WiiWare ‘complements retail’ says Nintendo

Nintendo has taken the wraps off a host of new games and services for its WiiWare channel at an event in London today.

But retailers shouldn’t have anything to fear from the downloadable games service, said Laurent Fischer, MD, marketing and PR for Nintendo of Europe, the host of the event.

Today Nintendo has turned the spotlight on third-party games such as LostWinds: Winter of the Melodias from UK-based Frontier, American studio Telltale Games’ Tales of Money Island and Japanese designer Kenji Eno’s You, Me, and the Cubes to prove how developers around the world are embracing the platform.

It also detailed a new ‘Connection Ambassador Promotion’ to encourage users to act as Ambassadors for the service, convincing their friends to sign up – they will be rewarded with Wii Points.

"For us this download model has nothing to do with the retail model," confirmed Laurent Fishcher. "The retail model, with the game and the package and disk, is still the heart and core of Nintendo.

"We think that, basically, DSiWare and WiiWare are just two additional components. Something that will offer no direct competition with the existing retail market."

Fishcher also pitched the ‘Ware’ platforms as a way for developers and publishers to offer a broader, more eclectic product range.

"The core point is the fact that a DsiWare or WiiWare release for a developer is an entry point to distribute unusual ideas and things like that, that would have never been able to be launched in time at retail,"

Fischer added: The market for video games is changing, reaching different people and in different ways. Wii and Nintendo DSi are also part of a new way to develop, deliver and experience games – by download.

Exciting new, smaller developers are able to use the Nintendo Shop to reach consumers where they may have struggled before. This is encouraging different types of games to reach people, and encouraging customers to play those games direct from their consoles.

We believe that this will complement the traditional retail model and in fact expand the overall gaming market, offering unique, innovative games that will appeal to all types of gamers. We also believe that the download phenomenon will encourage more creativity, co-creation and sharing of experiences between gamers themselves.”