WiiWare: What is a Small Budget?

In June 2007, Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime said of WiiWare "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".

Today we are told, "WiiWare is to the video game industry what independent films are to Hollywood", and that's from Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of America's executive vice president of sales and marketing.

So, are the words 'independent' and 'small budget' being used as more than a convenient tag to excite the 35+ age group of casual gamers who equate 'independence' with 'freedom' and 'small budget' with 'creative'? SPOnG takes a look at the first few game developers on the roll-call...