Nintendo has recently revealed that Electroplankton, the quirky music game for Nintendo DS, will be released on January 9th in the United States, and will be available exclusively at the Nintendo World Store and online at Nintendo.com.
In addition, "several major online retailers" will also be stocking the title. Though it is unsurprising that Nintendo would take steps like this to release such an undeniably niche title, it comes as a bit of a surprise when considering the extreme presence the title had at this year's E3.
At any rate, this method of releasing a game is certainly a new development in the game industry, and might perhaps encourage other companies to release more quirky titles in smaller batches online, avoiding the inherent problems with brick-and-mortar retail distribution options.
We'll have more on this story, including some information as to which online stores are carrying the title, as it becomes available early next year.