Speaking with Wired recently, Nintendo legend Shigeru Miyamoto offered high praise for the development scene in the U.S. "I think America has always been better at creating unique products," he said.

Nintendo says that its WiiWare service (which launches today) "lets developers experiment with new ideas and experiences," but it would seem Miyamoto may be more intrigued by games created for WiiWare by independent U.S. developers.

"In Japan, the technology required to create videogames tends to be concentrated in the bigger corporations," he explained. "Here in the United States, you have these independent developers who have managed to get the skills and the training and the development, and also have managed to get access to the technology and the hardware needed to develop it. They're able to let their own personality and their own kind of unique interests really flourish in the games that they're creating."