After hearing the news of
Japanese WiiWare prices and dates we now hear that microtransactions will also be making their way to Wii(Ware). Not good news for those who fear being nickeled and dimed to death.
As of now the only title to officially announce such a service is the puzzler LONPOS. Genki, the game's developer has said that an expansion puzzle pack will be made available for 500 Wii points (the game itself is 1000 points). Bandai Namco had previously also stated that they were looking into putting such plans for its WiiWare title, Mojipittan.
While this may currently only pertain to Japan it would seem that it is safe to assume that North America and Europe will not be overlooked. After all, companies love to make money.
Written by: Marko Kalic
I want too know my Final fantasy games prices.
i r not a fan of microtransactions
I wonder if Wii Ware will become a bad distraction for Nintendo. Sony and Microsoft use PSN and XBLA as a secondary service, but with so much time being spent on Wii Ware titles, I wonder if the foundation of Wii games is being shifted to a place where it shouldn't be.
I'm all for creative games on the Wii which Wii Ware is hoping to deliver, but as another member mentioned above, this may be an excellent way for Nintendo to nickel and dime gamers like they haven't done with their disc-based games. Actually that last thought is wrong, because we'll see Pay for Play coming later this year also...
BTW how many Wii Ware titles do we think one will be able to fit on a 2gb SD card, especially when you might have the option of downloading a couple extra levels to your favorite puzzler for 500 Wii points every other month?
You make a really good point there. I never thought about that. I doubt that Nintendo could afford to devote too much time to WiiWare if it'll distract from real, full games.
I'm not a fan of micro transactions either but since I play many MMORPGs I'm used to them. I hope that Nintendo doesn't give it too much attention and take away from new games for the Wii as gft said but it's possible.
From the sounds of things it's not something Nintendo themselves have really focused on very much in terms of development. Aside from the Dr. Mario game Nintendo hasn't been too involved with it all and has stepped back for other devs to get their games out.
