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Once in a while I hear about the release of a new downloadable game -- a new XBLA or PSN title -- and I look for some reviews of it. Often, I don't find much.

Downloadable games for major consoles are, across the board, reviewed fewer times than disc-based games. This is an issue people in the games industry and the media are aware of, and for some, it's a frustration.

"You can look in the games media and you can see the difference in coverage between traditional retail products versus digitally distributed titles," Capcom spokesman Chris Kramer said to me. "The overall perception is that if you can't go into EB and buy it over the counter, then it's not important."

Do game reviewers unfairly neglect downloadable games? Read on for both sides of the story.

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San Francisco -- The first downloadable Wii game I was ever shown was 'LostWinds,' a promising platformer from British game studio Frontier Developments. And I saw it just yesterday.

Patrick Klepek and I checked it out together, settling in with Frontier's top designer David Braben to look at a laptop presentation in the crowded lobby of the W Hotel right near all of the major Game Developers Conference halls. Braben showed us video on a computer, not a Wii, but was kind enough to wave his hands to show us how his game would be controlled.

So... "LostWinds" is a WiiWare game. That means it will be downloadable on the Wii sometime near the date of the launch of the new service, which Nintendo announced this week will occur in the U.S. on May 12. Gamers won't just be downloading classic games through their console anymore. They'll be able to download new games.

"LostWinds" features what Braben considers a "third way" for Wii controls. Read on to find out what that means and why Braben thinks the game presents some interesting ideas about how beautiful and mellow a Wii action game might be.

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