A Calm and Collected Note on the Current State of the V.C.

[CrowTRobot]

but the problem is "good" is a subjective term.

I know...I said that.

 

[tarheelsuperman]

Thanks for the compliments and comments. I was just tired of all of the OMG VC SUCKS/YOU SUCK VC RULES! threads. I thought this would be an outlet for civilized discussion.

You know that is exactly why I chose to responds to your post. I am so tired of the unsupported rants of Nintendo screwed us, F Nintendo, VC Sucks, etc. Your post was the first one I've read with any substance behind it.

Of course, it's all a matter of opinion as to which games are classic and/or good. I think a classic example of this would be Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link. I don't think I've ever seen a game more polarizing than that one.

All this to say, I agree that AT FIRST this was a good strategy. Keep the public guessing, constantly checking for updates, etc...But you can only dangle the carrot in front of the horse for so long before he stops walking. (do you like all of these random examples I'm using?)

What's the old saying...You can please some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not please all of the people all of the time. This is rings true with the VC releases. One mans trash is another mans treasure.

I agree that you have to give the horse a bite to keep him going . IMO the way Nintendo should do this is to give the VC a solid Nintendo series (Mario,Zelda,Metriod,Castelvania,etc) title weekly. Games that the majority of us have at least heard of. Games that would create buzz with the majority of the Wii owners. I'm sure there are at least 52 quality titles (out of the over 2500+ titles from the 5 systems) that would produce a years worth of great VC releases. They could further that by letting us know which ones are coming in which month. Breaking it down by month would still leave us guessing which one is being dropped each week of that month keeping some of the surprise intact. Now couple this Nintendo title with whatever other two games they want to introduce and I think the VC wouldn't be such a complaint target.

Plus, even if you want to explore old games you've never played/heard of before, you need to spend at least $10 (to get the points) for a $5 game. The entire point system seems arbitrary. Why not offer 500, 800, and 1,000 point cards?

You know you are absolutely right on this one. The way you are forced into specific increments is absurd. I think they should offer a purchasing system where you can add up from 500 points in 100 point increments. So ultimately if you knew you were going to purchase 3 SNES and 2 NES games you would create your 3400 points card an then purchase it. No waste. Although I'm sur e Nintendo is just trying to make more money using the current system, b/c essentially if you want to buy only one SNES game the way it stands right now Nintendo is making $2 additional dollars on the purchase. Plus if someone can't stand that 200 points hanging around they would have to buy more points to get another game to not waste those points. I think this points system is wrong.

I'd be interested to see how many copies of these obscure games are being sold.

I would love to just see the overall breakdown of games not just the obscure ones. They reported 1.5 Mil in VC Sales back at the end of January. It would be nice to know how that breaks out.

Thanks for the educated thread, its refreshing for a change.

 

[tylorwalls]

I would like to thank you for making this a great way to intelligently discuss and exchange views on the virtual console.

Personally, I think it's great, but like everyone there are a few games I'm itching to get my mitts on (Donkey Kong 2,3 or 64, Zombies ate my Neighbors, Demon's Crest, Super Mario RPG etc. etc.) I agree that it stinks waiting around for it, but I really don't mind enough to warrant any kind of complaint. Also, I kind of like seeing a lot of these "no-name" games come out. I know I'm not in the majority there, but I have a great passion for trying new games. I know alot of them are meant to be unheard of, but there are a few out there that are gems waiting to be played again.

Thanks again for a great thread, I'm sure I'll be back to chat here again.

 

[Major Tom]

According to the VC servers Elavator Action has been downloaded 700,562 times in North America.... Yes the game is crap but a $5 (I believe) each. Thats alot of money. No one (or very little) would of bought that game if N64 games had also come out that week. Now I don't agree with Nintendo only releasing 1 game this week but oh well. They may be planning to release something else this week thats even better. We'll just have to wait & see.

 

[CrowTRobot]

Would somebody mind providing a link to the VC server information?

700,000 copies of Elevator Action? If that's true, it really makes you wonder why video games don't get as much media attention as music and movies. A game that's over 20 years old did better than the most band's record sales.

Good posts people!

 

[Major Tom]

Its not a link..... It's an cough* illegal *cough program. A few of my hacker friends have it...... Its called Wiivcon You kinda have to pay for it.....

 

[CrowTRobot]

Ah I see.

Is there any site that regularly reports stuff as seen on the server? Or do I need to make friends with some kid that has an "All Your Base Are Belong To Us" shirt?

 

[tarheelsuperman]

I don't know about the 700,000 copies of Elevator Action. I think that program could be inaccurate. If you do the math 700,000 x $5 = $3.5 mil for Nintendo on Elevator Action alone. Based on the end of January report Nintendo had only made $1.5 mil on the entire VC. I couldn't find the direct financial report but here is a link stating the $1.5 mil. That would mean that Nintendo would have had to have kicked up the VC sales a ton just to get to that $3.5 mil mark above in two months. Now granted I know people and download a game as many times as they want once they have downloaded it once, but I just don't buy into the 700,000 number. I guess my question would be what kind of numbers do some of the popular titles have and how do they compare to the elevator action?

 

[Major Tom]

Actually I just talked to my friends. It counts redownloads too..... So it wasn't bought 700,000 times it was downloaded 700,000 times.

Ocarina of Time: 1.1million
Super Ghouls & Ghosts: 1.3million
Super Mario World: 4.4million (Was repeatedly re-downloaded due to the bad controls.....)
Mariokart 64: 506,000

 

[tarheelsuperman]

Even with the redownloads it seems very high. I mean you have to consider there are what 60 + VC games most being more popular that elevator action. I don't know if its just me but I haven't really had the need yet to redownload any games yet. Even calculating in that half the downloads are redownloads the total sales for elevator action would be $1.75 million. I would love to be able to trust the numbers so we would have an accurate representation of what's being purchased but I just can't put much stock in the numbers given b/c the math just doesn't add up to me. Maybe I'm just being overly pessimistic.

Major Tom thanks for taking the time to get the numbers though.

 

[Major Tom]

It is also the numbers of all VC not just North America.... The program also said what servers were being activated but that feature seems to not work very well now...... All it says is Vector Man...... Over 3/4 of the downloads for Super Mario World were users redownloading it thinking it would fix the GC controls......

 

[CrowTRobot]

Man, it really seems like Nintendo is cleaning up on the VC.

Which leads me to a question about Goldeneye (and forgive me if this has been brought up before, I tried searching the forums but I didn't feel like sifting through 200 pages of Goldeneye threads).

Now, it's obvious this is a matter of obtaining rights from the company that owns Rare (Microsoft).

By "obtaining rights" is it simply a money issue? Because Nintendo can certainly afford it and would recoup the costs immediately. On the other hand, can Microsoft release Goldeneye even though it was a Nintendo created product? Or could they even form a one-time alliance as crazy as that sounds?

 

[Napalmbrain]

Man, it really seems like Nintendo is cleaning up on the VC.

Which leads me to a question about Goldeneye (and forgive me if this has been brought up before, I tried searching the forums but I didn't feel like sifting through 200 pages of Goldeneye threads).

Now, it's obvious this is a matter of obtaining rights from the company that owns Rare (Microsoft).

By "obtaining rights" is it simply a money issue? Because Nintendo can certainly afford it and would recoup the costs immediately. On the other hand, can Microsoft release Goldeneye even though it was a Nintendo created product? Or could they even form a one-time alliance as crazy as that sounds?

Microsoft might not want to release the rights to put Goldeneye on the VC. They might think they can make more money keeping it exclusive to their own download service. Not only that, but before it can be released on any service it has to be approved by the current owner of the Bond games franchise (which apparently is Activision), who will obviously want some money as well.

By the way, Nintendo didn't create Goldeneye, it was developed independently by Rare.

 

[Major Tom]

Yes but it was liscensed by Nintendo for exclusive use by Nintendo...... Which means M$ can't use it..... Its the same way with JFG..... M$ can have sequels to the games though just not the originals.....

 

[JerrodDRagon]

Actually I just talked to my friends. It counts redownloads too..... So it wasn't bought 700,000 times it was downloaded 700,000 times.

Ocarina of Time: 1.1million
Super Ghouls & Ghosts: 1.3million
Super Mario World: 4.4million (Was repeatedly re-downloaded due to the bad controls.....)
Mariokart 64: 506,000

WTF? who was stupid enough to buy OOT? (Come on every has that game)
Wow they make alot of the VC.