What is "wiiware"

WiiWare is a service that allows Wii users to download games and applications specifically designed and developed for the Wii video game console made by Nintendo. These games and applications can only be purchased and downloaded from the Wii Shop Channel under the WiiWare section. Once the user has downloaded the game or application, it will appear in their Wii Menu or SD Card Menu as a new channel. WiiWare is a companion to the Virtual Console, which specializes in emulated games originally developed for other systems instead of original games.

WiiWare was promoted as an avenue for developers with small budgets to release innovative, original, and smaller-scale games without the cost and risk of creating a title to be sold at retail (akin to Xbox Live Arcade and the PlayStation Store). The development kit costs around US$2000 and developers need to be licensed with and approved by Nintendo. According to Nintendo, the "remarkable motion controls will give birth to fresh takes on established genres, as well as original ideas that currently exist only in developers' minds". Nintendo will handle all pricing options for the downloadable games.

Like Virtual Console games, WiiWare is purchased using Nintendo Points. However, unlike Virtual Console games, instruction manuals are stored on the Wii Shop Channel itself.

On November 4, 2009, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata revealed in Q&A session that they are planning to test downloadable demos for a select few WiiWare titles, starting in Japan later in the month. On November 16, five WiiWare demos were released for the American Wii Shop Channel, with these later being released in Europe. The demos were available to download until January 31, 2010. More recently, another six demos have become available to download. On January 12, 2012, all 50 original WiiWare demos were re-released and are now available in North America. A few more demo releases followed suit.

Unlike its portable equivalent DSiWare, WiiWare games are currently unavailable natively via the Nintendo eShop. However, WiiWare games are purchasable and fully playable on the Wii U console - the Wii's successor - via Wii Mode. Ever since the Wii U launched in November 2012 with its vastly improved Nintendo eShop digital distribution, in comparison to the DSiWare Shop, the Wii Shop Channel had very rarely seen brand new WiiWare releases. , the Wii Shop Channel has received the global release of Retro City Rampage (February 2013), the global re-release of a retail Wii game called Deer Drive Legends (November 2013), and the North American re-release of a retail Wii game called Karaoke Joysound (July 2014).