Nintendo unveils WiiWare download service

Nintendo Co. Ltd. on Wednesday announced the launch of WiiWare, a game-creation tool that will allow individuals and outside game studios create and sell downloadable Wii games through console’s Wii Shop Channel.

The launch of WiiWare system comes merely three days after the Kyoto, Japan-based gaming company entered the top ten slot of Japan's most valuable companies for the first time with a value of 6.54 trillion yen ($53 billion), surpassing its arch rival Sony Corp. in market value.

The Japanese gaming console maker has, though, attained the top position in the gaming industry but was lacking a service that solicits original games for purchase and download online.

Nintendo’s rival companies, Microsoft and Sony Corp. already offer such service through the Xbox Live Arcade and the PlayStation Store, respectively. Both services allow for the purchase and download of original games and revamped ports.

With the newly announced WiiWare download service Nintendo too has expanded its online distribution model to be similar to Xbox Live Arcade and the PlayStation Store.

“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. WiiWare brings new levels of creativity and value to the ever-growing population of Wii owners,” Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime says.

The original downloadable content will be available beginning in January of 2008.

This should be a fair deal for developers as well as for the gamers. Whereas developers would get a chance to offer games with no inventory risk, the gamers would get exposed to new, inexpensive games.

According to Perrin Kaplan, a Nintendo spokeswoman, the game-creation tool is engineered for people with at least some knowledge of computer programming. Game developers can start creating games using a personal computer but must complete them on the Wii console, Kaplan added.

WiiWare will be available through the Wii Shop Channel. Users will be able to download content at the cost of Wii points, the store's virtual currency.

Among the trio of next generation gaming consoles, Nintendo emerged as the numero uno in May for the fifth consecutive month after selling 338,000 units of the popular Wii video game devices in the United States, outshining both Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and Sony’s PlayStation 3 in the US video game consoles market.

Nintendo now joins such globally renowned names as Toyota Motor, Honda Motor and Canon on the list of the 10 most valuable Japanese companies.

Nintendo’s recent rise has been driven by the surging demand for its DS handheld game players and the popular Wii video game devices. Nintendo DS is a portable game player that is still selling briskly more than two years after its introduction.

Launched in November last year, Nintendo’s Wii console retails for $US250, while PS2 costs only $129. The PS3 and Xbox 360 start at $499 and $299 , respectively, while their high-end versions are priced at $US599 and $US399(Xbox 360 Premium System) and $US479 (Xbox 360 Elite System), respectively.

Besides Nintendo console's U.S. price, which is just half the cost of the least-expensive version of PS3, its motion-sensitive controller that has been popular with mainstream gamers as well as new audiences like senior citizens and very young children has helped build buzz for the machine, and made it more appealing to some consumers.