WiiWare Demo Service Now Available Worldwide!

Tis a nice suprise to wake up too!

To bad I already paid for all of those...

Edit: In the Wii Message Nintendo sends it mentions that they will run out on 31st January 2010...
Wewt

Hopefully when the NoA update rolls around in 5-7 hours we'll have demos too, great news though.

I hope this become a permanent service.
So people try the demos and buy the games after that XD.

Yeah, no demos for the US now, but I'll let you know once the new games are up

Totally unespected when the updates are in fridays...

Everyone needs to try NyxQuest... Seriously, there's never been a better time than now...

Aye! I´ve been interested in Nyx and Bit Trip! Now I get the chance to try them!

Limited Time? Why? And what if i buy a Wii in March 2010? Then i can´t anymore download the Demos That is not good

I'm thinking this is a trial by Nintendo to see how it pans out... If this is a hit then I'm sure they'll make a separate and permanent section for it in the store.

Just learned about this. I should punch Reggie IN THE SOUL!!!, but I shouldn't because us US bound people have a few more hours to go. Hopefully we'll get it alongside you Europeaners (I <3 Bad Engrish).

We should all download as many demos as possible to to get nintendo to keep the service.

Agreed, Croz. I'll do that AFTER I punch Reggie in the soul for not bringing the demos to NOA Wiis (That's the thing with NOA. They don't like to give us the interesting stuff. I = Sad US Resident ).

Hey, already downloaded all of them (even though I've owned Icarian since launch) for archival purposes and am currently trying them all out (even Icarian, just cause it's awesome). Didn't love BTB, but I was expecting that. Challenge oriented games aren't my cup of tea really. Right now it's time for FFCC:MLAAD, even though I'm almost 100% certain I'm not gonna be getting it due to all the DLC crap.

Right now it's time for FFCC:MLAAD, even though I'm almost 100% certain I'm not gonna be getting it due to all the DLC crap.

If you're a good gamer, you won't need it at all. The DLC is a crutch for those who aren't good at the game. In fact, downloading a lot of the DLC would ruin the game for most people since it would make it way to easy. So you just gotta pick and choose what you think you need if any at all. Don't need it all.

Gotta love how the heroes in FFCC squeal when you kill them! They sound like worms (you know, from Worms).

I may download the FF demo. I presume the demos are free?

Yes, all demos are free

At last!

But starting only with 3 titles?

Or I can Chibi. Hopefully these arn't the only demos. And can you upgrade the game buy purchasing it or would you have to download it again?

Not downloaded any yet but I assume if its a large block size then you probably download the full game and only be allowed to play a small part of it until you purchase it.

After playing the NyxQuest: Kindred Spirits demo. I will be buying it very soon. I enjoyed it alot. I hope all new WiiWare games get demos. It will increase sales. I am going to need a bigger SD card now. Thank you Nintendo.

They really need to make more games available as demos. I own all of those except FF (which I'll try, of course), but right now there are just too few demos...

It's a bit like the DS demos: Sometimes, once in a while, a game I'm interested in will crop up there, and it's great, but most of the times, they're not, so overall it's not such a useful service...

Still, it's a great start...

We got nothing to gloat about, you have Excitebike and we don't... T_T

Awesome, since I already have NyxQuest I won't try that one. I am curious about BIT.TRIP BEAT though. Never knew what to make of that game.

It was about time! I downloaded FF and NyxQuest, played just FF... It's a sweet game, I may purchase it in the future (I have way too many games to play at the moment). Having played the demo confirmed the good impressions I got from reviews, so this is a good new feature for the WiiShop!

I checked em out, and i think it is cute how nintendo take you to the store at the end of the demo.

Aww man, Wiiware sales will go down now. Oh wait, demos are available for GOOD games. Some people will play the demos and not want to buy the games cause there cheap.
@shiryu: We have excitebike, you have ssb.

ABOUT F'N TIME!

I hope one day we get many more demos, of ALL Wii games...

Quite frankly, and this is just like on Xbox 360 by they way (Microsoft certainly got it right with this one), I think we should be able to demo play pretty much every game on Wii. I don't care how Nintendo manages this but I just want to demo games for free before I decide if I'm going to buy them or not.

Joygasm! I can now play the demo's of three games I have already downloaded. This isn't quite what I had been hoping for. Far too limited. Oh well.

There is no logic, NO logic at all behind letting them expire. You'd figure people will want demo's of a game available to try when they are looking at it, not searching for demo's just because they're available or something like that. When a demo is present, it's a positive for pushing a product. Why let those demo's disappear?! They did this with DS demo's and they're doing it now, and I STILL don't get it.
This is one of those weird things that just bothers me to no end, so meh.

But hey, at least the first step has been taken. Good for you, Nintendo.

You really need to try NyxQuest. Its a great downloadable title and I hope a demo convinces many people to try it.

Just thought of something. You do realise that these three demos will occupy the top three spots of the Top Twenty popular games until they expire, don't you? They're treated as regular games in the Wii Shop, only free. Oh what fun Top 20 Wednesdays topics will be from now on.

They should put down the WOG demo so people can see how amazing it is. After all, the PC version has had a demo for a year.

OK, I've had a look, and promptly gifted the Beat demo to half a dozen people. I'm always jabbering at people, saying stuff like "ya gotta get this dude". Now I can send them a demo.

Y E S !! YeS YES!!

I have all DLC in Darklord and the game is still very difficult... at least the second stage pack where I still haven't beaten the last four stages.
I don't recommend Darklord, even though the Demo is nicely done, the full game is a rip-off.

Anyway, NyxQuest is the definite highlight. I will get it sometime soon. It looks, sounds and plays very well. Reminds me of LostWinds a bit.

The Bit.Trip Beat Demo has cool music, but I hoped to see at least the boss of the first stage. Unfortunately the demo ended after 5 minutes, so I still don't know if I want it.

Sooooooooooooooooooooooooo cool

Why don't they just move the demo section to the Nintendo channel right next to DS demos? Just a thought

Question to those who have access to the demos already - can you gift them?

@ReZon: Yes.

NA gets 5 demos - BIT.TRIP BEAT, FINAL FANTASY CRYSTAL CHRONICLES: My Life as a Darklord, NyxQuest: Kindred Spirits, World of Goo and Pokemon Rumble.

In the new Nintendo Power in the wiiware section under their overview of Pokemon Rumble it said "if your still not sure about Pokemon Rumble, a free demo will be available."
So I'm guessing America is getting demos today.

Holy dang, this is a nice surprise to get home to, I didn't expect this at all. I'm gonna give it a shot right away!

Wow, those are extremely good games to add as demos -- some of the best that WiiWare has to offer! I guess if Nintendo is going to post demos they want to really advertise the best of the service to encourage people to go online with their Wii consoles...

Sweet!

Yeah, saw the press release for America. Demos include the ones listed here and Pokemon Rumble. Nice.

And World of Goo, too.

It's like Nintendo really doesn't know how to organize all this shizat!

Why can't they just have a single Channel where people can go check out demos for pretty much every Wii game, both Wii and DS, that are they all the time so people can check them out when they chose?

Also, why can't we have some decent images and videos of every game available on the shop Channel at the at the very least?

I really don't think it has to be so confusing and haphazard.

I personally have little use for demos, but the ability to gift them is quite clever. Anything that reduces moaning from people is alright by me!

This is very cool indeed, but why make them expire? Nintendo half asses again, me thinks!

come on you guys, be realistic. The service is just enough to get people interested and browsing. It's only going to demo the best games for a certain time, then move on. Theres no reason to demo $5 games, either. Most Video games have a limited life span as "hot" new titles, after that it's only worth doing demo's for whats new and popular. I think nintendo just wants to highlight certain ones and let people browse for others. older stuff is obviously searchable in places like this site if you must get opinions.
It's for people that haven't played any of those ones demo'd, (that are all great games) then they go buy those and think "gee, I should look around here, there are lots of other ones, even cheaper, too".
It's not so that cheap gamers have something to do when they don't feel like spending money.

Oh Ren, you're so logical!

I hope it comes with the update for the U.S. Since you can gift them, i'm gonna suprise my friend by gifting him these.

http://wiiware.nintendolife.com/news/2009/11/nintendo_download_pokemon_whips_fighters_bowling_balls_robots_intersections_and_demos_us

looks like you got them too

I'm a bit disappointed with the block sizes, they're big for 1-level-demos

I'm curious invmat, why is block size an issue any more? You can just dl on to SD, what's the beef?

@Machu: The SD-card menu is almost no solution. In this way you keep copying/erasing/moving games and that's not great for your Wii's memory (to say the least). And the block sizes are almost 2/3 of the complete game, and for 1 level that's strange, imo.

@invmat: Since they need to fit the whole game engine and most art assests into the files, it's not a surprise that they are large downloads. I bet that demos are (essentially) full games with only small changes to limit gameplay. That way developers don't really need to create anything new for the demo... just modify and repackage existing code.

i think they are so big because its the whole game you download after you played teh demo it bring you to the shop where you can buy it directly so maybe its the whole game and if you buy it after playing the demo ist just takes a few seconds to play the game becuse you only buy a key too unlock everything

@invmat: I imagine the game engine takes up a lot more space than any levels removed.

The Wii's memory is there to be written upon, and re-written. I wasn't aware it was an issue. If ever my Wii memory fails, I'll blame you.

PAL regions are usually the last to get something new in this line of products. I'm happy for them getting this first.

@Machu: yeah pretty much. I don't see a way to avoid rewriting the internal flash; I'm sure the day will come when it stops rewriting, but I don't get why you'd be paranoid about it.

@Invmat did you never save your games in cart-based systems or memory-card based systems? I'm pretty sure modern flash memory is a lot more resiliant than anything preceding it so you can probably relax...

nice, too bad about the top 20 thing, some sales will suffer as a result, they need to expand to top 25

what a great idea. I already downloaded the demos for Bit Trip Beat and Nyx Quest. Without the demos I probably would never have played these games. For me Wii Ware tends to get ignored underneath all the retail releases, but the demo service has made me actually take notice. Bit Trip Beat was a bit average I thought, but I really liked the look of Nyx Quest. I really enjoyed the 10 minutes I spent playing the demo. Definitely will consider buying the full game now.

What games would you like to see get a demo?

I'd love to see a timed demo for Bonsai Barber - maybe with three or four days of play before it times out so that people can see what the game is about. Great little title but nearly impossible to convince people to pick up without having them play it first.

Hopefully, if the sales of the said games increase, then maybe the demos will be a permanent feature...

Limited-time demos of good games are a good start, but the demo service will be truly useful when there are permanent demos of Sexy Poker and SPOGS Racing. I'm serious. That way people can see bad games for what they are without spending money on them.

Oh please, please, please let us have it.

People will download anything as long as its free.

Sure @Bass X0 people will indeed download anything as long as its free. However, the key to this is the number of people who will download good games once they've tried them and, more to the point, the number who won't download good games until they've tried them.

OMG!!!....demos?.......downloadable?..........Free?...........well thank **** for that.Welcome to the 21st century Nintendo. Now could we get the same for Wii retail games please.............no?...........ahh well.........maybe in ten years eh?

I love these demos! I wish that nintendo would have downloadable demos for DSiware so you could play them whenever you want without having to have a wii with you. [and internet on the wii]

Japan did not get any demos...?
...either way, the Americas are such anteaters*; I actually feel uncomfortable about all this, especially with Europe and Australia. (Then again, Japan gets constant Virtual Console releases...)

• = That is an inside joke I use to refer to those who have frequent good "luck".

Awesome. I'm definitly going to try out World of Goo, BIT.TRIP BEAT, and NyxQuest later today.

It's too bad we don't get Club Nintendo coins for these, but that is acceptable too.

If I want to try Wii demos, I'll gladly pay for a rental. WiiWare on the other hand, "YES PLEASE, OKAY THANK YOU."

I'll download all demos but one: World of Goo (already have the demo on Steam).

Now, this is my opinion with the Shopping Channel, that I noticed some are talking about it, is that I think they need to scrap the channel altogether and combine it with the Nintendo Channel.

As for the VC, how about Nintendo go with the idea that SSBB did with their "demos".

I just thought of this: I wonder if these WiiWare demos are going to skewer the top 20 WiiWare releases. XD

I think I'll pick up the FFCC demo when I get the iPlayer channel on Wednesday (if I don't get a chance sooner).

I'm sure everyone will be getting more demos. In the WiiWare demos video I watched this morning on Nintendo.co.uk their Wii Shop showed the 4 spots on the front page being taken up by demos; the 3 we have and World of Goo.

Weird thing is I want to keep demos on the service and the best way of doing that is to purchase games after the demo (pushing up the %) and so I'm actually going to hold back on some games in the hope demos for them show up but I have to be honest, I can wait on those purchases.

Does anyone know if the demos show up in your Club Nintendo account (and can you stars for them )

@Starwolf

Umm, look at the comment above me. XD

i downloaded Bit trip beat demo an it shows up at Nintendo account but no stars

I'm already convinced to buy Pokémon Rumble. Thank you, demos!

now we have no weakness to XBox Live Arcade

@Atlantis1982/Starwolf UK - I'm just doubting that we get CN coins/stars for demos as a post-play survey, as they are not the full product.

I would be very surprised if we get coins in the end though.
(Note: Flipnote Studio + DSi Browser were free, but were not demos. They were eligible for coins in PP survey).

woot you got coins for Dsi Browser? here in europe we can get stars for Flip note but got nothing for the free channels on wii and dsi

Only on phrase can describe the awesomeness that is this;

BOOM HEADSHOT!!!!

And yes, I am a (insert any insulting word here) for bringing this up. Ah, the amazing stupidity of the internet.

I'm downloading them all! Darn my small cash amounts! shakes fist

So how long do the demos last? A certain amount of time/levels?

@minial100

World of Goo lasts the first chapter, Nyxquest lasts the first level, Bit Trip Beat lasts the first level, I'm not sure about My Life as a Darlord or Pokemon Rumble, but I played the pokemon one for about half an hour, and it didn't seem close to being over.

nintendo needs 2 keep this service permanent i've downloaded ffcc darklord pokemon rumble and nyx quest, already have WOG and beat. nyx quest was already on my radar and playing the demos makes me want it more. I had no plans on getting ffcc darklord until playing it, that game is addictive. Not sure about pokemon rumble its okay but seems like it could get repetitive fast, but most pokemon games are repetitive so i might get this at some point

THEY SHOULD BE FOREVER AND FOR ANYTHING

But whatever. Got Pokemon Rumble demo and it was amazing.

I enjoyed the Bit Trip Beat demo. That game is crazy

I already own WoG and BT.B so I enjoyed the demo of nyxquest. Pokemon, not so much, and FF wasn't my cup of tea.

To anyone doubting that this will not be permanent, read up...

In a Q&A session Iwata said that Nintendo would be trying out demos using a handful of them. If these demos double the sales of the title then there's a good chance that Nintendo will make it official.

Right now they are on the doubt phase. They still don't believe that demos are the answer. But if sales do double they will have to eat their words and implement them. I mean, we know that the SD storage solution helped a lot of people, both fans and developers. If the first batch of demos go wonderfully you can bet that it will be permanent.

Now if only they had one on the DSi ware.

I think its great! I will definately now purchase NyxQuest! Did'nt care too much for bit trip beat though. Oh well Great job Nintendo!

I'm playing the darklord demo, but I guess there is no save. It's pretty meaty, the 2nd chapter is too much in one sitting.

scratch that, game kicks out early 2nd chapter, took me 40 minutes

I just wish they'd release a few more interesting WiiWare titles, then I'd be able to use this demo service too.

Can the demo games be copied onto an SD card and then be moved to another Wii console? Or are they copy protected so they will only play on the console they were downloaded on? I would find the former useful because I could show some WiiWare games to people who don't have their Wii connected to the Internet yet.

I just tried the NyxQuest and Bit Trip Beat demos and wow I actually ended up buying both. Bit Trip is a nice price too at 600 points. I would not have bought them otherwise.

I don't like Pokemon or Pokemon games, but I found the rumble demo fun.

It's not just the best games, it's games that developers agreed to code demos for. This takes time ofcourse. I personally hope Nintendo FORCES all developers to make demo versions. But for all the Holiday releases, we're probably not going to see any demos. And I do agree this will pretty much kill sales for wiiware. Like many of us, I'd rather download and play several games for free compared to buying a single game. Hopefully Nintendo has some kind of bonus for developers with the most downloads.

@Omega, it's just like downloading a full version of Wiiware games. u can either put it on your system's memory or put it on your SD card! and it's about time they started to have demos! they should do this more often.

Now put VC demos!!!!
(like 5 blocks nes to 100 blocks n64)

@lovesnaruto512: Ok, thanks. I almost guessed that. How could they allow to transfer the precious demos to another console? That would be too risky because "stealing" demos is a crime.

@BassXO: You're absolutely correct. The Japanese Demos own the top 4 slots. If Nintendo continues to count them amongst the most popular downloads then frankly I doubt I'll keep contributing to the weekly WiiWare top 20 and just stick with the VC top 20 instead...

So are they gonna stop all demos in january? i mean are they gonna bring anymore out?

I'm guessing they'll evaluate their performance and make a decision. I know that the demo of pricey games like Pokemon Scramble/Rumble makes a difference to me, but for 600 points and under I think it's a waste of time.

The WiiWare demos are pretty cool! I downloaded the Pokemon Rumble game and was surprised at how much fun that simple time-waster can be.