If you're asking about the service itself, since it's really no different than the VC (you use Wii Points to buy a game and DL it) it's just sorta there like Live and PSN are just sorta there. I don't find anything inherently impressive about any of the services. For those that will chastise me for lumping Live in there, I'm just comparing what you get for *free* versus what you have to pay extra for by subbing (something I no longer do because I never used it).
As far as the games are concerned, while I'd certainly like to see downloadble shooters (like disolitude) I don't really care for the types of shooters on XBLA (outside of Assault Heroes and Geo Wars) and PSN (outside of Everyday Shooter and Super Stardust HD). Now, if any of them were to start offering Cave (or any other Japanese shooter developer that isn't Warashi) titles, I'd certainly be thrilled with *any* of the services if they offered those games for $10-15.
Naturally, more storage space is pretty much becoming a neccesity because of WiiWare (it already was if you had a lot of VC titles or wanted to actually use the almost-useless non-gaming channels) despite Nintendo trying to play it off as a non-issue. This needs to be remedied, and I imagine it will be with some announcement forthcoming in the near-term whether by HDD (more money for Nintendo) or unlocking the SD card (my preferred method if I had to choose).
But for what's actually important (that'd be the games), I have to say that, shocked though I am, FFCC is the single best game I've ever downloaded that I hadn't played previously*--this includes the myriad games on Steam (amongst them Half Life 2 and COD4) and the original titles on GameTap (such as Sam & Max--which are amazing games in their own right). That may sound over-the-top and hyperbolic, but I've played this game more compulsively than any of those other games, and it has a fun factor that rivals the likes of big-time, first-party, Nintendo titles (the 'just one more day' factor is just plain evil, but in a good way). Hell, I'm sitting here typing this and the little clavat in the back of my head is saying "get back to the game, my liege!"
I am simply blown away by the depth and complexity of a title that I thought would be little more than a pleasant distraction if I was lucky. However, as it turns out, it truly is a remarkable game, DLC and all. It's also head and shoulders above *all* the games I've bought to date on Live Arcade and PSN (The fact that the director of this game said he'd like to tackle Actraiser next just fills me with even more giddy glee!)
And don't get me wrong: I love XBLA-style games (relatively short and simple-to-play throwbacks that have mostly fallen by the wayside at least since the debut of the PS One), but FFCC is deeper than most games you'd pay full price for in the store (at only $15). Tack on another $15 and it's still the deal of the last few years in pure dollars and cents (of any brand-new, non-discounted, title).
Lost Winds is also quite fun, but it's pretty short and more like a typical XBLA or PSN download (not a negative) and, having gone back to it a bit late yesterday, there was really no reason at all to play it again (I found all the totems on my first run through and that clocked in at about 2.5 hours). I said in some other thread a couple of days ago that I put it on par with Assault Heroes, but I don't think that's accurate now (I've played *a lot* of Assault Heroes and, until FFCC, it was probably my fav, downloadable-only, title to date). Stiil, it is fun and better than most PSN and XBLA titles, mainly because I don't feel we get nearly enough, solid, 2D platformers anymore, let alone ones with slick control interfaces (even on DS outside of the odd Castlevania and Sonic Rush).
All in all, I do like the 'artsy' direction that WiiWare titles are going in (though there really isn't anything terrible 'artsy' about FFCC or Lost Winds--a very cool city-building sim and a platformer with a unique control scheme but still, at heart, a platformer). That's probably at least in part because I don't need WiiWare to give me titles I can get on XBLA or PSN, games that are more traditional examples of the medium. I *want* WiiWare games to be unique, experimental and 'avant garde' for lack of a better description. XBLA and PSN can keep doing what theyr'e doing (and doing well) but I don't want *more* of that on a system with a UI and an altogether balsier outlook than the traditional box video games are usually put in** (this isn't to say I wouldn't kill for a 2D Castlevania on WiiWare, but I'd be just as happy with it on XBLA--and I'll take superior visuals if I'm not getting something unique, control-wise, in the bargain).
I'd also hazard a guess and say that your view of WiiWare titles themselves is likely very similar to your view of Wii on the whole: if you think it's "gay" and "kiddie" there is literally nothing on WiiWare that will likely change that opinion (it even got the "kiddie" Final Fantasy) on it now or coming in the near-future and will only reinforce those naive and ignorant stereotypes. Personally, I hope it stays that way...
*The only caveat here is that I've downloaded some of my all-time favorite games on VC and it'd be a bit premature to state that I think FFCC is better than an ultra-classic like Shining Force on VC (as one example).
**The downside to this outlook is that there is sure to be huge loads of trash dumped on WiiWare if Nintendo isn't exercising an iron fist insofar as what gets on the service (personally, I hope they don't as you never know what gems would be lost to whatwould be a pretty impersonal, myopic, machine).
