GameSetQ: What Do Wii Want From WiiWare?
So you've seen that Nintendo has confirmed WiiWare downloadable digital content for the Wii, starting in 2008. And as our Gama story notes: "In a press statement, Nintendo suggests that WiiWare will pave the way for “smaller, more creative games” at lower prices and without any inventory risk to developer."
Now, there's still a little bit of controversy about how easy it is up to now for indies to get hold of Wii development kits - you may remember Ian Bogost's Serious Games Source feature on the subject late in 2006. But I've been chatting a little to some of the Nintendo folks in charge of their original downloadable efforts, and it's clear that they mean to do this right - and are starting, if a little late, with good intentions.
So - an open question. What is 'right', in this context? Do you want to see Nintendo going after great-looking Flash games or existing indies and getting them onto Wii? Do you want only to see titles that make unique use of the Wiimote, or are ones using the 'classic'-style controls perfectly acceptable?
Some other questions - is it better to have a more open playing-field, so that we get lots of content from all sizes of creator, and the users can pick and choose from a large amount of games?
Or should it be a little more highly selective, so that there aren't three flavors of block-shuffling puzzle game, for example? And how about first and second parties - should they be making WiiWare too, or should it be the one place where Mario doesn't hustle in to steal the spotlight? Opinions, please.
[UPDATE: A couple of blog reactions to this - A Link To The Future has a number of ideas, including: "Be careful leveraging Nintendo IP for new DLC. Nintendo’s biggest advantage over Microsoft is the fact that it has so many recognizable brands… but if it just churns out more crappy minigames, people are going to wonder why the hell they’re paying full price for more Mario Party."
Also, Tony @ Clickable Culture floats an interesting idea: "There's already a voting feature available for the Wii. It's called "Everybody Votes," and allows Wii users to weigh in on lightweight topics like "Sasquatch or Nessie?" What if Everybody Votes was mashed up with WiiWare? Voting could be limited to one vote per console per game, thus reducing or eliminating ballot-stacking. I'd rather have gamers tell me what's worth playing than Nintendo."]
Comments
Lots of content is better than too little. It is easy to make the editorial process too strict with this.
I'd like to see hundreds of games up there, with a buyer-supplied star rating by each. The Wii, which obviously keeps a history of everything that's been bought, could handle the voting easily and securely.
While we're at it, let's see an XNA-style development system to open it up to homebrew coders!
Posted by: John H. | June 29, 2007 9:55 PM
I may be in the minority here, but I want to see those rare and excised snippets of older games make an appearance. I want those e-reader levels from Super Mario Advance 4 to be available as WiiWare. I want the canceled Star Fox 2. I want an updated Stunt Race FX that can finally shine due to adequate console horsepower. I want Special Tee Golf from the old Sattelaview service.
Here's the thing: I can play Flash games for free all I want on the computer. When I play a Flash game I'm after a 5 minute break from whatever I was previously doing. When I sit down at the Wii I'm looking for something a little more immersive. That doesn't mean Zelda-levels of gameplay, mind you, but I do demand something a little deeper than just another run at Bejeweled.
Posted by: MattG | June 30, 2007 5:37 AM
A development system that doesn't require going through the hoops and costs of getting a dev kit from Nintendo would be first and foremost on my wish list.
After that, hopefully they cater to a wide selection of indie projects and keep the channel open to more experimental games. Hopefully WiiWare can become a way to expose the mass market to games which stretch the medium creatively and expressively.
Also, I will completely disagree with MattG and say that I would also like to see small-scale games along the lines of Flash games be given space. Alternately, I would be just as happy if they created a more powerful Flash player for the Wii browser and released an API that allows Flash coders to create games that actually accept motion-based input from the Wii controller.
Posted by: josh g. | June 30, 2007 10:33 AM
I agree that Flash games plus API for Wii controller would be completely awesome, Josh.
I suspect that Nintendo will ask all WiiWare creators to buy development kits, though, which'll mean that native Wii coding will probably rule the day.
Posted by: simonc | June 30, 2007 1:19 PM