Similar to the PSP’s “Minis” program, Nintendo is said to be launching its own initiative aimed at indie developers. PocketGamer reports that this new initiative will work within the existing DSiWare pricing structure; ie,.200 points ($2), 500 points ($5) and 900 points ($9).
However, what will differ are the royalties payable to Nintendo. This will depend on the size of the game in question. For instance, a game costing 500 points ($5) will have to be under 20MB in size or the royalties payable to Nintendo will be “significantly more expensive.”
PocketGamer points out that an adverse side effect of this initiative might be developers heavily compressing their game assets at the cost of quality.
Size certainly does seem to be the biggest hindrance for developers, even as far as WiiWare is concerned. The 40MB (approx.) filesize limit imposed on WiiWare projects has resulted in the exclusion of several popular games from the service.
Published: Aug 23, 2009 10:11 am