Nintendo has launched a new channel for games distribution—WiiWare. Games are downloaded over the internet by redeeming WiiPoints, which can be purchased at the Wii Shop Channel or at retail outlets...the benefit to this system being that kids can buy the points over the counter with cash rather than relying on an adult with a credit card (although there are parental controls). The intention is to give smaller games developers a channel to sell their wares other than the expensive retail distribution methods: “WiiWare is to the video game industry what independent films are to Hollywood,” said Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of America’s executive vice president of Sales & Marketing, using an analogy that doesn’t really fit but gets the idea across. WiiWare is being described as Nintendo’s answer to Microsoft’s (NSDQ: MSFT) Xbox Live Arcade and Sony’s (NYSE: SNE) PlayStation Store, although it has launched with 8 games in Europe and 6 in the US (Newsfactor has descriptions and prices for the games)...New games, at various Wii Point values, will be added to WiiWare on Mondays. (release)

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