With Sony announcing PSP Minis this week and promising fifty 100MB titles before the end of 2009, Nintendo’s largely terrible DSiWare service has its work cut out for it if it wants to provide a comparative platform. Nintendo seems to be aware that DSiWare games tend to suck, and is trying to instigate better quality games.
The DSiWare pricing structure will remain the same, but Nintendo’s royalty rates will change depending on the game’s size, expecting a bigger kickback for bigger games. The thinking behind this initiative is that developers will be encouraged to price bigger games at a premium rate, and put out the smaller stuff at a cheaper price.
That’s Nintendo’s thought process, but I personally don’t see how it will change much. The iPhone and PSP so far are easier to publish games on, and seem to have significant developer support, unlike DSiWare which looks like a total afterthought. The PSP Minis store hasn’t even launched yet and its fifteen confirmed games look more compelling than DSiWare, which has had months and months of head start.
I don’t think DSiWare will compete with what Apple and the PSP are offering. I might be wrong, and hey, if the DSi suddenly starts offering consistently great downloads, that’d be brilliant. I’m not banking on it, though.
