Nintendo has made some interesting moves in the world of video games and they have a rather interesting new development coming in the world of making games. It will soon be possible for a small developer or team of developers, on a tight budget, to make real games for the Nintendo Wii.
You may be familiar with the new product from Nintendo called WiiWare. It is the new channel called the WiiWare Shop Channel. And it is where you can buy games for Wii points currency. You can get downloadable games there, and not just legacy games, but new releases.
While there is nothing groundbreaking about this Nintendo has taken a developer friendly stance on the whole WiiWare concept and are going to be making Software Developer Kit available to small developers so they can create games that will be made available on the official WiiWare channel.
This isn't aimed at the guy who wants to make his own games and share them with friends. It is more aimed at serious little developers that have some skill, and big, creative ideas. Nintendo has gone on record as saying the developer kit will cost between two and ten thousand dollars so that leaves most people just wanting to make a game out. But it really does open the doors to programmers, developers, and designers that really want to make a go of it.
I think this is a really good move on the part of Nintendo because it really will give creative start-ups a chance at fame and fortune. If you have a really good idea and the drive to see it through you could practically get overnight success with this. And by overnight success I mean after you put in the long months or a year or more developing your idea! But once it hit the Wii Channel, if it is really good, it could take off.
Nintendo has found a balance with this new developer kit. They are a worldwide name brand and they need to control the quality of the content that the produce and publish, yet they still want to reach into creative minds and find the next Donkey Kong. It's a great philosophy because it is pretty much what happened to them when Shigeru Miyamoto created Donkey Kong and that ever famous Mario.
If you are serious about the whole concept of making a video game with the Wii they do have an application process that spells out a lot of stuff including non disclosure agreements, costs, and what type of developers they are looking for. You can learn more about it on their WarioWorld website. You will also have to get your game rated by the ESRB which is a process in itself.
If you have the drive and the creative ideas to launch yourself into the real world of video game making while still maintaining a small budget the WiiWare developer kit might be the way to go. It is going to the take the world of game making out of solely the hands of the big million dollar companies and put a little bit of it in the hands of the little guy with a big idea who does it all out of his garage and creates the next wave of game.
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