But only for ten weeks, bizarrely

We love a bit of WiiWare, although if we’re being honest it takes a bit of a back seat to Live and PSN in fulfilling our online console needs.

In part, that can be explained by the lack of a demo service. Try before you buy is something we take for granted these days so we’ve never understood Nintendo’s refusal to offer something similar on its online network.

Well, in a bid to boost sales the company has just announced a free demo service that launched this week. Anyone who’s connected their Wii to the net can now download demos for three of WiiWare’s best titles via the Wii Shop Channel.

So if you’ve been undecided about Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a Darklord you can now try out the first six levels. Or why not give Bit.Trip Beat’s excellent retro rhythm action a shot? Rounding out the list is platformer NyxQuest: Kindred Spirits, a game we know absolutely nothing about but which gets an 82 rating on Metacritic so it’s probably pretty darn good.

Hopefully Nintendo will start rolling out demos for more WiiWare titles in the coming weeks. Bizarrely though, the service is only running until January 31. Ah, Nintendo, nothing’s ever simple is it?

2 Comments

Peej

Posted November 17, 2009 at 12:01 PM

It is bizarre they’re only doing this for such a short time but hopefully enough people will download these to make it a worthwhile long-term thing.

Worth adding that World of Goo is also available for European WiiWare dlers, so we get the added bonus of seeing how that works in comparison to the sublime PC versh.