Nintendo may just be getting around to circulating the word on WiiWare, its answer to Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network games, but Develop says the company has been "keenly capitalising on publicly-aired frustrations with Xbox Live Arcade" to boost interest. How so? By offering attractive royalty rates to developers, something Microsoft has reportedly halved recently.

One anonymous WiiWare convert has gone to the Nintendo side, because "Frankly, we're not looking at making games for Xbox Live Arcade because the service is full of shit."

And by "shit" he or she means remakes of classic titles that feature prominently on XBLA, like Tempest, Frogger and Sonic The Hedgehog 2. As Develop points out, some XBLA publishers have aired their frustrations about being outsold by retro rehashes publicly.

Another anonymous WiiWare supporter echoed the frustration, saying that Live Arcade is "clogged up with the retro titles that have blighted the chances of many independent studios." With Xbox Live Community games coming later this year, adding even more noise to XBLA, WiiWare (and maybe PlayStation Network by default) may look even more attractive to mid-size developers.

While the Virtual Console is nothing but old school software—but clearly a separate entity—and WiiWare isn't immune to things like Dr. Mario, it would seem that Nintendo might be in a good position to grab some of the Xbox 360's download dollars. Sorry, I guess that should be "points."

Nintendo's 'secret war' on Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Store [Develop]