GameTap writes: "What price tag do you put on fun? With WiiWare, Nintendo can now offer Wii games that fit just any budget, from $5 to $50. The WiiWare store is open for business at the Wii Shop Channel, and through it, Nintendo hopes to make available games that are low cost, imaginative, and hopefully fun.
Nintendo is promoting WiiWare as a way for smaller, independent developers to showcase their talents and create entertaining Wii content without incurring the development and marketing costs associated with releasing a video game into regular retail channels. Expect to experience the creative efforts of development companies of all stripes. Established video game publishers (some even presenting games based on their popular franchises) will have WiiWare offerings as well as smaller independent studios. The independents are the most intriguing aspect of WiiWare. As with Microsoft's Xbox Live marketplace, WiiWare can give unique and creative ideas a chance to find an audience and flourish in a smaller format but on a major video game platform."
Alex S. from Link-Cable writes: "The official end of the WiiWare service may not be until early 2019 but we wanted to give everybody as much of a chance as possible to remember all of the great games that Nintendo’s first every download service brought us. Last week we counted down the first 10 games in our look at the Top 20 WiiWare games ever made, and if you haven’t had the chance yet you can check out those picks right here but now we switch our focus over to the very best that WiiWare has to offer so if you still have a Wii (or a Wii U) kicking around make sure to download these games before they are lost forever."
Alex S. from Link-Cable writes: "This past week, Nintendo announced that after more of a decade they would be shutting down the Wii Shop Channel. Many gamers (myself included) have found memories of taking our Wii consoles online, putting in our Wii Point Card numbers and downloading a whole bunch of classic Nintendo, Sega and NEC titles onto the Wii system. But the Wii Shop Channel was also home to a whole catalogue of new games that made up the system’s WiiWare service. It was here that many of the system’s smaller and more experimental titles came into being and many of the developers that brought us these games are now responsible for big indie series’ thanks to their original success on WiiWare. So as a sort of goodbye to Nintendo’s original download service, we’re counting down the Top 20 Best WiiWare games starting with numbers 20 through 11 today (check back next Friday for 10 -1)."
Alex S. from Link-Cable writes: "As I continue my quest to complete my backlog (last week I was in the trenches of World War II) I find myself returning to a console that is near and dear to my heart, the Wii, and it’s virtual games service WiiWare. And by back I mean way back as I decided to finally give a go at the WiiWare launch title LostWinds a go. "
Great move by Nintendo!