WiiWare is looking to do more than offer an alternative to PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade – it wants to offer a fresh start for downloadable content, as we discover from its converts.

It would be an understatement to say that, following another Christmas in which Nintendo had to resign itself to only selling every single unit it could put on shelves, its Wii has been enthusiastically received. With several high-quality titles in recent months, and more on the immediate horizon, even the once-familiar grumbles about a lack of software are dissipating – and the momentum the console has gathered means a huge installed base for the launch of a key part of the Wii concept.

WiiWare or Wii Software (the name differs by region) is Nintendo’s answer to XBLA and PSN, a channel that will offer new content exclusive to Wii. WiiWare is looking to deliver on the console’s ‘access for all’ approach – but this time for developers. But Nintendo is hardly known for its liberal approach to licensees, and it’s difficult to imagine it voluntarily ceding ground when in the dominant position it currently holds. Does WiiWare really mark a change, with the potential to be a new dawn, or is it simply the old Nintendo in sheep’s clothing?

WiiWare, first and foremost, has a philosophy behind it that’s grounded in practical business sense. The term itself simply refers to a specific section of the Wii shop that currently hosts the Internet Channel and other applications: from around March 2008 it will begin to offer exclusive new content, with Nintendo touting it as a route to commercial release without the massive overheads and infrastructure necessary for retail sale.

moscalloutIf you’re a startup developer it may now be significantly cheaper and easier to develop an original game for a console that has a greater installed base than any of the competition./moscalloutPresident and CEO Satoru Iwata says Nintendo “would like to offer a new business chance based around a battle of ideas.” ‘Ideas’ is a word that occurs a great deal in conversations around WiiWare, but it’s the ‘business chance’ that needs to be spelt out, particularly as it affects the likes of Medaverse and Nnooo, development houses that are producing their first games for the service. In the simplest terms possible, if you’re a startup developer looking to create downloadable titles, it may now be significantly cheaper and easier to develop an original game for a console that has a greater installed base than any of the competition.

XBLA has routed a number of original titles to Xbox 360, with the likes of Space Giraffe and Mutant Storm Empire emerging, but they remain surrounded by a slew of ports. And making a game for XBLA involves a significant amount of hoop-jumping. It’s an experience that was initially shared by Nnooo, whose Pop will be a launch title for WiiWare.

“We spent a lot of time talking to Microsoft and that process was taking quite a while,” says creative director Nic Watt. “The expectations they have, for something that’s supposed to be helping small developers, are high – they were asking for demos and lots of concept art and design documents, things like that. At the same time I’d been talking to Nintendo on and off, and then out of the blue they said, ‘Have you signed an NDA?’ I said ‘no’; they sent one through and I signed it, and the next day I was able to buy development kits.”

Microsoft may well counter that its standards ensures a high quality of games on XBLA (a point open to debate), while WiiWare is yet unproven. But the worry may be losing developers to an option that, in purely financial and resource terms, is much more attractive. “It’s starkly different,” continues Watt. “We would have had to provide quite a sophisticated demo [for XBLA], to a level where it’s a slice of game that’s representative. That takes substantial work and investment, and there’s no guarantee it’s going to get signed – it’s bank-breakingly difficult for small operations.”

How much cheaper can it be to develop for WiiWare? “Significantly cheaper than if we were going to do it for PSN or XBLA,” says Watt. “The development kits for Nintendo are roughly a quarter of the price than those for the other platforms. It just gets to the point where, as a small startup, I can buy four development kits for Nintendo, or one for someone else.”