WiiWare: Difference between revisions

WiiWare is a service that allows Wii users to download games and applications specifically designed and developed for the Wii video game console made by Nintendo. These games and applications can only be purchased and downloaded from the Wii Shop Channel under the WiiWare section. Once you have downloaded the game or application, it will appear in your Wii Menu as a new channel. WiiWare is a companion to the Virtual Console, which specializes in emulated games originally developed for other systems instead of original titles.

WiiWare is being promoted as an avenue for developers with small budgets to release innovative, original, and smaller-scale games without the cost and risk of creating a title to be sold at retail (akin to Xbox Live Arcade and the PlayStation Store). The development kit costs around US$2000 and developers need to be licensed with and approved by Nintendo.^[1] According to Nintendo, the "remarkable motion controls will give birth to fresh takes on established genres, as well as original ideas that currently exist only in developers' minds". Nintendo will handle all pricing options for the downloadable games.^[2]

Like Virtual Console games, WiiWare is purchased using Nintendo Points. However, unlike Virtual Console games, instruction manuals are stored on the Wii Shop Channel itself.

WiiWare games were officially launched on March 25, 2008 in Japan,^[3] on May 12, 2008 in North America,^[4] and on May 20, 2008 in Europe and Australia (PAL Regions).^[5]

On October 10, 2007, Nintendo held a press conference in Japan, revealing the first batch of major Japanese WiiWare games including: My Pokémon Ranch, Dr. Mario Online Rx, and Square Enix's Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King.^[6] The conference also disclosed information on Family Table Tennis,^[7] Mojipittan, Maruboushikaku, and Magnetica Twist. Game developer Hudson also announced 3 WiiWare titles: Bomberman Blast, Star Soldier R, and Joysound, the latter a karaoke game.^[8] Hudson later revealed that it had at least 10 WiiWare titles in development for the first year of release.^[9] Namco and Konami have also subsequently announced games in development. Capcom has also recently released Mega Man 9 on WiiWare.

Among Western developers, GarageGames has released a version of their game engine to support WiiWare software development. Telltale Games has also announced that it is developing the episodic Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People for WiiWare with the help of Videlectrix.^[10] Other Western developers releasing WiiWare games include Gameloft and High Voltage Software. Capcom has also expressed desire to release Western-exclusive WiiWare games.^[11]

Currently available WiiWare games in Japan and North America are priced between 500 and 1500 Nintendo Points. Additional downloadable content has also been announced for several games, with My Life as a King seeing extra content priced between 100 to 800 Points ^[12] and Mega Man 9 seeing content priced between 100 to 500 Points.

As of 14 January2009, the most popular WiiWare title in North America is World of Goo.^[13]

• Wii Shop Channel
• PlayStation Store
• Xbox Live Marketplace

• Xbox Live Arcade

• List of Wii games
• List of PlayStation 3 games
• List of Xbox 360 games

• List of Virtual Console games
• List of PSOne Classics
• List of Xbox Originals

• Official site