Oh hey look no...*yawwwwn* Shantae....

BARF!

Not in here, mister!  This is a Mercedes!  ;)

Oh and...

Oh hey look no...*yawwwwn* Virtual Console....  :P: :

That Basketball WiiWare game sounds kind of fun, though I have to wonder why I'd buy it (besides price) when NBA Jam's on the horizon and will probably be a far better game.

Epic man, Epic.

The difference in prices is the only reason you would buy HoopWorld over NBA Jam.

Or rather, I should say it like this:

The difference in pricez iz the only reazon you would buy HoopWorld over NBA Jam.

Got a review copy of HoopWorld today. Imagine if NBA Jam was only controllable with terrible motion controls.

NBA Jam's current motion controls are quite good, and you can always switch to classic controls if you want. HoopWorld's motion controls are freaking terrible. Example: You have to shake the Wii Remote to pass. You have to "raise" the Wii Remote and Nunchuk to shoot. I don't think I need to say anything more.

I think this says that Nintendo needs to open up their service to homebrew (like XBL Community Games) since they obviously have low standards for quality.

Serious question: are there any virtual fish tank games available for Wii?

There was one really early in the life of WiiWare, almost 2 years ago.

My Aquarium and yes I have it.

Did you miss the fact that there was one released this week?

I live for my art, and yet no one understands me.

You just play it at such a high level, it can be hard to keep up.

Maybe if you die we'll come to appreciate you.

"Well, at least he posted a lot."

They basically already have, which is exactly why the quality is so poor on WiiWare. The standard for becoming a licensed Wii developer are really low -- you need an office address and $2000 for a development kit. I don't think there are any upfront costs for submitting a WiiWare game to the Shop Channel, except for the ESRB rating fee, which is discounted for games that cost less than $25,000 to develop.

That's not really true according to rejection letters some devs have posted online-- you also have to somehow demonstrate experience, which seems to be an arbitrary, luck-of-the-draw judgment.  I'm not sure if there's any way to guarantee developer status.  It's almost like you have to develop for a competitor before you can develop for Nintendo, or at least have the right ties.  Also, talking with some smaller devs at GDC, several have said that the up-front costs are too much for them -- these are ones developing Wii Remote-controlled games for PC.  So, I don't know who to believe.  Maybe it's the fact that you don't get paid anything until you perform at a certain level-- that's certainly a major deterrent.  The office address requirement is a poor filter since obviously there is better homebrew out there -- without even using Nintendo's SDK -- than much of what's available on the service.  Nintendo charging at both ends is an outdated model that, unfortunately, they can afford to keep up.

Nintendo isn't really doing anything different from Sony or Microsoft. Both of the require development kits (unless you make a Xbox Live Community game, but MS chooses what games to offer) and both take fees from game sales. I will admit that I do not know if Sony or Microsoft require a minimum number of sales before giving the publisher their money though.

I know, that's why I said they can afford to keep it up, but it's no excuse.  Microsoft's offering is limited, but it's something.  Sony offered homebrew development in the past, though it was severely limited in the PS3 and there was no mechanism to share your work.  Apple, Google, and Valve are changing the model, so it will be interesting to see if the old way can persist beyond next generation.

One thing I really hope none of the console makers are stupid enough to do is copy Steam's requirement to be online to validate a game (even if purchased at retail and is not an online game).