In IGN’s latest Wii-k in Review, Mark Bozon and Matt Casamassina discuss, among other interesting things, Nintendo’s WiiWare service. Speaking with third-party developers, they have learned a plethora of interesting facts.

• Most projects are being budgeted at $100,000 or lower.
• Developers are able to pitch ideas directly to Nintendo, or go the normal route by developing it on their own.
• A lot of “really weird deals” are going on, allowing smaller third parties to maximize profit and reduce risk.
• Right now, the ratio of Nintendo to Third Party games is 35:65
• There is a size limitation of 40MB for each game. This is to encourage simple, yet fun games that can be enjoyed by anyone.
• Nintendo is encouraging developers to keep file sizes small, offering payment earlier depending on how small the game is.
• Matt says that he knows of 10 games currently in development.
• Prices are decided by the developer, not Nintendo.
• Nintendo is restricting each developer to one game a month to keep the level of quality high.

So there you have it. To sum things up, Nintendo likes things small and cheap.

Nintendic
via Go Nintendo