WiiWares First Birthday

Can you believe it? WiiWare has been out for a year already. It seems like just yesterday we were all rushing out well, connecting up to grab Lost Winds.

It launched on May 12th, 2008 in the United States. The PAL Store launched just over a week later on May 20th, so it’s not quite our birthday yet. The US Store currently hosts 81 WiiWare games, whilst the PAL Store has 62 so far. It’s not quite the equality we were looking for in digital distribution, but we’re not too far behind yet – and hey, we’ve got most of the good games as well.

Cammie Dunaway of Nintendo America is more than happy with the service, but wants more users to get online. ‘The first anniversary of our WiiWare service is a milestone that marks how far the service has come and how much great content is currently available. We encourage everyone to get their Wii consoles connected to the Internet so they have access to the full range of WiiWare games,’ she said.

The first year has certainly shown off the potential of the system, with more than a few great titles like World of Goo, Mega Man 9 and Tetris Party. Short, but cheap and entertaining are the hallmarks of a WiiWare game, and they’re usually the perfect fillers to keep you playing while you’re waiting for the next big release.

So what have been the big WiiWare hits for you?