You may have heard the term WiiWare bandied about: It’s the name for Nintendo’s tool to ease the creation and distribution of downloadable games for the Wii. Certainly, many games have already been released for the Wii Virtual Consoles, but these have been ports of classic games from older platforms.

The WiiWare development tools are already in the hands of developers, who are busy making titles designed for Wii owners to download and play. But when will gamers get to play these games? Last week, Nintendo confirmed that WiiWare will launch (at least in North America) on May 12. That’s the date on which the first games will be available for download on Nintendo’s console.

One of the first games for WiiWare to be released, to our knowledge, will be David Braben's LostWinds, a sideway scroller filled to the brim with secrets and (physical) riddles. While you steer the boy Toku with the Nunchuck, you give commands to a friendly Wind Spirit by pointing at the screen with the WiiMote -- or bei drawing circles and other figures. In this way, you lift objects, let the boy slide over chasm or help him in other ways.