The Video Game Critic

Posted: **June 27th, 2007, 8:06 am**

http://blog.newsweek.com/blogs/levelup/archive/2007/06/26/level-up-exclusive-on-nintendo-wiiware.aspx

Well, it is finally coming. I hope this lives up to its potential. Nintendo isn't going to vet the games for quality, only set pricing. Getting a rating is up to the game maker, AO games not accepted. Be interesting to see how they list games, especially when their gets to be a lot of them. Maybe there will be some kind of user-rating system to go along with word of mouth.

Critic, will you review games like this? I haven't clicked on the 360 reviews, I guess I could check to see if any Live games are over there.

Posted: **June 27th, 2007, 9:46 am**

I just read about this last night...its about time. Honestly, I'm really excited about this one. You are going to see some very creative stuff from Japanese developers as well as other parts of the world.

While Nintendo isn't going to go over content, I would highly doubt that many M rated games find their way onto the service. Nintendo likes to run a squeaky clean ship and even virtual console games lack M rated choices.

Regardless, WiiWare could be just as successful as XBox Live Marketplace...if they release 1st party stuff like a 2D metroid game it would be heavenly. Ah, the possiblities are certainly good.

Though with this announcement comes more speculation that a Hard Drive of sorts will be announced at E3 or sometime later in the year. Nintendo has several things using the internal storage and its only a matter of time before people are going to have expand.

Posted: **June 27th, 2007, 9:57 am**

I don't get it what is the difference between this and VC.

Posted: **June 27th, 2007, 10:08 am**

[QUOTE=Superjay]

I don't get it what is the difference between this and VC.

[/QUOTE]

Brand new original content. The virtual console games are simply old games that they re-release to download. WiiWare is going to be similiar to what PSN and Xbox Live Marketplace offer...brand new games. Stuff like Geometry Wars, Calling All Cars, Assault Heroes. That is what WiiWare is.

Posted: **June 27th, 2007, 10:10 am**

[QUOTE=JustLikeHeaven] Nintendo likes to run a squeaky clean ship and even virtual console games lack M rated choices.[/QUOTE]

...yeah, because the consoles available had such a huge selection of M-rated games. Sure, there were some on the N64, but there are what, 5 titles out currently, and they're all first-party?

Posted: **June 27th, 2007, 10:35 am**

[QUOTE=Adamant][QUOTE=JustLikeHeaven] Nintendo likes to run a squeaky clean ship and even virtual console games lack M rated choices.[/QUOTE]

...yeah, because the consoles available had such a huge selection of M-rated games. Sure, there were some on the N64, but there are what, 5 titles out currently, and they're all first-party?[/QUOTE]

Yeah I guess that is sort of true...I didn't really think about that.

There were a decent amount of M and MA-13 rated games on the SNES and Genesis that featured plenty of adult content. I still don't think we will see Virtual Console releases of Robocop vs Terminator (Genesis) or Doom Troopers (Genesis). Hell, where is Killer Instinct or MK II on the SNES?

Posted: **June 27th, 2007, 10:41 am**

I'm not sure those games are high priority VC releases, regardless of content ratings.

-Rob

Posted: **June 27th, 2007, 10:51 am**

[QUOTE=feilong80]I'm not sure those games are high priority VC releases, regardless of content ratings.

-Rob
[/QUOTE]

This is true. Yet, my point was that Nintendo controls what they put out on the Virtual Console and I see it being the same with WiiWare.

Its not something that bothers me in the slightest. I don't care if games are violent or not. I actually prefer games that are more whimsical and cartoony in tone.

I was just trying to say that Nintendo will keep a close eye on whats released via WiiWare.

Posted: **June 27th, 2007, 11:00 am**

Heh, I doubt we'll see Super Columbine Massacre RPG on the ol' WiiWare, that's for sure (that's a good thing)

.

But yeah, this is terrific, fantastic news. Because there is really the potential to do stuff here that goes beyond Xbox Live Arcade's fare, which, while having some excellent titles, is sort of limited to retro gameplay type titles with nice visuals. Not that this is bad. But WiiWare, in that developers will have access to motion controls, might be able to do some very cool things.

I'm particularly excited to see what is going to come out of Japan. Japan is supposed to have an amazing indie game scene, with a reputation for very high quality, even from just individual people making games in their spare time.

-Rob

Posted: **June 27th, 2007, 11:32 am**

[QUOTE=feilong80]

But yeah, this is terrific, fantastic news. Because there is really the potential to do stuff here that goes beyond Xbox Live Arcade's fare, which, while having some excellent titles, is sort of limited to retro gameplay type titles with nice visuals. Not that this is bad. But WiiWare, in that developers will have access to motion controls, might be able to do some very cool things.

I'm particularly excited to see what is going to come out of Japan. Japan is supposed to have an amazing indie game scene, with a reputation for very high quality, even from just individual people making games in their spare time.

[/QUOTE]

Exactly! I'm psyched to see what comes out of Japan. They truly have a different approach to gaming over there and it will be very interesting to see what makes it to the new service. Motion controls should make for some crazy fun and innovative games. I imagine there are going to be some VERY simple games that only cost a few dollars as well as complete games that cost more money.

I still really hope that Nintendo uses this service to create new small games as well. Nintendo has some of the best teams in the business and I would love to see motion controlled versions of Kid Icarus or something like that. Why does 2008 have to be so far away...