Nintendo's WiiWare Paves The Way For Fresh Games, Cool Consumer Experiences

Nintendo Sets a New Paradigm: One Game Can Still Make a Difference

    SANTA MONICA, Calif., June 27 /PRNewswire/ -- 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(TM), 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(TM) 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.
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     "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(TM) and Nunchuk(TM), 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(TM) 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 http://www.Wii.com.
     The worldwide innovator in the creation of interactive entertainment,
 Nintendo Co., Ltd., of Kyoto, Japan, manufactures and markets hardware and
 software for its Wii(TM), Nintendo DS(TM), Game Boy(R) Advance and Nintendo
 GameCube(TM) systems. Since 1983, Nintendo has sold nearly 2.4 billion
 video games and more than 409 million hardware units globally, and has
 created industry icons like Mario(TM), Donkey Kong(R), Metroid(R),
 Zelda(TM) and Pokemon(R). A wholly owned subsidiary, Nintendo of America
 Inc., based in Redmond, Wash., serves as headquarters for Nintendo's
 operations in the Western Hemisphere. For more information about Nintendo,
 visit the company's Web site at http://www.Nintendo.com.
 
 

SOURCE Nintendo