Developing for WiiWare (Nintendo Wii)

The Nintendo Wii. Apparently it became the fastest selling games console in British history. It’s certainly the first home console to cross demographics so effectively, with everyone from young children to their grandparents prepared to have a go.

Has that success come at a price, however? Anecdotal evidence is that the Wii is kept as a party machine, or for very specific games, such as Wii Sports or Wii Fit. That’s not so bad for Nintendo, but it is a concern for mainstream publishers and indie developers.

WiiWare is Nintendo’s answer to Xbox Live Arcade. It was only launched in May across most regions, and as such there is little data out there right now as to its success. The big worry is that many Wii users simply won’t know or care about it since the Wii may be seen more as a toy or party game than a console.

WiiWare – Pros

• An abundance of Wii units in people’s homes.
• Expect the games to be smaller than recent XBLA titles; that should mean cheaper to develop.
• Nintendo will let you get on with your product – the content is up to you.
• Nintendo claim to be more open to game concepts than Microsoft or Sony.
• You get to code for the WiiMote!
• Nintendo are promoting it to indie developers.
• The Wii is a reasonably easy piece of hardware to develop for.
• No requirement for a Wii exclusive.
• Can still get in early whilst there is a lack of competition (at the time of writing).

WiiWare – Cons

• Barrier to entry: Registering for development has been harder than indies expected. It may help to have a prior relationship with Nintendo or a game development track record. Like the other platform holders, Nintendo still have to approve the core concept although the process seems to be far simpler than with Microsoft or Sony, and with less content-related feedback.
• Barrier to entry: Development kits must be bought, although they are comparatively well priced.
• Barrier to entry: Development costs must account for TRC handling, although Microsoft and Sony are generally considered stricter.
• Right now, no one knows how WiiWare titles will sell.
• As with Microsoft and Sony, Nintendo control the distribution mechanism and may do as they please.
• Nintendo still have to approve the project, although content-wise they may be more open than the other platform holders.
• Localisation and age ratings are again a consideration and expense.
• The WiiMote is the only controller Wii owners are guaranteed to own and it’s not very good at being a regular joypad. This may make it more difficult to design a game for use across multiple platforms.
• Game size is very limited.
• Nintendo don’t allow their hardware in home offices, which conflicts with their pro-indie stance.

WiiWare is the new kid on the block and that makes it difficult to properly evaluate. On the positive side, games can be developed far cheaper and far quicker than for some competing systems. That alone makes it very attractive for independent developers. The home office thing is an issue, but I’d hope people can find ways around that.

I’ll end with some useful links; IGN have a good interview covering a few WiiWare issues with Tom Prata here, there’s a good developer-oriented blog post on BigRedPimp, and to register for development you should head for Wario World (yes, really!).

My next article in this series is about developing on Sony’s PlayStation Network for PS3.

Choosing which gaming platform to develop for is a difficult decision, yet it’s one which many indie developers take too quickly. I’m going to share a few thoughts that I hope will help guide developers in the right direction, and that may provoke discussion amongst developers of all levels of experience.

A question I hear all the time from indie developers is:

How do we get on Xbox Live Arcade?

To which my answer is:

Are you sure you want to be on there?

That’s when they look at me with wild, ‘are you mental?’ eyes. They often don’t really have an answer – it’s just because they heard that it was popular. Don’t get me wrong – XBLA is a platform with a lot of potential and it can really work for indies. However, developers need to carefully consider what platform they want to develop on – companies live or die on this decision.

Over the next few days I’ll post up some pros and cons of XBLA, WiiWare, PSN and also digital distribution on the PC.

Follow me here where I’ll discuss the most well known of the platforms, Xbox Live Arcade.