via IGN


If you're a Wii owner, you'll probably fall into one of two camps when it comes to Nintendo's channel updates. Either you'll consider them harmless added value with just enough addictive whimsy to keep you occupied for a couple of minutes in moments of vague boredom, or you'll be on the side that bangs and wails and upends tables, frothing and glowering at the injustice of it all. 'Why are you wasting all this time when you could be making games?!', you'll bleat at anyone who'll listen - usually on internet forums. 'How dare you foresake me with your dedication to the casuals, Nintendo?', you'll shout. Camp number one: we have an update! Camp number two: bugger off.

Yes, that's right, mere hours after our American cousins, Nintendo has flung its gift of popularity at unsuspecting European Wiis in the shape of the Mii Contest Channel. Previously, Nintendo has referred to its long-promised update as the Check Mii Out Channel, including in its latest US press release, so we're not quite sure what happened there.

Anyway, in case you've not been paying attention, the basic premise this time around is the wholesale whoring of those Miis you probably created when you first got your console then completely forgot about 20 minutes later. With the advent of the Mii Contest Channel, you can frogmarch the pinnacle of your creativity right out in front of adoring eyes, ready to be judged, insulted or revered.

Nintendo's Mii Contest Channel comes in two parts - the Posting Plaza and Contests. The first lets you share your funny-faced creations with the world, swiping anything you might take a particular fancy to, and the second presents a variety of theme competitions to participate in. The general idea is that you whisk up a Mii to match the task then upload the fella, ready to be judged by Wii users across the globe. It's then possible to keep yourself updated on your progress via the 'Results' tab and see how close your Mii is to victory.

There's not much to report on the latter section of the channel just yet, given that Nintendo is operating contests on a fortnightly cycle - the first week offering ample time to prep your Mii around the given theme (currently 'Mario without his hat' in honour of upcoming Super Mario Galaxy'), ready for upload via the Submit panel and the second week for voting all entrants. This being the case, we've got no idea how the voting process actually works right now, with most of the Contest section inaccessible until next week.

Of far more interest is the Posting Plaza, which is already heaving with an impressive roster of nifty Miis. Currently gathered under the heading of 'Today's Top Miis', you'll find an amazing spectrum of familiar faces including - in no particular order - Peter Griffin, Mr. T, Mario, Darth Vadar, South Park's Kenny, Ali G, Jack Black and, er, Hitler. These are all gleaned from either a regional or worldwide selection, but you're free to alter that on a whim.

Miis can be viewed based on a number of categories, including Top 50, Pot Luck and your own personal Favourites. It's also possible to search for Miis via either their unique reference code (looking not unlike Nintendo's dreaded Friend-related digits of doom) or by a combination of gender and 'talent'. You can select your Mii's particular talent during the posting process and these cover a wide range of activities including Comedy, Acting, Art, Athletics and Conversation. Clearly we got bored of scrolling down the list after the letter 'C'. Finally, you can also check out Miis based on Mii Artisan Rankings. Here, you'll find a list of top-rated Artisans (that is, the Mii you've chosen to represent yourself on the Contest Channel) and all their majestic creations for easy browsing.

However you choose to check out Miis, they're all displayed in static groups of 50 on the main screen. Static, that is, unless you hit the 'Parade' button, in which case Miis will dash onto the screen in groups of three and perform a nifty move to win your affection. It's a pointless but classically Nintendo touch and its hard not to melt a little as Hitler prances into the spotlight and either karate chops, goes down on one knee or makes hearts fly out of his bottom in a bid to capture your heart.

Once you've seen a Mii that takes your fancy, a simple click with the pointer brings up their individual stats screen. Here, you can check out their initials, talent, popularity ranking and unique entry number, alongside creator and country of origin. You've also got the option to mark it as a favourite (shifting it over to your Favourites search screen), calling its friends or - if you rather, calling up similar Miis, if you want your screen overflowing with 50 questionable Peter Griffin look-a-likes - and, finally, you can import it to your Mii Channel.

That's pretty much that ...