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This mentality isn’t exclusive to Nintendo it seems to be the mindset of most publishers in general. Yet, the company hasn’t taken any real action to preserve these games from a legal standpoint. They will still live on in emulation communities like the retro games, but of course, Nintendo will never approve of this. But, it’s situations like the closure of the Wii Shop Channel that drive some gamers to turn to emulation and piracy in the first place.Īs I alluded to earlier, most WiiWare games are now gone forever from a legal perspective. Nintendo has not been shy about voicing its disdain for this sector of gaming, even going to the point of taking ROM sites to court-a move which had huge ramifications that spread throughout the rest of the community. True, a lot of the games that were available here are also officially available elsewhere, but it’s no surprise that they’re most prevalent in the ROM/emulation communities. I never really got into the VC, but I can see why retro fans in particular are mourning the loss of the Wii VC. Of course, the Wii Shop Channel’s truly biggest asset was the Virtual Console, which still remains as Nintendo’s largest collection of retro games to date. So, as simplistic as the Wii Shop Channel was, it still managed to charm my little 11-year-old mind. Prior to this, I played only on PC, and that was at a time when CD-ROMs and DVDs were still prevalent. The Wii was my very first console, so the Wii Shop Channel also happened to be my introduction to the world of digital games. Though, I do still have fond memories of booting it up and hearing that iconic music.
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That’s why I’d be lying if I said it’s truly sad for me to see the store close down. However, also just like the Wii’s retail library, the selection of truly top-tier WiiWare games is quite lacking in the grand scheme of things. Though, there were a few stand-out hits like World of Goo, FAST Racing League, Art of Balance, and Excitebike, which were just as polished as quality retail games. The Wii Shop Channel had a file size limitation of only 45MB, so the digital-only WiiWare games were usually very simplistic. Like the Wii console itself, the Shop Channel was incredibly simple and archaic when compared to the PS3’s PlayStation Store and the 360’s Xbox Live Marketplace, which had fully digital versions of all their retail games. The Wii Shop Channel was important for Nintendo since it marked the company’s first true attempt at trying its hand at an online marketplace.
WII CHANNELS SHUT DOEN OFFLINE
Seeing it all go offline seemingly so effortlessly reminded me of just how fragile this new age of digital gaming is-yet the industry continues to march ahead with embracing it. As a result of its closure, quite a number of digital-only games are now lost to time (at least from a legal perspective). 30, a whopping 12 years after first coming online. The Wii Shop Channel shut its doors on Jan. The fragility of digital games The fragility of digital gamesĪs a new year comes in, remnants of an era long past have finally been whisked away.