Although many expected the Nintendo Channel to launch alongside the arrival of WiiWare in North America this month on May 15, the new addition to the Wii Menu sneaked onto North American consoles yesterday, offering players a service packed with trailers, game information and Nintendo DS demo downloads.

the Nintendo Channel (available via the WiiWare Menu of the Wii Shop) won’t cost you a bean. It features a video section to show off all the biggest Nintendo titles around at the moment; a release date calendar, and - one of its biggest draws - the Nintendo DS Download Service.

Gamers are now able to sample the following DS games by downloading them wirelessly from their Wii to the portable: Brain Age 2, Flash Focus, Crosswords DS, Jam Sessions, Rayman Raving Rabbids, Cooking Mama 2, Disney Friends and Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword. No doubt more will be added soon. Watch it, though, because as soon as your DS is switched off, the demo will be wiped.

Both WiiWare and the Nintendo Channel will launch in Europe on May 20 and May 30 respectively.

[Thanks to Fetter for the tip!]