WiiWare Launches With Metroid Prime 3 Preview Channel

Nintendo has launched the previously announced WiiWare unexpectedly early in the U.S., with a new online channel dedicated to promoting forthcoming release Metroid Prime 3: Corruption. The WiiWare concept was announced in June as a means to distribute original downloadable content on the Wii – in what was assumed to be a similar manner to Xbox Live Arcade’s original titles. Developers including Hudson and Midway have already hinted at support for the service but downloads were not expected to begin until early 2008. The new Metroid Prime 3 Preview channel is available from the newly renamed WiiWare section of the Wii Shop and currently includes a streaming video clip of the forthcoming game and promotional artwork for the title. The same content has not yet been made available in Europe and neither are there any reports of it in Japan at this time.