14 DAY TRIAL // The Wiiware service from Nintendo has launched in America with an interesting array of games, ranging from Final Fantasy Chrystal Chronicles: My Life as a King (another contender for the title of longest video game name), which is essentially a kingdom building spin-off of the franchise, to Lost Winds, which is already praised as being one of the best platform adventures to appear lately.
The Wiiware is an innovation in that it allows small game developers, so called "indie" developers, to create new and interesting games with reduced resources and then rely on Nintendo and Wiiware to get that game to players that have a Nintendo Wii gaming console.
Cammie Dunaway, who is the executive vice president of Sales & Marketing at Nintendo of America, says that "WiiWare is to the video game industry what independent films are to Hollywood. WiiWare lets developers experiment with new ideas and experiences. Combined with our collection of classic Virtual Console games, Wii provides one-stop shopping for the greatest games of the past - and the future".
Now resting on the laurels of a successful launch, Nintendo has announced the game lineup for the European launch, which is set to March 20. Final Fantasy Chrystal Chronicles: My Life as a King makes a comeback in Europe, although its appeal might be reduced as compared to North America or Japan. Also part of the lineup are: Pop, a game about popping bubbles to stop a timer; TV Show King, which essentially turns the Wii into a quiz machine, Pirates: The Key of Dreams from Oxygen Interactive or Toki Tori from Two Tribes. Lost Winds is also set to debut on the European market.
There are not too many titles available at the launch, but other developers are hanging on to see how these titles do before they themselves begin developing titles for Wiiware, another one of those Nintendo innovations that could revolutionize the gaming world.