Video & Online Games

I've been writing about video games for quite a while (ten years this May), and I've been playing video games even longer. Over these past years, video games have grown from being a mere niche hobby to a cultural phenomenon, and more and more successful games are popping up on the market.

Yet, even the video games industry is not without growing pangs, and one of those growing pangs is certainly the lack of original games and the subsequent demise of numerous small video games developers.

Take the top ten selling games of February, for instance. Five of the ten titles were sequels to existing series -- such as Call of Duty 4, Devil May Cry 4, and Guitar Hero III - while the others were either games from existing franchises or spin-offs of current franchises.

That's why I was very pleased recently to hear about Nintendo's plans for WiiWare and Microsoft's plans for Xbox Live Community Games.

WiiWare, launching today in Japan and in May in North America, allows small and large developers alike to come out with original, small-scale titles that can be downloaded off Nintendo's online service. Xbox Live Community Games, launching later this year, will allow almost anyone to put new games online for download.

Yes, many of the games released through the programs may be of a lower quality. But both Nintendo's WiiWare and Microsoft's Xbox Live Community Games will allow small developers who don't have a big budget to get their foot in the door of the games industry, as well as allow gamers to find cheaper and more original games -- and that's a good thing.

Look for previews of upcoming WiiWare and Community Arcade games in the coming weeks. In the meantime, read more about Nintendo's WiiWare program and about Microsoft's Xbox Live Community Games service.