Nintendo to Launch WiiWare in May

Coming May 12 is Nintendo’s answer to Microsoft’s Xbox Live Arcade and Sony’s PlayStation Network, in the form of WiiWare, a new downloadable game service encouraging the creation of new games while promising to bring down development barriers.

Enabling developers to try new ideas with lower risk in a quicker and affordable way, the service will also allow gamers to purchase games from home at a competitive price. Though Nintendo’s Wii Virtual Console has been offering classic NES, N64, Sega Genesis, Turbo Grafix 16 and Neo Geo games for download since the console’s launch, WiiWare will present innovative new titles taking advantage of Wii’s unique features. Already announced for the service are Square Enix’s Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King and LostWinds created by up-and-coming British developer Frontier. Nintendo also has over 100 games in the works, although the number to be released on launch day is undisclosed. “Likely what we'll do is launch with a good breadth of titles that will cover a number of different genres, and perhaps some unprecedented game experiences using the Wii remote,” said Tom Prata, senior director of project development with Nintendo of America in an interview with ZDNet. “And what we'll do is consistently release new content, like we do with Virtual Console.” “One of the goals with WiiWare is to give content creators the chance to make the content they like,” Prata added. “And we really don't want to pigeonhole them--what we'd like to really see is content that is for everybody, and also things that people haven't experienced before.” “Eighty percent of the games we're seeing are coming from entities which haven't published on Nintendo platforms before… The bulk of the content in the early stages will probably come from more independent-type companies,” he also said. Developers will be constrained with a 40 MB cap implemented by Nintendo, presumably because of the Wii's tiny 256 MB of usable storage. By comparison, the average DS title is 64MB, Xbox Live Arcade has a 150 MB cap, and some PlayStation Network games have topped out at over 400 MB. More information: The Able Gamer