Nintendo fills gap with WiiWare
2008-05-16 13:07
San Francisco - Nintendo is finally
bringing original downloadable games to its popular Wii video
game console.
Nintendo's small white box is the smash hit of the video
game industry, thanks to its easy-to-grasp controls and simple
games that appeal to a broader audience.
But the Wii has lagged Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's
PlayStation 3 in offering original games that can be downloaded
right from the couch for as little as $5.
That has changed this week with the US launch of WiiWare,
a service that Nintendo says lets game makers experiment with
quirky ideas that can be brought to fruition for a fraction of
the cost of a regular title.
"The possibilities are great - many of the most addictive
and enjoyable games on Xbox 360 and PS3 are turning out to be
the little downloads made by fledgling studios, and giving the
power of the Wii controller set to these hungry, creative types
will hopefully take the indie gaming movement further," video
game news site IGN said earlier this year.
After debuting in Japan earlier this year, the service
launched in the United States on Monday, with six new titles
ranging from the familiar to the offbeat.
For example, one game is a simulation set in the familiar
Final Fantasy franchise, while another is LostWinds, a
critically acclaimed adventure in which players use gusts of
wind to explore a world and fight enemies.
"WiiWare provides a low-risk environment where developers
can create a wide array of compact games for consumers to enjoy
at different price points," Tom Prata, senior director of
project development at Nintendo of America, said in an e-mail
interview.
Games like these are a small but an important piece of the
industry these days as consumers show a passion for new
experiences, whether in the form of a $180 set of faux musical
instruments, or a $5 game played for a few minutes at a time.
Microsoft's Xbox Live has hundreds of downloadable games
from the "Uno" card game to "N+", a ninja adventure with
doodle-like graphics. Sony's PlayStation Network is getting
attention with unique fare like "Echochrome", a series of
spatial puzzles.
The service showcases for "indie" games that traditionally might not get made or would linger in some corner of the
internet, undiscovered by the majority of gamers.
"I really do feel that Nintendo democratised gaming with
Wii and making it accessible to everyone, and I believe we'll
democratise distribution," Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo America's
executive vice president for sales and marketing, told Reuters
in March.