WiiWare goes live!

by Chris Greenhough { May 12th 2008 at 10:15AM }

As we anticipated, Nintendo waited until the last possible moment to reveal the details on WiiWare's U.S. launch. In a press release which describes WiiWare as the "most democratic environment in industry history," Nintendo confirmed the six titles that launched with the download service today -- and it looks like the leaked information from the weekend was spot-on:

LostWinds -- 1000 Wii Points
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King -- 1500 Wii Points
Pop -- 700 Wii Points
Defend Your Castle -- 500 Wii Points
V.I.P. Casino: Blackjack -- 700 Wii Points
TV Show King -- 1000 Wii Points

So it's finally up -- hurray! Monday mornings haven't felt quite this optimistic in some time! Have any of you lot already downloaded yourself some WiiWare?

Gallery: LostWinds

Gallery: Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King

[Via press release]

Tags: crystal-chronicles, defend-your-castle, final-fantasy, final-fantasy-crystal-chronicles, frontier, gameloft, high-voltage, high-voltage-software, lostwinds, my-life-as-a-king, nnooo, pop, square-enix, tv-show-king, vip-casino-blackjack, xgen, xgen-studios

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Andy @ May 12th 2008 10:26AM

I fired it up this morning [6:30AM CST] and it didn't show anything available. Kinda bummed me out a bit, as I intended to have Pop and My Life as King ready to play when the workday was done.

I'll just have to wait, dang it.

Although, I do plan to make a quick trip to Circuit City to pick up a copy of No More Heroes for a measly $20.

TheCoats @ May 12th 2008 11:26AM

HOORAY - NO MORE HEROES!!!!

Andy @ May 12th 2008 4:35PM

I just got NMH...looking forward to some beam-katana action later on today. Now I have Pop and FF:CC to take up my time too. 3 games in one day.

I still have to finish Fire Emblem, SMG, and BWii...dang it.

Shadow31 @ May 12th 2008 10:43AM

Please, reviews, opinions, anything... at least VC games I either may have had experience playing in the past, or can easily find reviews anyways. These are totally new and, as such, I am nervous to take a shot in the dark with no real solid opinions yet.

I'm leaning toward either Pop or FFCC, but really, all of them look decent (except another Casino game, those are everywhere).

stinkbug @ May 12th 2008 11:25AM

You'll also be able to read through wiiware reviews at http://www.vc-reviews.com/wiiware

Calvin @ May 12th 2008 10:48AM

FF:CC and Lost winds downloaded, but I had to leave soon after so I have no playtime.

K C Hagemann @ May 12th 2008 10:51AM

well you can see all the trailers in the MyNintendo Channel, just as I had hoped!

Joe Zimmerman @ May 12th 2008 10:54AM

Watch the what is wiiware video on the nintendo channel. You'll see the screen selected to download Dr. Mario says the release date is 5/12/2008... well... that's today, where is my Dr. Mario :(

Had they removed this screen from the video I wouldn't be freaking out... please give me my fix... gah...

. Addict

Big Eared Monkey @ May 12th 2008 11:02AM

Have the money but not willing to pull the trigger until I hear from Hinkle. Any idea how the releases will work over time? Hmm...and it is monday...will there be a VC Monday Madness? So many questions...

David Hinkle @ May 12th 2008 11:05AM

No VC Monday Madness this week, since the WiiWare games got released. That doesn't mean I don't have something up my sleeve, though. ;)

Joshua @ May 12th 2008 12:03PM

You know, it's going to cost a lot of money to download all these WiiWare titles, Davey boy. >.>

John Rios @ May 12th 2008 11:15AM

Oh man, I can't wait till I get off work so's I can pick up Lost Winds! Still on the fence about FF though...

Casey3000g @ May 12th 2008 11:15AM

I didn't have any luck this morning. When i fired up the Wii and went to the WiiShop channel nothing had changed. I'm on the east coast. I tried it at 7AM and again around 7:45. Oh well, the launch titles look lame anyway. Why couldn't they have Dr. Mario ready to roll in time?

Jeremy @ May 12th 2008 11:22AM

I have 2000 points and right now I am torn between FFCC and Lostwinds. I do plan on having both by the end of the week but I am still undecided on my first purchase. I am also going to need to manage some system memory for these titles so I need to to pick which VC titles I want gone.

Q-Kid-Kyle @ May 12th 2008 11:46AM

What the #&$%?! is there supposed to be an update? I live in Canada, just south of Toronto, ontario, and there is no update, wii ware, or wiiware section on wiishop channel. Mind you, I don't have money to buy gaes, anyways, but I was very dissapointed. Someone explain to me what's going on?

Jeremy @ May 12th 2008 11:59AM

You should have downloaded the Shop Channel update like a month ago. If it is not working then do a system update and check the channel again. If still nothing then it is not out in your region yet.

Ross Kimbrough @ May 12th 2008 11:52AM

Downloaded FF:CC this morning. Haven't played it yet. Did start it up though and there are add-ons available already for it. The add-ons are anywhere from 100-300 points. Graphics look very nice.

andynoz50 @ May 12th 2008 11:53AM

Its interesting that there isn't a Nintendo game right from the start. Looks like they really want to give 3rd parties a chance.

Tristan @ May 12th 2008 11:56AM

Pop is becoming my favorite of the choices. It is so addictive and the Badges system really has the same thrill as Xbox Live Acheivements, they even pop up in the same fashion with their individual design. It is so fun and exciting, !!!! The music is hot as well.

SWAT Kats are back! @ May 12th 2008 5:08PM

I've heard strange praise for this game elsewhere

Looks like it beat expectations handily

gumuk28 @ May 12th 2008 11:56AM

just got lost wind...very,very beautiful graphic n smart gameplay :D ...very impressive for wiiware title. Plan to download FFCC but i think i'll waited next month :)

Matthew @ May 12th 2008 12:19PM

Logging in now at 12:16pm est time and the games are there. Right now I'd like to get lostwinds, defend ur castle and FF. However I'll take defend ur castle, my gf loved it on flash, actually she showed me and i'll take lostwinds bcuz I have the space which means FF has to wait to get reviewed and i get a sd card =(

Matthew @ May 12th 2008 12:19PM

YOU KNOW what I'd love to see, a type of points back system in additon to the hardware for storage nintendo will add at E3 (if they have a brain). I'd like that if games r u not happy with u can give back and get a percentage of ur points back depending on how long uve had them.. even if it's 100 points, id be happy as hell, pfff

murray b @ May 12th 2008 2:05PM

here, here. I'd love something along the lines of 100 points for every purchase, or 500 for 3, something along those lines. Best I've gotten in along time was 3 free copies of Nintendo Power. I remember when you used to get the bonus games (Zelda 4 pack, etc.)

Blue_Falcon @ May 12th 2008 12:24PM

Lostwinds is a must-buy.

Kevin Adder Snake @ May 12th 2008 12:30PM

I'm feeling Lost Winds, but I'm going to wait awhile until I get some points. Tetris is really really what I want. I can't for that. Dr Mario too.

igorponweed @ May 12th 2008 12:41PM

I'm looking at LostWind, Defend your Castle and possibly Crystal Chronicles (Probably not FF). Opinions?

JRVillalobos @ May 12th 2008 1:11PM

I got FF:CC and only got to Day 2 so far. It is like a contained SimCity, so far... haven't tried checking out the downloadable content features yet, but appaently seems like you can buy clothes...

This is seeming to be a good game if you into the Gaia online type atmosphere...

zrockstar @ May 12th 2008 1:30PM

Had to delete almost all my vc games to make them fit, but i've downloaded tv show king, FFCC and Lost Winds. Lost winds is the only one i've played so far, very cool game and looks like it has a lot of depth to it. I would say a definite download. Can't wait to play the other two. I think tv show king will be an awesome party game!

Polecat @ May 12th 2008 1:57PM

I really just want Wario's Woods I kept seeing the lil screens of. After that, I dunno. I'm sure I'll see something that looks awesome.

B513A @ May 12th 2008 2:19PM

WiiWare is now available for download in the Shop Channel (I live on the west coast). However... Am I the only one who didn't know that it would cost 400 points to download?! Lame!

Jeremy @ May 12th 2008 2:24PM

HUH??? What do you mean 400 points to download. As far as I can tell the games are either 500, 700, 1000, or 1500 points. The Wiiware area itself is now part of the shop channel.

Duscrom @ May 12th 2008 2:52PM

I'll be the first to say, I got VIP Casino Blackjack. I think it's pretty fun to play with other people. And there are casino games everywhere, except the Wii.

But then I'm slightly biased as I worked on it in the QA dpt.

sunday_times @ May 12th 2008 2:53PM

LOST WINDS is awesome. i completed it a few hours ago and it was definately money well spent for a fresh puzzle/platformer. We'll surely be keeping our eyes closer on frontier games after this excellent release!

gojsse @ May 12th 2008 3:26PM

Downloaded crystal chronicles. Has been fun so far after an hour of play. Figured I'd purchase a couple add-ons, bought a couple extra houses. The deal is the add-on items you purchase via wii ware for this game come with dungeons that must be cleared before you can build the house in your city. Unfortunately some of these dungeons are like level 25 or 43 so it will be a long while before i can build this stuff. Some dungeon levels are lower though, like level 3+ so it's not a total bust.

I'll be playing this for a while. Quick rundown of the first five in-game days (these days don't last very long in the game - 10 minutes?) Build a new house, get a new adventurer, send em off to a dungeon to build exp, gain $ to buy new adventurers when the time comes or other goods, get miasma to build new buildings, go to sleep so when you wake up you'll get the dungeon rewards/miasma and daily tithes (taxes per household), repeat. New buildings become available as you do more of course. The penguin who follows you around is cool too.

One really interesting thing i've noticed is the daily rundown of events when you wake up the next day. If you've sent someone to a dungeon the day before you'll be presented with a turn by turn list of what happened inside the dungeon like monster encounters, attacks with said monster, if they found a healing fountain, how much exp/gold/miasma was found, and how much wage you had to pay them at the end of the day.

Fun game. I'm sure the add-ons more come into play once you've really ravaged the game and want more challenge/variety later.

SoshiKitai @ May 12th 2008 3:39PM

Awesome. Thanks for the review.
I really wondered how the game would play (didn't want to take a "shotgun to the face"-kind of a gamble)... and seeing that I have to pick and choose what game I get today -- this review will definitely help me have a more clear idea of what I'm getting.