WiiWare Laid Bare
While you may have noticed that the Wii has had a whole bunch of downloadable games for some time now - courtesy of the Virtual Console - you probably noticed that these games were all retro titles, and while having a bash around MarioKart 64 is never to be sneered at, you probably also played it to death ages ago.
What you might not have noticed however, is Nintendo jumping in the ring alongside Microsoft and Sony in terms of having new and original download content available. Last month saw the European announcement of WiiWare, the new downloadable service for anyone with a Wii and Wifi.
Costing about seven quid each, there are now a number of titles specifically designed for the Wii available for your gaming pleasure. The most popular title thus far is Lost Winds; developed by UK based Frontier Games, Lost Winds is a pseudo-Japanese 2D adventurey puzzley affair. You must take control of Toku, and with the help of gusts of wind controlled by the Wiimote pointer, guide him around levels and help him solve puzzles. Widely acclaimed and regarded as an excellent example of what can be done with the Wii, Lost Winds provides around 5 hours of brilliantly intuitive gaming at a bargain price.
Other games available include a remake of the old Dr. Mario franchise and another platformer called Toki Tori, which has been remade for the Wii. Originally realeased on the Gameboy Color, it had limited sucess originally. Now it sports revamped graphics and redesigned controls to make the most of the Wii, and provides a more direct puzzle experience, again providing around 5 hours of head-scratching for a mere seven buck.
Not all games are born equal, and as such it was with much controversy that Square Enix announced Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicals: My Life as King for WiiWare - as this title weighs in at a shocking £10.50! "Robbery!" they cried. That was, until it was played. A management and adventuring game, you control the King of a town in the FF universe. You must expand your town, but doing so requires resources which can only be got outside of the town. And so you must send Adventurers. For all this to work well though your town must be well managed, as Adventurers cannot be directly controlled, which means poorly equipped, underexperienced or overworked Adventurers will have a considerably harder time surviving. Essentially, your Sim City skills have a bearing on your towns explorative abilities and so the advancement of the story.
Outside of all this gamey-gaming, Gameloft have gone and made a WiiWare game to go up against Buzz! on the Playstation. TV Show King lets you and three friends use your Miis and answer questions as if you were on a quiz show. No doubt an excellent post pub game, costing only seven bob again.
Overall there is already an interesting selection of games available for download at - when compared to todays biggest sellers - a bargain price. And while the likes of Microsoft and Sony have had download content for some time, the vast majority of games on these services have been retro in nature; something which the Wii already had covered with its Virtual Consoles. It seems that the Wii was needed to usher in the distribution of truly original titles to the consoles, and while this isn't strictly true for all of the games available on the service, it is only the beginning.