Nintendo has launched WiiWare, its answer to Xbox's Live Arcade and Sony's PlayStation Store. As you may have guessed by now, WiiWare is an online store featuring downloadable Wii games.
WiiWare has been launched with six Wii games: Square Enix's Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King; Frontier Development's LostWinds; XGen Studios' Defend your Castle; Nnooo's Pop; High Voltage Software's V.I.P. Casino: Blackjack; and Gameloft's TV Show King. Wii users who have their consoles connected to the Internet will now be able to shop and download new games that the company plans to add every Monday. Nintendo has said there are nearly 100 WiiWare games under development.
Among other things, the service might prove a boon to independent game developers who will be able to push their games to a wider audience. Somewhat like Microsoft did earlier -- it brought independently created games to users via the XNA platform. Games bought on WiiWare will cost Wii Points that can be purchased online as well as in retail outlets. New WiiWare titles cost in the range of 700 to 1,500 points, which translates roughly between $7 and $15.
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