Surprise! WiiWare launches

WiiWare, originally announced in June, is a new section of the Wii Shop that will allow users to download original Wii games and content - similar to Xbox Live Arcade.

WiiWare "paves the way for smaller, more creative games to make their way to the public at lower prices, without any inventory risk to developers," Nintendo said in the initial announcement, which placed the launch of the service at 2008.

But Wii owners are waking up this morning to find their Wii disc slots glowing blue, which is Nintendo's way of alerting us to the surprise launch - months before expected.

Don't get too excited though, there aren't any games in there at the moment - just a Metroid Prime 3 Preview channel which, once installed, lets you view new footage of the upcoming shooter streamed to the Wii via the Internet (streaming means low-quality). But it's well worth a look. Check it outbelow.

August 10, 2007