Capcom to Make WiiWare Games….Eventually

In recent interview  with Gamasutra, Capcom’s Vice President of Strategic Planning and Business Development, Christian Svensson, made the exciting announcement that Capcom has future plans to bring new games to Nintendo’s upcoming WiiWare service. But not just yet. Capcom currently has a plethora of games coming out for Xbox Live and PSN and aren’t quite ready to start churning extra games for the Wii. Svensson explains it as such:

I’m going to lump WiiWare in with PSP e-distribution, in that we’re looking for the right content first — a lot of the content we have now isn’t quite right in value or approach or interface for WiiWare.

I fully expect us to be doing some WiiWare titles very shortly in the west. I won’t speak for Japan on that particular issue, but there are interesting things happening at some point there, maybe.

WiiWare has some interesting challenges in terms of interface. I shouldn’t say challenges: both challenges and benefits. The controls are different and frankly we’d like to make good use of the Wii Remote. We have a couple of concepts internally that I think would be perfect for Wii, as well as other platforms.

The other part of this is we’re trying to get a better handle on the online services that are going to be available to us on WiiWare. One of our hot buttons here across PC, PS3, and 360 is that we’re trying for feature parity across all platforms. That’s not a trivial task, especially when it comes down to user-created content.

Let’s say at some time we get into clan and guild support, or other aspects of user-created content propagation, that becomes a more interesting challenge on the Wii. Does that mean we couldn’t do WiiWare stuff that doesn’t have feature parity? Yeah, we could do that, but we have a couple of things where we might not have to cut anything. Let’s talk again next year about that.

Svensson’s thoughts on the challenges and benefits for WiiWare remind us that companies really need to think about what they are doing. I only wish he had gone a bit further and discussed what he really thought all the problems with WiiWare were. One of the most obvious problems so far is that no one really has a clue where WiiWare is currently going. If it’s in line with the rest of the Wii’s online services, it’ll be functional but not fantastic, which could definitely scare some of the big developers away. I’m guessing the biggest fear Capcom could have, like Svensson said, is that they won’t be able to do everything they want to with downloadable content on the Wii.

Many of us around here absolutely agree that time needs to be spent deciding what games to release for the Wii, but hasn’t Capcom already had a good chunk of time to prepare already? It would seem like the WiiWare service isn’t exactly coming out of the blue and surprising anyone. Either way, it’s good to see that they’re putting some thought into their WiiWare games, especially since Capcom has put out some of the best third-party titles for the Wii so far (Zack and Wiki, Okami, etc.).

Defend Your Castle Preview

People all over Japan have already gotten their lucky little hands on Nintendo’s WiiWare games. And while they celebrate their magnificent fortune, we watch hopelessly from the sidelines struggling to get a glimpse of the awesome games already out for their console. So for the time being, gamers must come to utterly amazing sites like MyWiiNews.com for previews of these awesome games! Today we are previewing Xgen Studio’s Defend your Castle.

Many people who casually surf the web have probably already stumbled upon the popular flash game and know what it’s all about, but for those who haven’t, Defend your Castle places you on a grassy plain with invaders attacking you from the west. As the enemy gets closer, you take your God-like hand, grab the helpless little men, and throw them mercilessly into the air. Every stage gets harder and harder, as the enemy becomes faster, stronger, and more plentiful. But after every stage, you are given time to purchase upgrades and fortify your castle.

For those of you who have already played the game, you are probably thinking, “oh, I’m not going to buy this because I can play it for free!” But the WiiWare version of Defend your Castle is completely revamped with updated graphics, mechanics, and new Wii-specific upgrades. The Wii version also offers 4-player cooperative gameplay and new game modes such as “King of the Castle,” where the player with the highest score at the end of the level is crowned king, and is given the opportunity to upgrade the castle, cast spells, or train units.

The 4-player mode also features a unique jump-in/jump-out style of gameplay with dynamic difficulty adjustments. Xgen explains that if you’re playing Defend your Castle by yourself while waiting for some friends to show up, anyone can pick the Wii Remote up as they arrive and start playing. If you have to get the door, all you have to do is lay the Wii-mote on your coffee table and the game will detect one less player and automatically adjust. (Awesome!)

The Wii version even takes advantage of the Wii Remote by using the accelerometer in Nintendo’s unique controller. The game will be able to detect how far you threw the enemy by tracking your wrist-flicking speed which, according to Xgen, “feels much more intuitive.”

The Wii version of Defend your Castle is definitely not the gimpy little port that it could have been. Instead, Xgen took it to the next level by creating an updated and awesome looking game for WiiWare. The minigame comes at a bargain too, with a price of only 500 Wii Points! We can all expect to see Defend your Castle soon after WiiWare’s launch in May. But until then, take a look at the video below and keep checking back at MyWiiNews for more info on the latest Wii news!

WiiWare Roundup

As the release of games on WiiWare gets closer and closer, more and more exciting news starts to flood out about the games that are being released. It’s quite a good bit of information and it’s scattered all over the place, so MyWiiNews is going to run down a few of the new major details coming out right now including the most important so far: online Tetris.

Let’s start with the launch games. While we don’t have any word on what games will be released in the U.S. when WiiWare launches on May 12, we do know what games will be available in Japan where it launches in about two weeks on March 28. They are as follows:

Okiraku Ping-Pong Wii (Arc System Works, 500 points)

Word Puzzle Mojipittan Wii (Bandai Namco, 1000 points)

Sakusaku Animal Panic (Konami, 1000 points)

Star Soldier R (Hudson, 800 points)

My Life As A King: Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles (Square Enix, 1500 points)

Angel’s Solitaire (G-Mode, 500 points)

Dr. Mario & Bacillus Extermination (Nintendo, 1000 points)

Everybody’s Pokemon Ranch (Nintendo, 1000 points)

Lonpos (Genki, 1000 points)

We can speculate that My Life As A King will be there at the U.S. launch since its release has already been rumored pretty heavily, and Dr. Mario is also a very strong lock along with Star Soldier R. I’d also put money on Everybody’s Pokemon Ranch coming out near launch, if not on it, since Pokemon sell like wild fire and the game appears to fit right into what Nintendo is aiming for WiiWare. It looks like we’ve got plenty of quick and great gaming coming our way once WiiWare launches.

Of course not every game is going to be a launch title, and there’s plenty coming out for WiiWare after the launch too. We’ve already told you about Defend Your Castle, LostWinds and Project Bang but there are plenty more like Eternity’s Child and World of Goo; both of which look absolutely gorgeous and incredibly creative. The list of games coming to WiiWare is growing daily, including a game where you pop bubble wrap. WiiWare is going to be the place for games that you won’t find anywhere else, though I don’t know if popping virtual bubble wrap will be as much fun as the real thing.

Now for the really big news: Tetris will be landing on the WiiWare service some time this summer! Sure, there have been hundreds of versions of Tetris pumped out over the years by a myriad of different companies, and  you can already play the decidedly addicting Tetris DS online with friends, but Tetris on WiiWare has two main things going for it. One is that it will have point and click controls that could make moving those blocks around the screen far more interactive (though let’s hope you can still play it with the D-pad too), and two it is being designed by Hudson, the same people who brought us the insanely addictive Bomberman Live on XBox Live. Hudson has a proven track record of making simple, fun, online gaming that anyone can play, so Tetris looks to be awesome. It’s kind of hard to mess up Tetris anyway, and really, what Nintendo system is complete without a Tetris game on it?

Defend Your Castle coming to WiiWare

Today, XGen Studios announced that Defend you Castle will be available on Wii-Ware for 500 Wii points. The online flash game is due out sometime in early 2008.

In the game, you basically do what the title says, you have to defend your castle. When you see a little stick figure running towards your castle you must point at him with your mouse, click on him, and throw him up. After a second or two, the poor little stick figure comes flying back down and splatters all over the ground. As you progress through the levels, more and more enemies start attacking and they eventually become faster and stronger. You can also purchase upgrades for your castle or buy little archers that help you fend off the enemy.

The company stated that the Wii-Ware version would have better graphics then its online counterpart, but other changes were not specified.

If you want to tryout the game for yourself click on this link: Defend Your Castle

After playing the online version, feel free to leave a comment below stating whether or not you think the game is worth your money.

WiiWare Service Gets a U.S. Launch Date

Nintendo’s new WiiWare Download Service has been given an official U.S. launch date of May 12 (it comes out in March in Japan). The date was revealed during the Game Developer’s Conference (GDC) going on this week and brought to light in an interview Newsweek’s N’Gai Croal did with David Braben about his WiiWare launch title LostWinds, in which Nintendo of America director of project development Tom Prata sat in on the call in order to answer questions that Braben could not. The WiiWare service is a new feature on the Wii that will allow for new games made by developers to be downloaded directly to the Wii much like the classic VC games are now. Aside from opening up a whole new venue for games on your Wii, the low cost of developing games for WiiWare is great for independent gaming companies who have truly original ideas but not enough capital to get their games out through physical distribution.

In the interview Braben points out the goals of the new Channel saying, “The reason for (smaller file sizes) is that we want the WiiWare development to be more cost effective and have low barriers to entry to allow the content creators to create with that type of risk.” Basically Nintendo wants anyone who has a good game to be able to make it and get it out to the millions of Wii owners. This is good news for all of us as the more people making games the more great games we get. If the few games we’ve heard about coming out are any indication WiiWare is going to be the place to be for unique, fun and challenging games.

Braben also reveals that games will vary in cost much like the VC games. No word on what will make a game cost more or less but if I had to guess I would say it is going to have to do with the depth, length and challenge of the game. Sadly you won’t be able to figure any of these things out before you buy the game as WiiWare won’t feature any downloadable demos, something that Wii fans have been clamoring for since the downloadable Metroid preview videos teased us with the idea. In the only dissapointing part of the interview Golin Harris, a PR rep with Nintendo had this to say,

“We do not intend to have a ‘try-before-you-buy’ model that requires developers to create expensive demos. Nintendo plans to provide information on games similar to what Nintendo in Japan is doing with the Everybody’s Nintendo Channel where creators can share information on their game directly to Wii consumers.”

Don’t be fooled by the old PR double speak, we’re getting gypped here. Game demos, as any XBox Live gamer will tell you, are a great way to try out a game and see if you want it and, in my opinion, would increase sales making any costs to developers worth their time. Still, the WiiWare feature looks to be absolutley amazing and will deliver us some truly incredible and one of a kind games that you can’t get anywhere else so a lack of demos is far from important. Stick around and MyWiiNews will bring you all the info on the games coming to WiiWare.

The full press release from GDC follows including information on WiiWare, WiiFit and Super Smash Brothers Brawl.

NINTENDO REVEALS ITS NEXT ENGAGING EXPERIENCES

WiiWare, Wii Fit, Super Smash Bros. Brawl Shown at Game Developers Conference

REDMOND, Wash., Feb. 20, 2008 – The Game Developers Conference in San Francisco attracts the top creative minds in the video game industry. With that audience on hand, Nintendo announces news that reinforces its commitment to provide entertaining and enriching experiences for veteran and new gamers alike. WiiWareâ„¢, Nintendo’s new downloadable game service, launches May 12 and expands development opportunities for developers the same way Wiiâ„¢ expanded the world of video game players. Wii Fitâ„¢, the upcoming title for Wii, launches May 19 and introduces the Wii Balance Boardâ„¢ peripheral. And Super Smash Bros.® Brawl draws in fans of all kinds.

“We are excited to participate in the Game Developers Conference this year to share with developers and consumers alike our upcoming unique services and products,” said Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of America’s executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. “We are hopeful that they will appreciate our offerings of WiiWare, Wii Fit and Super Smash Bros. Brawl, which represent a trio that will continue to attract new players to the world of video games.”
At the conference, Nintendo speakers will outline a number of plans for the coming months on their respective panels:

WiiWare: Nintendo’s upcoming WiiWare changes the way both developers create and consumers access video games. Through WiiWare, Nintendo hopes to offer developers a virtual laboratory that serves as a breeding ground for new games, which encourages great ideas that creators always wanted to develop. The combination of low development barriers and unique game experiences found only on Wii should enable developers to try new ideas with lower risk in a quicker, more creative and affordable way.

Meanwhile Wii owners can download a multitude of cool new games from different genres, including some that are unprecedented, which can be purchased from home at a dynamic price range. WiiWare also empowers consumers to determine with their Wii Points which games have the right stuff to become the next big thing.

WiiWare will be a repository for all types of experiences – literally, something for everyone. Early WiiWare games will come from celebrated developers like Square Enix, which is creating FINAL FANTASY CRYSTAL CHRONICLES: My Life as a King, a simulation game for all ages. Also watch for games from up-and-coming developers like Frontier with its fresh, enchanting platform adventure LostWinds and a new episodic game series from Telltale. The first U.S. WiiWare games will be available on May 12.

Wii Fit: Wii Fit demonstrates Nintendo’s commitment to gamers of all kinds. It combines fun and fitness for every member of the family to keep active and play together. Wii Fit launches May 19 in the United States and comes with the weight-and-motion-sensing Wii Balance Board that Nintendo representatives demonstrated could hold great promise for future game development as well. Third-party publishers are already working on new games and applications that will make use of the Wii Balance Board. Additionally, Wii Fit includes access to the Wii Fit Channel, an interactive channel that lets users check in each day to track their fitness progress through weight and BMI. In Japan, Wii Fit has sold more than 1.4 million units since its Dec. 1 launch.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl: This action game launches March 9. With dozens of characters, settings, options and ways to play, it has something for everyone. The game includes characters from all across the Nintendo universe. The previous installment in the franchise went on to become the best-selling game of all time for Nintendo GameCubeâ„¢.

Remember that Wii features parental controls that let adults manage the content their children can access. For more information about this and other Wii features, visit Wii.com.

About Nintendo: The worldwide innovator in the creation of interactive entertainment, Nintendo Co., Ltd., of Kyoto, Japan, manufactures and markets hardware and software for its Wiiâ„¢, Nintendo DSâ„¢, Game Boy® Advance and Nintendo GameCubeâ„¢ systems. Since 1983, Nintendo has sold nearly 2.5 billion video games and more than 430 million hardware units globally, and has created industry icons like Marioâ„¢, Donkey Kong®, Metroid®, Zeldaâ„¢ and Pokémon®. 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 www.nintendo.com.