Nintendo has finally given a date for the European launch of its WiiWare download service.

WiiWare promises much and, on the face of it, looks like delivering too. Developers of all sizes can use the service to market games that they might not be able to afford to publish on their own or that could be too quirky for mainstream tastes. Put another way, in an age of mega blockbusters and endless sequels Nintendo’s initiative augurs well for innovation and creativity, as well as the health and wealth of smaller gaming studios.

As far as Johnny Gamer is concerned WiiWare kicks off from May 20th – a week today – although developers have been beavering away on a number of titles for some time now, many of which will be available at launch and for prices starting at a piffling 500 Wii Points. Here’s what’s already in store:

• Dr. Mario & Germ Buster (Nintendo)
• Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King (Square Enix)
• Lost Winds (pictured – Frontier)
• Pirates: The Key of Dreams (Oxygen Interactive)
• Pop (Nnooo)
• Star Soldier R (Hudson Soft)
• Toki Tori (Two Tribes B.V)
• TV Show King (GameLoft)

That’s just for starters. Also in the works we have the intriguing physics-based World of Goo, the gross-out Major League Eating and the supremely daft Strong Bad’s Cool Game for Attractive People. And those are just the ones we know about.

All is good, then. Fingers crossed Nintendo will continue to maintain/encourage such diversity and innovation too, and not let the service turn into some kind of lame-o retro game rehashing machine.