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GDC 08: WiiWare channel to launch May 12th; no demos planned
1:22 PM on 02.20.2008, Chad Concelmo 31 comments

GDC 08: WiiWare channel to launch May 12th; no demos planned photo
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WiiWare, the Wii’s channel for original downloadable games, will officially launch in North America on May 12th, according to all around awesome guy N’Gai Croal over at Newsweek’s Level Up.

This is very exciting for people (like me!) who are very much looking forward to the creativity and overall retro feel most seemingly simple downloadable games have to offer. With the continued success of the Wii, a lot of smaller, independent publishers will have the opportunity to have their games seen by millions of people around the world.

Sadly, as mentioned in Croal’s same article (and being whispered about here in the halls of GDC), no demos will be available for any of these original downloads. How gamers are going to know which games to purchase in what is sure to be a sea of options is beyond me. Says Nintendo:

The key for us is not to impose too many restrictions on the content creators and allow them to create the content that and the features that they think are more suitable to express their vision of the product. And creating demos or having demos as a requirement is a very costly type of endeavor, so it's not a requirement from Nintendo.

I am a huge Nintendo supporter, but am very worried about this decision. Hopefully there is more to this story as Nintendo promises to reveal much more information about WiiWare over the next few days of GDC. What do you think? Is Nintendo shooting itself in the foot with this news?


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CaffeinePowered's Avatar
CaffeinePowered at 02/20/2008 13:26
Can you really do full Wii demos? Maybe VC games, I think even Wiiware might be a stretch.

Unless they decided to allow external HDDs...
Gameboi's Avatar
Gameboi at 02/20/2008 13:26
Sorry about that snafu, folks. We pull from the same sources, and sometimes we get a little mixed up.
BlindsideDork's Avatar
BlindsideDork at 02/20/2008 13:28
Nintendo STOP being a fail! haha
Chad Concelmo's Avatar
Chad Concelmo at 02/20/2008 13:28
The double post was totally my fault. I heard the news here at GDC and typed the post. Gameboi is amazing. Chad fails. :)
ScottyG's Avatar
ScottyG at 02/20/2008 13:28
Gameboi's had a better picture, altough I am envious of your 10000 Wii points. :p
ScottyG's Avatar
ScottyG at 02/20/2008 13:29
Gameboi's had a better picture, altough I am envious of your 10000 Wii points. :p
Gameboi's Avatar
Gameboi at 02/20/2008 13:30
Wrong. Chad is amazing, and at GDC . Gameboi fails :-)
Chad Concelmo's Avatar
Chad Concelmo at 02/20/2008 13:30
@F Whipple,
That is what I am hoping to find out more about in the next few days. I am reading it the same way as you (mainly that it is not a requirement, but is still possible), but game developers here seem to be spreading the word that it is not an option at all. Hopefully more will be revealed soon ...
mix's Avatar
mix at 02/20/2008 13:30
I download tons of demo and I have bought games based on the demo that I normally wouldn't have purchased. I think demos should done.
king3vbo's Avatar
king3vbo at 02/20/2008 13:36
Woot
NihonTiger90's Avatar
NihonTiger90 at 02/20/2008 13:43
I can't wait.

Oh, and Chad, guess what your points card gift might be going towards? Can you say WiiWare launch titles?
pedrovay2003's Avatar
pedrovay2003 at 02/20/2008 13:46
Well, they just said it's not a requirement, not that it would never happen.

I have this same problem with the PlayStation Network. I barely own any downloadable games on my PS3, because I can't try them first. I hope the developers realize that demos are pretty much essential in this day and age.
MiOdd's Avatar
MiOdd at 02/20/2008 14:14
I think demos would be nice but I don't think its a problem if they're omitted.

I've never owned a TG16 in the past, so all those games are completely new to me. Everytime one comes to the VC I find enough information and reviews before making my purchase and for the most part the system works...
monosylabik's Avatar
monosylabik at 02/20/2008 14:20
since thats my birthday i wonder if i can get a gift repciet with that...
nosinging's Avatar
nosinging at 02/20/2008 14:30
Has there been any announcement on using external hard drives or playing from SD cards? Where are we supposed to put all these new games?
drMario1337's Avatar
drMario1337 at 02/20/2008 14:43
on the console... i guess.
Gavin's Avatar
Gavin at 02/20/2008 14:44
Demos would show that Nintendo really cares about their online strategy, which we all know they don't give two shits about. This should come as a surprise to nobody.
Remo's Avatar
Remo at 02/20/2008 14:51
To be honest many wiiware games will probably be so small a demo would be giving you half the game.
Samit Sarkar's Avatar
Samit Sarkar at 02/20/2008 15:01
Yeah, aside from Gameboi’s other article on this story, he also put up a feature about why the PSN has so few demos, and most PS3 owners seemed to agree that demos are a good thing (in general). Not allowing demos at all just seems shortsighted, and frankly, rather dumb. But hey, I don’t own a Wii, so it makes no difference to me either way.
Guagloves's Avatar
Guagloves at 02/20/2008 15:34
No Demos? Sad. I guess that's what happens when the Wii has very little space.
Holyetheline's Avatar
Holyetheline at 02/20/2008 17:09
No shoot in the foot. Sad with a lack of demos though.
konchu's Avatar
konchu at 02/20/2008 18:17
Demos are nice and they don't have to take extra space just look at xbox live games, the game demos and full version are the same size you pretty much just unlock the demo. I think Snakeball on PS3 was the 1st PS3 game to do this too. I personally think demos are very good and sort of like there being a requirement as it helps purchasing decisions and really the demos don't really have to be much more than a time limit or level limit.
Necros's Avatar
Necros at 02/21/2008 03:42
The Wii doesn't have room for demos, so I'm not surprised.
wardrox's Avatar
wardrox at 02/21/2008 03:43
Even without demos, I think it'll be good to see some third party devs able to cheaply make games for the Wii.
Burnt Meatloaf's Avatar
Burnt Meatloaf at 02/21/2008 14:33
I think Nintendo is just trying to see how far they can push the community before they complain. It's not like people complain often, after all.
BlackSunEmpire's Avatar
BlackSunEmpire at 02/21/2008 19:14
Chad, can you do me a big favour and kidnap someone at GDC who either works for Nintendo or is a family member of someone who does. Then refuse to let them go until they announce when WiiWare will find its way out of Japan and N America. Maybe not Reggie, he looks big, could you stalk him and see if he has a little girlfriend or something.

If you take any heat just say I asked you nicely. It should be sweet, I know a few cops.
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