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

[CrowTRobot]

I will now attempt to reply to this string of posts thoughtfully and calmly:

When I first heard about the Wii, I was 95% certain I was done with my console career. The last system I bought was a N64.

Then I heard that the entire back catalog of Nintendo games would be available for download and as soon as I heard that news I decided that I would be getting a Wii for sure...and ONLY for that reason.

By the time launch day was coming around, I decided that I would get some Wii games just to test the waters. I got Excite Truck and Twilight Princess, quickly concluding that I'd be using this system for more than Virtual Console games...and it's a good thing I did!

Now, obviously you can tell from my signature that I've purchased a lot of VC games. It would be foolish to say the VC is total crap as there are some true classic games on there (note: whomever said Elevator Action is a great game needs to be hit in the head with a cactus). I even tried some "classic" games like Ice Climbers that I had never played before.

However, the whole concept of "releasing" the games is ridiculous. I mean, think about if iTunes released THREE ALBUMS every week.

I consider myself a big Nintendo fan and especially knowledgable of all things Nintendo from N64 on down. Therefore, isn't it a little strange that us big Nintendo fans haven't even HEARD of some of these games?

BUT CROW THAT'S THE POINT YOU CAN PLAY NEW GAMES YOU NEVER PLAYED BEFORE?!?!!?1111?!!

Wrong.

Those games are for emulators. The kind of games you say, "hmmm...I've never tried this before," play it once, and never play it again.

BUT CROW IF YOU HAVE AN EMULATOR WHY EVEN PAY FOR GAMES?!!

I enjoy having the real thing. I have over 400 albums and no CD-Rs. I'm not bragging or saying pirating is wrong (although it technically is), I'm just saying I'm willing to pay for an official product...especially one I don't have to blow into or shake around in order to get it to work (insert sexual inuendo here).

Which leads me to my final thought: Nintendo isn't doing a bad job, but they could be doing MUCH better. At the very least, they should provide a release date list for upcoming titles.

I'll complain as much as I damn well please.

"This is America...and in America, if something sucks, you're supposed to be able to get your money back!" -South Park

And if South Park says it...it must be true....oh and there's a certain thing called "Consumer Rights" that are protected by the government.

End.

 

[mudbeast]

I completely agree. Nintendo should have a list of whats being released soon and whats in development. It would be good to see more actual classics as opposed to lesser known titles.

 

[Jay61]

I really don't mind not knowing, its nice to have a surprise every week in my opinon. I look forward to finding out what games will be up every Friday and to thinking about which to buy and which to ditch. If they released all the games at once I wouldnt have that weekly surprise..and also I have a feeling because I wouldnt be checking weekly I would forget about the VC shop after a little while..

People can complain if they want, I mean its your right to have your say, but I think (bar this week for america, one game wtf?) they are doing a brilliant job so far of creating a constant flow of classics and lesser known titles.

Btw <3 MST3k

 

[CrowTRobot]

Russian Roulette is surprising too, I'm just sick of getting shot in the head every week.

Nice to have another MST3K fan on the board!

 

[Rolex]

Hi - I was just passing and this line immediately jumped out at me.

However, the whole concept of "releasing" the games is ridiculous. I mean, think about if iTunes released THREE ALBUMS every week.

Maybe this doesn't apply to you but had you thought about the main fact that it [should] take a hell of a lot longer to play a game through than listen to an album! That's why they don't shovel a thousand games out a week!

I think it's great that you would buy the Wii on the premise that you can play old games - I personally don't have any interest as I've owned quite a few consoles and look forward to new games - I guess I'm not sentimental about games.

Ahh well each to his own dude.

 

[GaryT85]

well in a marketing sense, it makes sense for nintendo to release gradually.

if they put out all of the games at the same time, people would run straight for the classics and more known games.

if they release random lesser known ones along side popular ones, people will buy them, to see what they are like.

its almost like they are giving the games a chance....

they also have to work on them to be ported over, so thats another reason..

 

[CrowTRobot]

Maybe this doesn't apply to you but had you thought about the main fact that it [should] take a hell of a lot longer to play a game through than listen to an album! That's why they don't shovel a thousand games out a week!

That isn't the reason. They're not saying, "oh, let's wait until they beat Mario 64 before we release more games."

well in a marketing sense, it makes sense for nintendo to release gradually.

if they put out all of the games at the same time, people would run straight for the classics and more known games

You're assuming that droves of people are checking out these no-name games.

To use another example, this would be like Best Buy releasing three movies a week, and constantly throwing in b-movies.

I don't know about you, but I don't want to play Plan 9 From Outerspace.

 

[WiiZero]

The thing is it's not like iTunes where it's so easy to add to the library but I get what you are saying

 

[tarheelsuperman]

First off, good post. Thanks for taking the time to explain your position nicely. I didn't by the Wii for the VC so it doesn't matter too much to me. Although I do find myself excited every Monday to find out what was released. Just for the glimmer of hope that they have released a game I would love to play again and of course often I find myself bummed at what's been released. There is that element of surprise that I enjoy each week even if the games end up being disappointing. A release date list would be ok but it would almost ruin the surprise. I would think at the very least they could give us an accurate list of games they are working on by month or quarter

As for the whole itunes, best buy comparison, I do agree if they released albums and movies the way you mentioned it would be ridiculous, but here are a few examples why I feel the comparison is a tad off.

NEW music and movies are continuously being created and released. Granted games are too, but not games for the VC. It would be nice if they would be able to release totally new games to the VC but then it would fall under the "games we haven't heard of before portion of your arguement."

Secondly there is a huge difference between having 100s upon 1000s of movie and music companies creating and releasing CDs and DVDs to bestbuy and itunes, and having ONE company, Nintendo, creating and releasing virtual console games. The sheer manpower behind the development is a huge difference.

Finally the number of people who can walk into a best buy and purchase a movie (pretty much everyone in the US) and everyone that can download itunes (pretty much everyone) is vastly different from everyone that can purchase a Nintendo VC game. If Nintendo released all of there VC games at one time they would not be able to take advantage of the marketing buzz weekly releases creates. Say someone who doesn't own a wii just happens to see the press release of Goldeneye for the VC on the Wii and would love to have that game again. They could be tempted to buy a Wii like you did for the VC. But had Nintendo released all the VC games at once they would have never known about it or the VC. You would be surprised by the sheer number of people I talk to that have heard of the Wii but had no clue it had the old school games on it. So being able to keep the buzz alive keeps people talking, possibly bringing in new customers.

I think Nintendo is doing the right thing with the weekly releases although I do think packing a little more punch in each weekly release would be huge lift for them. I can also understand your frustration with the VC seeing as it was your reason for purchasing the Wii and looking at all the games you have you've pretty much drained what's worthwhile on the VC at this point. Just think how frustrated you would be if Nintendo decided to hold off on releasing the VC games until they were all developed. We wouldn't have any at this point. I mean just look at how frustrated everyone is b/c the Wii doesn't have online at this point. Hang tight though there are a ton of great games to be released and I can see Nintendo releasing more games once they get the development process perfected.

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disclaimer: I know nothing about the Goldeneye VC release it was just an example .
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[CrowTRobot]

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.

I forgot to mention that I'm in marketing as a career (I'm the writer for the marketing division of a company) so I know all about how marketing works (or at least I pretend to). I'll try to explain why I feel my argument is valid:

I agree that the weekly release deal does have an element of surprise to it, but it's detremental if week after week the "surprise" is a game you don't want.

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?)

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?

Again, I realize Nintendo is just like any other company and wants to make money. I have absolutely no problem with that. I hate when people say a business is just in it for the money because why the hell get into a business if you don't want to make money? However, I'd like to think in my ideal world that Nintendo cares about its fans, and I believe they do.

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

Also, I agree it's more of a hassel to get a wireless router to be able to purchase these games than to walk into a store and by a CD or DVD, but that only furthers my point. I spent $80 on a quality router JUST to buy virtual console games. It wasn't difficult, but it did cost money. And I was under the impression that way more games would have been out by now. I went to the trouble to get set up for this, only to be just somewhat satisfied.

Thoughts?

 

[Napalmbrain]

Give the "no-name" games a chance, you never know, you might find something you might like. I'd never heard of Bonk's Adventure until it came out on VC, but I'm glad I downloaded it because it's top notch.

Ultimately Nintendo are never going to satisfy everyone. What you might consider another dull week might be exactly what I always wanted, or vice versa. I do agree they should at least give us release dates though, it's rather annoying just seeing a release date of "2007" for a game which could be out tomorrow or not for months.

 

[CrowTRobot]

Give the "no-name" games a chance, you never know, you might find something you might like. I'd never heard of Bonk's Adventure until it came out on VC, but I'm glad I downloaded it because it's top notch

Dude, I'm sorry, but Bonk's Adventure is not a no-name game. It was the flagship game for TurboGrafx...the Mario of the system.

Plus, if you read my first post, I said that I gave some of the no-name games a chance...and there's a reason most of them are no-name.

 

[Napalmbrain]

Dude, I'm sorry, but Bonk's Adventure is not a no-name game. It was the flagship game for TurboGrafx...the Mario of the system.

Plus, if you read my first post, I said that I gave some of the no-name games a chance...and there's a reason most of them are no-name.

Bad example, but the point is that just because you've never heard of a particular game doesn't mean Nintendo shouldn't bother releasing it. Someone else might consider it the greatest game ever made. Yes, of course it would be nice if they'd release good titles each week, but the problem is "good" is a subjective term.

 

[frontsidefish]

Bad example, but the point is that just because you've never heard of a particular game doesn't mean Nintendo shouldn't bother releasing it. Someone else might consider it the greatest game ever made. Yes, of course it would be nice if they'd release good titles each week, but the problem is "good" is a subjective term.

Exactly, and don't you think it is also good for them to be able to say they have (a a butt'load of games in their library, and (b that they have an entire back-catalog!

 

[Napalmbrain]

Exactly, and don't you think it is also good for them to be able to say they have (a a butt'load of games in their library, and (b that they have an entire back-catalog!

I'd love it if they released the entire back-catalogue of Sega and Ninty games too, but realistically it's not gonna happen.