A lot of indie devs have been very happy to hear about the WiiWare announcement.
However, my friend Casey O’Donnell makes a very good point about how WiiWare is maybe not all sunshine and roses. Bottom line, in Casey’s words:
What [Nintendo] should have said is, “Established developers can create small teams with small budgets and big ideas to bring original games to the marketplace.”
I mean, I hope it turns out better than this. But it’s not looking that way right now.
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I think it depends on your definition of “indie studio” actually. Nintendo means “established studio not affiliated with a publisher” as opposed to “hobbiest developer”.
I still think this is just the first drop of their notoriously high barrier to entry and that a second drop will occur next year at or around the launch of the first titles.
Remember–control freaks like Nintendo tend to hold on tightly and they only pry open their grasp one finger at a time!
Right, and offering something for established studios without publishers is awesome. But I feel like most people who’ve read the news are jumping for joy at the chance to get their hobbyist game up on the Shop Channel, which (as we both agree) probably won’t be happening any time soon.
Troo dat.
But I’ll bet you one a pint a year that’ll it’ll happen eventually. You may collect incrementally, and at any time. GDC seems like a good choice.
Fair warning though–if it happens in nine years, I will expect to collect all nine of my pints (Guinness, natch) in a single evening and you’ll be responsible for pouring me into a cab too boot!
You’re on! The bet is pretty low-risk for me, as I’m typically buying pints at GDC anyway :)
Yeah, I didn’t figure that bet would hurt either of us… until nine years from now, that is. Then it just might kill me…
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