With Sony announcing PSP Minis this week and promising fifty 100MB titles before the end of 2009, Nintendo's largely terrible DSiWare service has its work cut out for it if it wants to provide a comparative platform. Nintendo seems to be aware that DSiWare games tend to suck, and is trying to instigate better quality games.
The DSiWare pricing structure will remain the same, but Nintendo's royalty rates will change depending on the game's size, expecting a bigger kickback for bigger games. The thinking behind this initiative is that developers will be encouraged to price bigger games at a premium rate, and put out the smaller stuff at a cheaper price.
That's Nintendo's thought process, but I personally don't see how it will change much. The iPhone and PSP so far are easier to publish games on, and seem to have significant developer support, unlike DSiWare which looks like a total afterthought. The PSP Minis store hasn't even launched yet and its fifteen confirmed games look more compelling than DSiWare, which has had months and months of head start.
I don't think DSiWare will compete with what Apple and the PSP are offering. I might be wrong, and hey, if the DSi suddenly starts offering consistently great downloads, that'd be brilliant. I'm not banking on it, though.
Jim Sterling serves as reviews editor for Destructoid.com, head of the Podtoid podcast, and produces a number of news stories, original features, one-of-a-kind videos. With his passionate argumentative style, controversial opinions, harsh delivery, and dedication to brutal honesty Sterling is a name that you can't help but recognize.
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Contest:
5:40 PM on 08.21.2009
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Whoever did that, Nintendo needs to throw money at them.
Portable GB games would kick the crap out of anything the App Store had to offer.
*whip crack*
MORE CLOCKS.
*moans of the damned*
MORE CLOCKS.
Why limit your audiance to a few million when you can just release it in retail and have access to nearly 100 million units.
Every PSP has acess to the PSN store, you just need a memory card for the older PSP's.
HA HA!
I'm being smug /happy pirate guy
That said, there is no reason to care about DSi until the downloadable content on that system becomes more interesting. There are a handful of great games and apps available now... but it's a very small, carnie-sized hand.
Make the DSi suck less and i'm sure the games will follow.
Of course, it's too late for the DSi, but here's hoping for their next system to be less gimped.
Also, meh at all these mini-game stores. They have their audience, I guess, but I just don't like them.
Sadly though, Nintendo seems to be unaware of that fact!
If Nintendo wants DSi ware to be a success, then they need to either open it up and let more titles on than 1-2 a week, like the iPhone app store, or completely go against the app store strategy and put out these meatier, more robust titles from their old catalog. This poor excuse of a strategy where they only allow out 1-2 boring pieces of shit a week doesn't satisfy any one.
To say they all suck, especially the guy even right above me, is absolute ignorance.
Flipnote Studio rocks, but there's something wrong with their strategy when by far the best piece of software available is in the "freebie" section. Maybe they'll continue in the same vein by releasing the entire NES/SNES/GB/GBA catalog in the free section, and a whole bunch more nifty clocks in the pay section.