WiiWare: home dev kit for Wii

[Bounty]

Home and independent game makers are getting a chance to put together titles for Nintendo's Wii console.

The hi-tech firm has released a set of game-making tools called WiiWare that give budding game makers the data they need to use the console and its innovative controller.

Wii owners will be able to download the games through net channels accessible via the console.

Nintendo said the first games would be available for download in early 2008.

Fresh ideas

Anyone wanting to use the WiiWare tools will need a basic knowledge of programming, said Nintendo. The tools let people start creating their game on a PC but it must be fine-tuned on the console itself.

The company said it expected game makers to use the Wii's motion sensitive controller to create "fresh takes on established genres".

"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," said Reggie Fils-Aime, Nintendo of America president in a statement.

Once quality tested by Nintendo, games created using the WiiWare tools will be put on the Wii Shop channel so owners can download them.

Wii owners must spend points to get the games. Owners buy Wii points by credit card or by purchasing cards in stores.

The move by Nintendo follows a similar initiative by Microsoft. It has made a express version of its XNA game making tools available for students and hobbyists so they can craft titles for the Xbox.

SANTA MONICA, Calif., June 27, 2007 - The search for the next ingeniously ground-breaking video game has begun. At a private developers conference this week, Nintendo announced the introduction of WiiWare, a game-creation service that will allow developers large and small to create new downloadable video game content for sale by Nintendo through the Wii Shop Channel of the hot Wii home video game system. WiiWare paves the way for smaller, more creative games to make their way to the public at lower prices, without any inventory risk to developers. The first WiiWare content will launch in early 2008.

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

The possibilities for WiiWare are limited only by the imaginations of developers. WiiWare provides game creators a simple method by which they can get their games to the public. This approach, combined with the remarkable motion controls of the Wii Remote and Nunchuk, will give birth to fresh takes on established genres, as well as original ideas that currently exist only in developers’ minds. The reduced barriers to development provide developers the freedom to create and an inexpensive, clearly defined path to reach consumers who will ultimately determine which game will become the Next Big Thing.

WiiWare will be posted on the Wii Shop Channel. As with current Wii Shop Channel offerings, users will redeem Wii Points to download content. It will support a variety of pricing options. Details about that and upcoming projects will be announced at a later date. For more information about Wii, visit Wii.com.

[atg]

This....

I never imagined something like this for the Wii.

[Pu-239]

I might just get a wii to play around w/... we'll see

[Duckie]

Oh man, I can see the people who make free flash games moving to the Wii.

I wonder if Nintendo has rights to the content or not?

[Dalton]

Oh man, I can see the people who make free flash games moving to the Wii.

I wonder if Nintendo has rights to the content or not?

Probably, if people are going to sell for profit via the Wii.

[Ace Pace]

Nothing really new... Microsoft has a similar deal with XNA and..weirdly enough, was actully first on the scene with APIs to control and utilise the wiimote.

[Spanky The Dolphin]

I'd certainly say that Nintendo actually announcing that one of their pre-launch suggested features for the Wii has become reality is something new.

[Qwerty 42]

This is huge for anyone wanting to get into the industry.

[Ace Pace]

This is huge for anyone wanting to get into the industry.

And as I said, really nothing new.

[Spanky The Dolphin]

It's new for the Wii and that's all that matters.

Man, I don't even know what you actually said, with your APIs and XNAs.

[Ace Pace]

It's new for the Wii and that's all that matters.

Man, I don't even know what you actually said, with your APIs and XNAs.

XNA is Microsofts own version of this, was announced back in 2006, released slowly over the course of the past year. It includes support for coding games that run on both Windows and the Xbox360 with the minimum of changes and included some very good tools(compared to what was out there for free). Out of the box, it offered support for a set of APIs(libraries that help to code) that were superior to most of what was offered for free back then, and included a large amount of code samples and example games(Rocket commander is FUN).

Later on, a few weeks(days maybe?) after the Wii came out, one of Microsofts developers released another API that let coders use the WiiMotes motion sensing capabilites. Months before Nintendo did anything of the sort.

However, so far, I've not seen any details of what Nintendo will release, it could be barebones, a series of libraries that let you use the basic features, or it could be like XNA, which was more like offering an entire toolset.

[Spanky The Dolphin]

Well still, I think it's rather unfair to essentially poo-poo a new development for a console just because another company had already done something similar for their console sometime earlier.

Really, it may be "nothing new" in the perspective of the overall whole, but for the Wii alone, it's plenty new.

[Qwerty 42]

And if nothing else, more acceptance of the concept of "indie" games is always good.

[Spyder]

Nothing really new... Microsoft has a similar deal with XNA and..weirdly enough, was actully first on the scene with APIs to control and utilise the wiimote.

PS1 also had the yaroze or whatever it was called.