Nintendo pulls plug on WiiWare demo "experiment," now "deciding next steps"

Now you see them. Now you don't. Like an expert magician, Nintendo waved its wand and - poof - WiiWare's game demo service disappeared.

It's a neat trick, yeah. But will the bite-sized freebies be reappearing any time soon?

In short, "maybe."

"From the start, the demo program was always planned to be available for a limited time on a trial basis," a Nintendo rep told Joystiq.

"We're looking at our results and deciding our next steps," the rep added.

We'll give you a hint, Nintendo: people like free things. In fact, short of our ill-fated attempt at handing out free candy to children while sitting in a non-descript van outside a local park, we're not sure if any free "experiment" has ever failed.

"Halloween On The Go," we called it. It was practically fool-proof. The court called it a different kind of proof: "evidence."