ABSTRACT
An essential part of this dominance is the online market for the Wii known as WiiWare, a virtual store for digital downloads of games from indie game developers and third-party publishers and developers. According to Zittrain (2006), generativity is "the essential quality animating the trajectory of information technology innovation. The Internet has come to be an essential open and democratic platform for creativity and self-expression. Like many other online content distribution systems, WiiWare is a tethered system. A tethered technology is one connected to a proprietary network; for example, a Verizon iPhone can only connect to the Verizon network. Game developers working with Nintendo and WiiWare have had mixed experiences that are exemplary of some of the concerns raised about Nintendo's role as an industry gatekeeper. The video game industry is one of the major culture industries in the United States with sales almost equaling those of the film and music industries combined.
