Update: The first three demos are up for Europe. FF CC: My Life as a Darklord , Bit.Trip.Beat, and NyxQuest: Kindred Spirits.

Original post: From IGN and wherever else:
"During the Q&A session at a recent earnings briefing, Iwata told investors that Nintendo would begin a test program for WiiWare demos some time this month. The test will cover just a few titles.

According to Iwata, Nintendo is undertaking this test to see if it can get more players shopping on the Wii Shopping Channel."

Then the nay sayers won't have an excuse for not buying some of the great gems on WiiWare (not that it's hard for most "hardcore" gamers to find out if a game's good or not nowadays). I'm quite surprised they'll try this at all. Maybe they will be time limited, kind of like the VC demos included in Brawl only hopefully meatier than that (man I hated how they lasted like a few seconds past the intro screens!). Well, I hope they keep it up.

They should have done demos in the first place.  I guess it's better late then never.

There is one thing I don't understand about the Wii's online.
 
Friend Codes? Understandable, and work fine.
 
No voice chat? It's a good thing for most people who are familiar with Xbox Live.
 
NO DEMOS? That's unacceptable. There are no longer any storage problems with the Wii, why don't you make demos!?!

"There are no longer any storage problems with the Wii, why don't you make demos!?! "

Too little, too late.
 
Demos of Wiiware and retail titles could potentially have saved the Wii from its bad reputation among gamers, especially those who by default refuse to try anything that is not developed by Nintendo. There are so many, so unbelievably many games that us Wii gamers know or strongly suspect people to like immensely if they only tried them out, or would even know of their existance.
 
Imagine what the Wii's userbase and reputation would be like if Nintendo would provide the gaming world with non-commital trial versions of games like DeBlob, LostWinds, Little King's Story, Extraction, Excitebots, A Boy And His Blob, and even the likes of Rayman Raving Rabbids or Wii Fit! 
 
*pulls out hair*

Storage space is no excuse. I imagine magazines would gladly ship with discs full of retail, wiiware and VC trial versions.

"Imagine what the Wii's userbase and reputation would be like if Nintendo would provide the gaming world with non-commital trial versions of games like DeBlob, LostWinds, Little King's Story, Extraction, Excitebots, A Boy And His Blob, and even the likes of Rayman Raving Rabbids or Wii Fit!"

No, I really think the majority of the "haters" have a Wii sitting at home, "collecting dust" as they are so proud to announce, because they would never go and buy a game that doesn't have guns on the cover. Not because they wouldn't enjoy the games, but because its so easy to dismiss them. They would try demos.

It certainly can't hurt. 
 
I have downloaded a couple of 360 demos, but to be honest, it doesn't really bother me as I already know what I plan to buy.  It must be a good idea for some people though.  Considering the shovelware around, it could be a mistake to let some people try it first - they will never buy it after that.

Perhaps Nintendo will be venturing into Cloud computing before Microsoft and Sony release their next consoles?  It sounds like the most likely case.

" Perhaps Nintendo will be venturing into Cloud computing before Microsoft and Sony release their next consoles?  It sounds like the most likely case. "

" @Godwind said:

" Perhaps Nintendo will be venturing into Cloud computing before Microsoft and Sony release their next consoles?  It sounds like the most likely case. "

In related news, where is Onlive? They haven't been heard from at all.  Reminds me of the guy that was making 3D technology using the Wiimote for the Wii, but was hired by Microsoft to make Natal. "

I like demos. Bring it on.

" I like demos. Bring it on. "

" @Claude said:

" I like demos. Bring it on. "

I like perky boobies.  Bring them on. "

" @Godwind said:

" @Claude said:

" I like demos. Bring it on. "

I like perky boobies.  Bring them on. "

There's going to be a perky boobies demo on WiiWare? Awesome. "

Here's the full transcript of the Miyamoto Q & A session in English: 
 
http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/en/library/events/091030qa/index.html  

"  I imagine magazines would gladly ship with discs full of retail, wiiware and VC trial versions. "

" @Meowayne said:

"  I imagine magazines would gladly ship with discs full of retail, wiiware and VC trial versions. "

 Magazines, what magazines?, this isn't the1990's we are living in. You simply don't find game demo's on magazine covers any more, for any platform, most CDs these days consist of gameplay footage and interviews. Besides, the magazine market is minuscule, nobody buys them these days, it's not the place to be distributing digital media to a huge global audience.   I doubt very much Nintendo want WiiWare titles be associated with shovelware also.  "

"@Al3xand3r: why not retail demos?"

The first three demos are up for Europe. FF CC: My Life as a Darklord , Bit.Trip.Beat, and NyxQuest: Kindred Spirits. Anything up in US/AU stores? "

Great to see.
 
Somebody mentioned OnLive - they just did another round of funding with a company valuation of £500m. New investors include AT&T. I would say they're fairly serious.

Sounds pretty cool. Demos can only be a good thing for everyone, right?

Meh, hopefully the next three will be better.  It's good for two of those three games though.

You can feel free to ignore any thread that isn't to your standard and create any thread you want yourself. I posted news, not any "issue".

Japan got World of Goo and Pokemon Mystery Dungeon. 
 
http://www.nintendo.co.jp/wii/wiiware/taiken/index.html

Just tried the Nyx demo and I loved it.  I might end up getting the actual game since I still have 4,200 points left.

 Nintendo are reporting a boost in sales of the games in question

Anyway, I am disappointed they stopped supporting the demo idea. It was great trying them out.
 
@Linkyshinks said:

" Nintendo are reporting a boost in sales of the games in question, and are ready now to take the "next steps"... Four fucking years, lol. Nintendo will never have an online system as good as Sony's or Microsoft's, and recent comments from Miyamoto give me no confidence as far as games with online components also.  "

" Anyway, I am disappointed they stopped supporting the demo idea. It was great trying them out.
 
@Linkyshinks said:

" Nintendo are reporting a boost in sales of the games in question, and are ready now to take the "next steps"... Four fucking years, lol. Nintendo will never have an online system as good as Sony's or Microsoft's, and recent comments from Miyamoto give me no confidence as far as games with online components also.  "

It's ironic considering they were the ones that pioneered console online gaming with the SNES. "

" @Willy105 said:

" Anyway, I am disappointed they stopped supporting the demo idea. It was great trying them out.
 
@Linkyshinks said:

" Nintendo are reporting a boost in sales of the games in question, and are ready now to take the "next steps"... Four fucking years, lol. Nintendo will never have an online system as good as Sony's or Microsoft's, and recent comments from Miyamoto give me no confidence as far as games with online components also.  "

It's ironic considering they were the ones that pioneered console online gaming with the SNES. "

The SNES?  I don't think so bro.  Although it could be said about the 64DD, but that was still a year after the release of the Dreamcast, which launched in Japan in November of the previous year.
 
Edit: I am was wrong.  The Sega Saturn had online gaming before even the Dreamcast and that was still not the first online gaming system.  The first to have online capabilities was the BBC Micro.  That was released in 1981. "

" @Godwind said:

" @Willy105 said:

" Anyway, I am disappointed they stopped supporting the demo idea. It was great trying them out.
 
@Linkyshinks said:

" Nintendo are reporting a boost in sales of the games in question, and are ready now to take the "next steps"... Four fucking years, lol. Nintendo will never have an online system as good as Sony's or Microsoft's, and recent comments from Miyamoto give me no confidence as far as games with online components also.  "

It's ironic considering they were the ones that pioneered console online gaming with the SNES. "

The SNES?  I don't think so bro.  Although it could be said about the 64DD, but that was still a year after the release of the Dreamcast, which launched in Japan in November of the previous year.
 
Edit: I am was wrong.  The Sega Saturn had online gaming before even the Dreamcast and that was still not the first online gaming system.  The first to have online capabilities was the BBC Micro.  That was released in 1981. "

So the BBC Micro did, cool. But the SNES could go online and download games via satellite. They had a 16-bit remake of the original Zelda, Mario Excitebike, and more. "

Wrong answer.  The Satellaview was not an online connectivity product.  Although there was a modem for the Famicom.  Still the Gameline (Atari2600) and Playcable(Intellivision) were the first to have online play and downloadable games. "

" I played pokemon rumble and Final Fantasy Chrystal Chronicles: My Life as a Dark Lord demos.  I was really surprised how much I enjoyed both games considering that I brushed them both off as shovelware.    My only complaint is that they force you to go back to the Wii Shop Channel ready to buy the fucking damn game. "

" @Willy105 said:

" @Godwind said:

Wrong answer.  The Satellaview was not an online connectivity product.  Although there was a modem for the Famicom.  Still the Gameline (Atari2600) and Playcable(Intellivision) were the first to have online play and downloadable games. "

What makes the Stellaview not count as an online connectivity product? "

 It was a broadcast reception device using a radio channel signal, it didn't use the internet. "

" @Linkyshinks said:

" @Willy105 said:

" @Godwind said:

Wrong answer.  The Satellaview was not an online connectivity product.  Although there was a modem for the Famicom.  Still the Gameline (Atari2600) and Playcable(Intellivision) were the first to have online play and downloadable games. "

What makes the Stellaview not count as an online connectivity product? "

 It was a broadcast reception device using a radio channel signal, it didn't use the internet. "

But it still had the features modern online services have. It just used a different medium. "

Is this available in the US yet?

" Is this available in the US yet? "

" @TinaWood said:

" Is this available in the US yet? "

It was. But it just ended last week. "