The future's digital

Several developers have expressed displeasure at Nintendo's previous digital set ups with WiiWare and DSiWare over the years. While the services certainly had successes — Gaijin Games' BIT.TRIP series and Frontier's LostWinds, to name a couple — a number of problems with them have been cited, from lack of flexibility through to unintuitive layouts.

However, the more recent 3DS eShop looks to have addressed some of those issues, and as a result there's some enthusiasm bubbling about Wii U's digital offerings, too. Gamasutra spoke to some developers about their experiences on Nintendo's download platforms and prodded them for their thoughts on Wii U's approach to digital distribution.

Gaijin Games co-founder Alex Neuse noted that Nintendo is doing a lot of work towards getting independent developers into its digital stores. While developers still don't know exactly what Wii U's store will be like, Neuse mentioned positive rumours such as developers being granted more direct control over sales and promotions of their titles. Gaijin's Runner2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien will be coming to the console close to launch.

"Dan Adelman at Nintendo is a champ. He's reaching out to a lot of indies."

Meanwhile, Collin van Ginkel, co-founder of Toki Tori developer Two Tribes, highlighted the importance of Nintendo's own enthusiasm for digital as a key reason that companies might get behind Wii U. Two Tribes is planning to hatch a Wii U version of Toki Tori 2 around the launch period too.

"A new powerful platform, a new controller and a Nintendo that's excited about having a digital shop on it. What else could we ask for!"

Read the rest of the article to find out more about Two Tribes', Gaijin Games' and others developers' performances on WiiWare and DSiWare.

What do you most want to see from Wii U's own eShop?

[source gamasutra.com]