Nintendo Reveals WiiWare Pricing

An update on the official Japanese WiiWare website has revealed the initial pricing for the first titles to be available on the new download service, with the cheapest costing the equivalent of $5 and the most expensive listed at $15. A total of nine titles are scheduled to be released on the launch date, with the service offering originally developed download titles as opposed to the retro emulations of the Virtual Console. The cheapest game is Angels Solitaire, which will priced at 500 Wii Points. In Japan this is the equivalent of ¥500 ($4.86) and in the U.S. would be $5.00 exactly – although there is no guarantee that Wii Point prices will be identical in the West. The other games listed for the launch include Okiraku Ping Pong at 500 Wii Points ($5), Hudson’s 2D shoot ‘em-up Star Solider R at 800 Wii Points ($8), Saku Saku Animal Panic at 1,000 Wii Points ($10) and Scrabble style board game Kotoba no Puzzle Mojipittan at 1,000 Wii Points ($10). Puzzle game Lonpos is also priced at 1,000 Wii Points ($10), as are key Nintendo franchise titles Pokemon Ranch Channel and Dr Mario & Saikin Bokumetsu. The most expensive game is Square Enix’s Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles - My Life as King. At 1,500 Wii Points ($15), it is the most expensive download of any kind so far available on the Wii. Although the line-up of initial titles is likely to vary considerably from that in Japan, a North American launch for the service is scheduled for May, with several Western developers, including the previously reported WayForward Technologies and previously interviewed Frontier Developments supporting the service.