owners are sleeping.

The worldwide innovator in the creation of interactive entertainment, Nintendo Co., Ltd., of Kyoto, Japan, manufactures and markets hardware and software for its WiiTM, Nintendo DSTM, Game Boy® Advance and Nintendo GameCubeTM systems. Since 1983, Nintendo has sold nearly 2.2 billion video games and more than 387 million hardware units globally, and has created industry icons like MarioTM, Donkey Kong®, Metroid®, ZeldaTM and Pokémon®. A wholly owned subsidiary, Nintendo of America Inc., based in Redmond, Wash., serves as headquarters for Nintendo's operations in the Western Hemisphere. For more information about Nintendo, visit the company's Web site at www.nintendo.com.