More demos of WiiWare games are coming — finally. But they're still only going to be offered for a limited time and won't be for all titles.
For several years, Nintendo has been selling some terrific downloadable games in its WiiWare store: World of Goo, Thru-Space, Swords & Soldiers, Art Style: Light Trax, and plenty more for around $5 or $10. But buyers have had to beware, because Nintendo has offered few free demos of these games, a striking contrast to Microsoft, which offers free demos of every one of its downloadable Xbox Live Arcade games.
In a press release today, Nintendo took its biggest step yet to improve its WiiWare store by saying that it will offer a new round of WiiWare demos — the first time it has done so in many months — next week, on Nov. 22. The starting line-up includes And Yet It Moves, Jett Rocket, Bit.Trip.Fate and ThruSpace. (I haven't played Jett Rocket, but I can vouch for the other three as being well worth a try.)
All's not perfect here. The good/bad news from Nintendo is that "dditional demos will be added on Mondays and each will remain available on the Wii Shop Channel for a limited time."
Why not demos for all games? And why not keep them available forever?
At least it's an improvement. Enjoy those demos.