In surprise news, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata reveals plans to trial demos for WiiWare games...

As Nintendo president Satoru Iwata answered questions at a recent earnings briefing, the executive alluded to a potentially exciting new initiative.

Iwata-san acknowledged that marketing downloadable games was a tough venture, and admitted that the sorts of people who regularly visit the Wii Shop Channel or DSiWare Store are gamers who already know what they're going to buy. In a bid to raise WiiWare sales, Nintendo will trial a service offering demos for select games. The initiative is set to launch - in Japan, at least - later this month.

We expect to hear more details when Nintendo makes an official announcement on the demos. Hopefully the west won't be missing out on this...