Revolution Portal: Because it won’t be televised.

Nintendo has opened the floodgates to developers both large and small to create innovative new content through the newly announced WiiWare service.  Wii owners will be able to experience the first new games in early 2008. 

Here’s how Nintendo describes WiiWare:

The search for the next ingeniously ground-breaking video game has begun. At a private developers conference this week, Nintendo announced the introduction of WiiWare, a game-creation service that will allow developers large and small to create new downloadable video game content for sale by Nintendo through the Wii Shop Channel of the hot Wii home video game system. WiiWare paves the way for smaller, more creative games to make their way to the public at lower prices, without any inventory risk to developers. The first WiiWare content will launch in early 2008.

“Independent developers armed with small budgets and big ideas will be able to get their original games into the marketplace to see if we can find the next smash hit,” says Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime. “WiiWare brings new levels of creativity and value to the ever-growing population of Wii owners.”

The possibilities for WiiWare are limited only by the imaginations of developers. WiiWare provides game creators a simple method by which they can get their games to the public. This approach, combined with the remarkable motion controls of the Wii Remote and Nunchuk, will give birth to fresh takes on established genres, as well as original ideas that currently exist only in developers’ minds. The reduced barriers to development provide developers the freedom to create and an inexpensive, clearly defined path to reach consumers who will ultimately determine which game will become the Next Big Thing.

WiiWare will be posted on the Wii Shop Channel. As with current Wii Shop Channel offerings, users will redeem Wii Points to download content. It will support a variety of pricing options. Details about that and upcoming projects will be announced at a later date. For more information about Wii, visit Wii.com.

Pokémon Battle Revolution has officially launched on Wii, and it’s going to be in the record books for a few different reasons.

It’s the first online Nintendo Wii game in the Americas, the first Pokémon game for Wii, the 1st to wirelessly link to DS, and the 1st that lets players use their DS as a controller.  Not bad, eh?

Some more details from the Big N:

In battles using Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, Nintendo’s wireless gaming service, players can use their Wii Remote to compete with friends after exchanging friend codes, or against players of comparable skill. The game automatically searches for other players who are online. The sights and sounds of the game bring the action to life as well: The beautiful graphics show each move in full detail, while the action is narrated by the same announcer from the Pokémon TV show.

The game contains a number of battle modes for different kinds of play. In Colosseum Battle Mode, players have 10 different Colosseums in which to stage their epic challenges. In Nintendo DS Battle Mode, players battle Pokémon that they have raised in their Nintendo DS Pokémon Diamond and Pokémon Pearl games. Up to four players can use their Nintendo DS systems as a wireless controller, which uses the same battle interface found in the DS games.

“Already more than 2 million copies of Pokémon Diamond and Pokémon Pearl have sold in the United States alone,” says George Harrison, Nintendo of America’s senior vice president of marketing and corporate communications. “The arrival of Pokémon Battle Revolution brings those players a whole new set of challenges and, for the first time on Wii, online battles.”

Online setup is extremely easy, even for novices. With a few clicks, players are instantly connected, whether they’re using a Wii Remote or a Nintendo DS as a controller.

Trainers are fully customizable. Players can select one of three female or three male Trainers and outfit them with clothing, hats and glasses after earning points during competition. Players can even create personalized in-game text for their Trainers to use when they win or lose a battle. 

Smash Bros. Dojo, the official website for the upcoming Nintendo Wii game Super Smash Bros. Brawl, has added details about a new character added to the mix. 

And what a welcome addition it is — Princess Zelda is officially returning to Wii in her second title!

From the Dojo:

• Just like Link, Zelda’s design has also changed. She has a slightly more subdued color scheme. Her movement capabilities are not that good, but her magic adds power to her physical attacks. There’s a reason why her hands and feet glow, after all.

Check out some pics of Zelda in action here.

Epicenter Studios announced today its development of Real Heroes: Engine Company 13 (working title) exclusively for the Nintendo Wii. Real Heroes puts players in the soon-to-be soot-stained boots of arookie firefighter who has just been assigned to a busy metropolitan fire station. Players will be pressed into the line of duty by saving lives and protecting their squad at all costs in an escalating array of life-threatening situations.

Featuring Epicenter’s proprietary “Thinking Fire” technology, Real Heroes’ fires will almost seem alive as they not only attack structures, potential victims and firefighters, but also cause unexpected changes to the environments that will suddenly alter the player’s options and strategies as no two scenarios will play out the same way. Success will dependequally on the player’s mastery of realistic firefighting tools and techniques as well as the player’s own ability to think andreact quickly under pressure.

“Combining our unique fire tech with the specific strengths of the Wii console was a natural choice for us as we designed Real Heroes,” says Bryan Jury, CCO, Epicenter Studios. “The Wii-mote makes hacking down doors with your axe andprying victims loose from wrecked cars with the Jaws of Life an absolutely visceral game experience.”

“Firefighting requires a lot more than spraying down fires,” notes Epicenter CEO, Nathaniel McClure, “so we’ve include dseveral game-integral puzzles to mirror the challenges and on-the-fly choices firefighters actually face in the midst of ablaze.”

“Real Heroes is intense without being violent or gratuitously graphic. “We have tremendous respect for firefighters,” states McClure, “so we’ve focused on its unique, exciting gameplay and distinctive art style to create an engaging game withoutbeing exploitative.” 

According to a poster on the NeoGAF forums, Atari will be bringing Jenga to Wii.  The announcement of the game will supposedly be made at E3.

What’s known so far is that Atari is supposed to showing four games at the convention: The Witcher, Godzilla: Unleashed, Dragonball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi, and perhaps a fourth title.  Will Jenga turn out to be the mysterious fourth title?

 E3 can’t come fast enough.