Dass Nintendo neben Virtual Console Klassikern auch neue Titel zum Download anbieten will, ist schon länger bekannt. Heute soll nun die Ankündigung zum WiiWare getauften Service erfolgen.
Bei den für den WiiWare Service veröffentlichten Titeln wird es sich wie bei Microsofts Xbox Live Arcade- und Sonys PlayStation Network-Titeln um komplette Neuentwicklungen handeln, welche gegen Geld, bzw. Wii Points gekauft werden können. Neben großen Studios wie Ubisoft und Sega, soll der Service auch für sogenannte Indie-Developer, sprich kleine, unabhängige Studios eine Möglichkeit darstellen, ihre Titel zu veröffentlichen.
Die ersten WiiWare Titel sollen im nächsten Jahr erscheinen.
Hier die offizielle Mitteilung:
[quote]NINTENDO'S WIIWARE PAVES THE WAY FOR FRESH GAMES, COOL CONSUMER EXPERIENCES
Nintendo Sets a New Paradigm: One Game Can Still Make a Difference
SANTA MONICA, Calif., June 27, 2007 The search for the next ingeniously ground-breaking video game has begun. At a private developers conference this week, Nintendo announced the introduction of WiiWare, a game-creation service that will allow developers large and small to create new downloadable video game content for sale by Nintendo through the Wii Shop Channel of the hot Wii home video game system. WiiWare paves the way for smaller, more creative games to make their way to the public at lower prices, without any inventory risk to developers. The first WiiWare content will launch in early 2008.
"Independent developers armed with small budgets and big ideas will be able to get their original games into the marketplace to see if we can find the next smash hit," says Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime. "WiiWare brings new levels of creativity and value to the ever-growing population of Wii owners."
The possibilities for WiiWare are limited only by the imaginations of developers. WiiWare provides game creators a simple method by which they can get their games to the public. This approach, combined with the remarkable motion controls of the Wii Remote and Nunchuk, will give birth to fresh takes on established genres, as well as original ideas that currently exist only in developers' minds. The reduced barriers to development provide developers the freedom to create and an inexpensive, clearly defined path to reach consumers who will ultimately determine which game will become the Next Big Thing.
WiiWare will be posted on the Wii Shop Channel. As with current Wii Shop Channel offerings, users will redeem Wii Points to download content. It will support a variety of pricing options. Details about that and upcoming projects will be announced at a later date. For more information about Wii, visit Wii.com.
The worldwide innovator in the creation of interactive entertainment, Nintendo Co., Ltd., of Kyoto, Japan, manufactures and markets hardware and software for its Wii, Nintendo DS, Game Boy® Advance and Nintendo GameCube systems. Since 1983, Nintendo has sold nearly 2.4 billion video games and more than 409 million hardware units globally, and has created industry icons like Mario, Donkey Kong®, Metroid®, Zelda and Pokémon®. A wholly owned subsidiary, Nintendo of America Inc., based in Redmond, Wash., serves as headquarters for Nintendo's operations in the Western Hemisphere. For more information about Nintendo, visit the company's Web site at www.Nintendo.com.[/quote]