Author Topic: PlayStation Classic launching in December 2018 for $100  (Read 32477 times)

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Offline Khushrenada

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Re: PlayStation Classic launching in December 2018 for $100
« Reply #25 on: September 19, 2018, 11:48:02 PM »
People were complaining that you can buy a Vita TV that plays hundreds of PS1 games for the same price.


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Offline pokepal148

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Re: PlayStation Classic launching in December 2018 for $100
« Reply #26 on: September 20, 2018, 03:58:52 AM »
People were complaining that you can buy a memory card for a Vita TV that plays hundreds of PS1 games for the same price.
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Offline Ian Sane

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Re: PlayStation Classic launching in December 2018 for $100
« Reply #27 on: September 20, 2018, 01:42:53 PM »
Every time one of these mini consoles gets announced there are all sorts of complaints about alternate ways to get the same games, including suggestions of piracy and hacks.  As if Sony or Nintendo is going to not release a product because someone can use a Raspberry Pi and downloaded ROMs without Sony or Nintendo getting a cent.  And the NES and SNES Classic sold like gangbusters.  If you were at a Sony board meeting and said "people can just turn the PS TV into this" while Nintendo's product is flying off the shelf they would laugh at you.  Clearly there is a market for these things and Sony has the opportunity to get in on that action so why would they not?  SNK is doing the same thing and Sega seems to have realized that if they get their act together they can get in on it too.  I guarantee you there are people in the Xbox division of MS discussing if they can make a mini console of the original Xbox.

I can see how someone would not understand the appeal because it doesn't personally appeal to them but it makes total sense why Sony would think this product stood a chance of succeeding.  And if it sells they can release a PS2 mini next year.

Offline Adrock

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Re: PlayStation Classic launching in December 2018 for $100
« Reply #28 on: September 20, 2018, 02:48:16 PM »
People who bring up Raspberry Pi in this instances almost always miss the part where most people don’t want to deal with that. The average person just wants a thing that does a thing.

Of course Sony should be releasing PlayStation Classic. It would be leaving money on the table otherwise. While PlayStation Classic will likely sell out initial shipments almost entirely by being housed in a cute little original PlayStation-shaped mold despite doing significantly less than other first party devices, Sony has far more reason than Nintendo to make this a limited time item. Unlike Nintendo, Sony has made legally downloading and transferring games extremely easy. That alone makes PlayStation Classic less appealing to some people. What makes this worthwhile beyond the enthusiast crowd? With SNES Classic Edition, Nintendo even threw in a previously unreleased game. Does Sony have one of those lying around?

Offline Mop it up

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Re: PlayStation Classic launching in December 2018 for $100
« Reply #29 on: September 20, 2018, 03:03:23 PM »
Another aspect which makes me wonder about PSX nostalgia is how the games never really went away. Not only could the PS2 play PS1 games but so too could the PS3. It wasn't until PS4 that people could no longer use their PS1 discs on their new Sony console, though they can still download a lot of the popular games. There hasn't been a time where PS1 games were unavailable. Heck, you can still buy a few brand new PS1 disc games from places like Square's website. You know the old cliché, "absence makes the heart grow fonder."

Offline Order.RSS

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Re: PlayStation Classic launching in December 2018 for $100
« Reply #30 on: September 20, 2018, 04:35:34 PM »
Another aspect which makes me wonder about PSX nostalgia is how the games never really went away. Not only could the PS2 play PS1 games but so too could the PS3. It wasn't until PS4 that people could no longer use their PS1 discs on their new Sony console, though they can still download a lot of the popular games. There hasn't been a time where PS1 games were unavailable. Heck, you can still buy a few brand new PS1 disc games from places like Square's website. You know the old cliché, "absence makes the heart grow fonder."

I mean, most of the NES/SNES Classic libraries have been available for at least a decade on Wii/Wii U/N3DS too though... Yes, that's shorter than Sony's almost continuous support (I guess PS2 support was dropped on the later PS3s, but PS1 still worked?), but it's not insignificant.

The convenience argument Adrock makes is probably true to for the average consumer though, so in that regard you're right that Sony has made it much easier to play PS1 games than Nintendo did for its older systems (from Wii points, to no SNES on most 3DS models). But I don't know if the "absence makes the heart grow fonder" cliché entirely holds up, as NES/SNES weren't technically absent... Less conveniently available though for sure!

Offline Ian Sane

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Re: PlayStation Classic launching in December 2018 for $100
« Reply #31 on: September 20, 2018, 05:00:06 PM »
Heck, you can still buy a few brand new PS1 disc games from places like Square's website.

You can?!

*checks*

Hmmmm, I don't have FFIX.  It would be nice to have it in mint condition where I know there are no scratches.  But it's Greatest Hits.  Ehhhhhhh.

My local used game store has had a handful of, well, pretty much the exact same titles on Square's site, that have been available brand new since the PlayStation was still current.  They've always sold new games as well so literally the new PS1 section just slowly wilted down to these three or four games and they've sat there in a little corner for 15 years.  Now I see why.  There are some PS1 games that had huge print runs because the CD format is so cheap compared to carts.

For a Star Fox 2 equivalent I think Sony's best bet would be the localize a title that hasn't been released here.  Maybe there's something that was only released in Japan and Europe that's already in English that North American gamers would appreciate getting.  SCEA was really down on 2D games when the PS1 launched so there's probably something from that time period that would fit the bill.

Offline Mop it up

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Re: PlayStation Classic launching in December 2018 for $100
« Reply #32 on: September 20, 2018, 05:54:08 PM »
The convenience argument Adrock makes is probably true to for the average consumer though, so in that regard you're right that Sony has made it much easier to play PS1 games than Nintendo did for its older systems (from Wii points, to no SNES on most 3DS models). But I don't know if the "absence makes the heart grow fonder" cliché entirely holds up, as NES/SNES weren't technically absent... Less conveniently available though for sure!
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For a Star Fox 2 equivalent I think Sony's best bet would be the localize a title that hasn't been released here.  Maybe there's something that was only released in Japan and Europe that's already in English that North American gamers would appreciate getting.
I did a quick search and I didn't find anything particularly interesting, though I'm not very familiar with the games. Maybe Monster Rancher 2?

Offline broodwars

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Re: PlayStation Classic launching in December 2018 for $100
« Reply #33 on: September 20, 2018, 07:01:35 PM »
The convenience argument Adrock makes is probably true to for the average consumer though, so in that regard you're right that Sony has made it much easier to play PS1 games than Nintendo did for its older systems (from Wii points, to no SNES on most 3DS models). But I don't know if the "absence makes the heart grow fonder" cliché entirely holds up, as NES/SNES weren't technically absent... Less conveniently available though for sure!
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For a Star Fox 2 equivalent I think Sony's best bet would be the localize a title that hasn't been released here.  Maybe there's something that was only released in Japan and Europe that's already in English that North American gamers would appreciate getting.
I did a quick search and I didn't find anything particularly interesting, though I'm not very familiar with the games. Maybe Monster Rancher 2?

The Monster Rancher series would never fly because the Classic doesn't have an actual CD drive. The Monster Rancher games allowed you to create your own monsters by putting in music CDs. And I doubt Sony would spend the time to re-code the game to allow mp3s from a flash drive like they did with Vib Ribbon on PS3.
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Offline Ian Sane

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Re: PlayStation Classic launching in December 2018 for $100
« Reply #34 on: September 20, 2018, 07:08:56 PM »
Gunner's Heaven would work well as a bonus game.  It was released in Europe as Rapid Reload and the game was originally published by Sony so presumably they already have the rights to it.  It's like a Gunstar Heroes knock-off.

Vib Ribbon was also only released in Europe and Japan and it's first party.  But it has a similar gimmick to Monster Rancher in that you can get custom tracks from music CDs.

Offline BranDonk Kong

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Re: PlayStation Classic launching in December 2018 for $100
« Reply #35 on: September 21, 2018, 12:21:07 AM »
The PlayStation Classic has standard USB ports, so you can most likely use PS3 and PS4 controllers for DualShock games.

Which would be more nostalgic - this or N64 Classic? I think in terms of sales, an N64 Classic would smoke this thing. Even though the PSX sold 3.5x as well as the N64 - you can play every PSX game on any PS2 and any PS3, so there's much less of a "need" for this device to play those games. You can even play every PSX game on a PSP, Vita, or PSTV if you so desire. For N64 (aside from emulation on an iQue), you have...one option.
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Offline lolmonade

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Re: PlayStation Classic launching in December 2018 for $100
« Reply #36 on: September 21, 2018, 09:42:55 AM »
I think once we get into the 3D console area, the popularity contest gets a little more murky than the NES/SNES consoles.  Those two are cross-generational in popularity, people I know my brother's age all kind-of dropped off precipitously on video games when N64/PS1 gained popularity.

For me, outside of some obvious timeless games, the N64's most important games are ones that require 4 people (Mariokart, Goldeneye, Bomberman, Smash Bros, Mario Party).  I assume Nintendo wouldn't want to inflate the base price to pack-in 4 controllers, so I could see this being another mess like the NES classic where it's almost impossible to find spare controllers, assuming they even go the route of making it 4-player compatible.

PS1's library is mostly 1-2 player games, primarily because you had to buy an extra accessory to even enable 4 player games.  In that sense, I think I actually see more value in a PS1 Classic because of that.


Offline Mop it up

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Re: PlayStation Classic launching in December 2018 for $100
« Reply #37 on: September 21, 2018, 12:46:20 PM »
Ah, I had just looked up a list of games released in Europe and not NA, and recognized Monster Rancher 2 as being from a series I'd heard of before. I didn't know how the game worked.

I actually do remember hearing about Vib-Ribbon a long time ago, but I knew that one used CDs to create its levels so it won't fly for this.

Offline nickmitch

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Re: PlayStation Classic launching in December 2018 for $100
« Reply #38 on: September 22, 2018, 09:40:49 AM »
I can't say I'm surprised at the price point.  I think Sony learned from Nintendo's Classic Minis that the demand for these things was higher than Nintendo's price points.

Some things I do wonder, Spyro and Crash both had HD remakes, so I wonder if demand for those has tempered a bit.
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Offline Ian Sane

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Re: PlayStation Classic launching in December 2018 for $100
« Reply #39 on: October 29, 2018, 12:37:13 PM »
They've released the full list... and it's kinda butt.

•Battle Arena Toshinden
•Cool Boarders 2
•Destruction Derby
•Final Fantasy VII
•Grand Theft Auto
•Intelligent Qube
•Jumping Flash
•Metal Gear Solid
•Mr Driller
•Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee
•Rayman
•Resident Evil Director’s Cut
•Revelations: Persona
•Ridge Racer Type 4
•Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo
•Syphon Filter
•Tekken 3
•Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six
•Twisted Metal
•Wild Arms

The fear that Sony only revealed five games because the rest weren't that impressive was justified.  Metal Gear Solid is really the only newly revealed game where I think "well of course they're including that".  Resident Evil makes sense but it probably should have been RE2.  But some of the other choices are just bizarre.  Why are the first Twisted Metal and Destruction Derby included instead of their superior sequels?  I'm going to also guess that of all the lists that fans made in anticipation of this product that not one of them had Rainbow Six on it.  What the hell is Ubisoft even doing on this thing?  Nobody gave a **** about them back then.

The SNES Classic's list was not perfect because no list really can be.  Chrono Trigger was a big omission.  But of the titles that did show up, Kirby's Dream Course was the only one where anyone said "what's this doing on here?"  Maybe your favourite title didn't show up but they weren't going to put 50 games on the thing and it was hard to point out titles that were on it that should have been left off.  But this is full of questionable filler and there are too many big titles missing.  Sony is obviously at the disadvantage that they don't have the first party lineup that Nintendo has and are thus at the mercy of third parties but they even botched their first party entries.

No purchase from me at all.  No point.  It would be cheaper to get the old discs for the handful of games on this that I actually want.

The focus on first entries for a lot of the series on here makes me suspect that there is a PS One Classic in the works with the Dualshock and a different selection of games.

Offline Order.RSS

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Re: PlayStation Classic launching in December 2018 for $100
« Reply #40 on: October 29, 2018, 01:04:35 PM »
Some weird choices yeah. No Wipeout, Gran Turismo, Silent Hill, Crash, Spyro, Klonoa, Castlevania, and Tony Hawk seems odd. Ian might be right they're saving those along with Ape Escape for a dualshock version or something...

Twisted Metal 2 would've been better than the first one, kinda like the DKC problem on Snes Classic Mini. GTA 1 but not 2? C'mon. And Resident Evil Director's Cut seems like a cheap way to get RE2 in there as well, assuming it retains the RE2 demo that was included with Director's Cut.

Shout-out to that Mr. Driller inclusion though! That's a fun franchise. I have a Japanese copy of the GameCube instalment. Imagine a lot of people will be won over by the Persona inclusion, too.

I'm going to also guess that of all the lists that fans made in anticipation of this product that not one of them had Rainbow Six on it.  What the hell is Ubisoft even doing on this thing?  Nobody gave a **** about them back then.

Coming from a PC background at the time, the first Rainbow Six coming to consoles was definitely appealing to me. Don't think our computer could run it, and magazines really hyped up the PC release. Of course the PS1 version is absolute dogshit with none of the tactical stuff left in haha, but I do think it was anticipated in some circles. Rayman was also huge, and while that game is total trash as well, I do think it's representative of the era. People are gonna hate them when they (re)play them here though haha.

Offline Adrock

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Re: PlayStation Classic launching in December 2018 for $100
« Reply #41 on: October 29, 2018, 01:05:31 PM »
“Castlevania: Symphony of the Night” is a major omission though maybe this was intentional so as not to interfere with  “Castlevania Requiem” on PlayStation 4.

“Twisted Metal II” is much better than its predecessor.

I wasn’t planning on buying the PlayStation Classic, and the full list didn’t change my mind.
« Last Edit: October 29, 2018, 10:28:46 PM by Adrock »

Offline NWR_insanolord

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Re: PlayStation Classic launching in December 2018 for $100
« Reply #42 on: October 29, 2018, 01:51:04 PM »
Some weird choices yeah. No Wipeout, Gran Turismo, Silent Hill, Crash, Spyro, Klonoa, Castlevania, and Tony Hawk seems odd. Ian might be right they're saving those along with Ape Escape for a dualshock version or something...

Gran Turismo and Tony Hawk would have been licensing nightmares trying to get back the rights to all the cars in the former and the music and likenesses of real skaters in the latter.
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Offline ejamer

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Re: PlayStation Classic launching in December 2018 for $100
« Reply #43 on: October 29, 2018, 02:25:27 PM »
They've released the full list... and it's kinda butt.
...

I don't know... the list of games doesn't seem that bad. Certainly not that unexpected.

Most of the games getting included had sold well and were popular names back in the day. Many of the notable missing titles were ones that people expected might have issues (either licensing or competing with current sellable products).

That doesn't mean that I'm impressed or interested in buying the console - quite the contrary. But coming from someone who already owns a handful of PS One Classic games on PSN and doesn't have specific nostalgia for the console, this isn't a surprise.

What is a surprise to me is a complete lack of Tomb Raider - I really thought the first game would make an appearance. What is disappointing is how nothing from that list of games leaves me feeling like I'd be missing out if I just skip the mini-console altogether. Almost every game has improved sequels or updated versions available. It really feels like this idea was put together by marketing, instead of by people who want to preserve some great old games.
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Offline lolmonade

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Re: PlayStation Classic launching in December 2018 for $100
« Reply #44 on: October 29, 2018, 02:27:47 PM »
In a vacuum, I don't see the list on there as such a bad package.  But yes, I can think of lots of games that I would think deserve a home on the mini.

I likely am not going to consider getting one until we see how easy it is to mod anyway, unless availability is so scarce that I don't even have to consider it.  If it's as easy as the NES/SNES classic to amend the library, swapping in some other titles could make it a very compelling part of my collection.


Offline Ian Sane

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Re: PlayStation Classic launching in December 2018 for $100
« Reply #45 on: October 29, 2018, 03:05:04 PM »
One potential issue with hacking this thing is that PlayStation games are way bigger than SNES games.  Nintendo pretty much made the storage on their Classics as small as typical 2018 tech gets and it can still hold every game released on the platform.  That won't be the case here.

In fact I've heard conspiracy theories that storage space was a major consideration into the choice of games in the first place.  There are lots of first entries in series and a lot of games from earlier in the Playstation's life so they might be prioritizing smaller games so they can use smaller built-in storage and save a few bucks.  That also might explain the lack of RPGs which were usually multi-disc affairs.

By the way, Rainbow Six's average score on GameRankings is 48.07%  That is some outright PS1 shovelware and oddly enough that would have required some negotiating for the Tom Clancy IP.  Where the hell did that game come from?  They probably had rights issues for Tony Hawk, Wipeout's soundtrack, Gran Turismo's cars but they managed to pull strings for Tom Clancy for a crappy PS1 port of a PC game?  Did Ubisoft insist on this in exchange for Rayman (which is an okay selection but nothing anyone would have missed if it wasn't there)?

Are there rights issues for PaRappa the Rapper?  That seems like a popular first party title that oddly isn't included.

Why did Capcom go with a Street Fighter puzzle game rather than an actual fighting game?  They had no problem releasing good stuff on the NES/SNES Classics so where does the decision come to go with Puzzle Fighter (which is actually awesome by the way) but not the vastly more popular Street Fighter Alpha 3?  On the SNES Classic Capcom didn't **** around.  They didn't bother with obscure stuff like Magic Sword.  They had Street Fighter II Turbo, Mega Man X and Super Ghouls 'n' Ghosts - some of their BIG games!

Offline broodwars

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Re: PlayStation Classic launching in December 2018 for $100
« Reply #46 on: October 29, 2018, 03:14:23 PM »
One potential issue with hacking this thing is that PlayStation games are way bigger than SNES games.  Nintendo pretty much made the storage on their Classics as small as typical 2018 tech gets and it can still hold every game released on the platform.  That won't be the case here.

In fact I've heard conspiracy theories that storage space was a major consideration into the choice of games in the first place.  There are lots of first entries in series and a lot of games from earlier in the Playstation's life so they might be prioritizing smaller games so they can use smaller built-in storage and save a few bucks.  That also might explain the lack of RPGs which were usually multi-disc affairs.

By the way, Rainbow Six's average score on GameRankings is 48.07%  That is some outright PS1 shovelware and oddly enough that would have required some negotiating for the Tom Clancy IP.  Where the hell did that game come from?  They probably had rights issues for Tony Hawk, Wipeout's soundtrack, Gran Turismo's cars but they managed to pull strings for Tom Clancy for a crappy PS1 port of a PC game?  Did Ubisoft insist on this in exchange for Rayman (which is an okay selection but nothing anyone would have missed if it wasn't there)?

Are there rights issues for PaRappa the Rapper?  That seems like a popular first party title that oddly isn't included.

Why did Capcom go with a Street Fighter puzzle game rather than an actual fighting game?  They had no problem releasing good stuff on the NES/SNES Classics so where does the decision come to go with Puzzle Fighter (which is actually awesome by the way) but not the vastly more popular Street Fighter Alpha 3?  On the SNES Classic Capcom didn't **** around.  They didn't bother with obscure stuff like Magic Sword.  They had Street Fighter II Turbo, Mega Man X and Super Ghouls 'n' Ghosts - some of their BIG games!

Don't forget Resident Evils 2 & 3 and Dino Crisis 1 & 2 that Capcom also could have included. Hell, RE 2 is probably the 2nd most loved game in the franchise behind 4, and instead they put in the terrible 1st game.

Square Enix also could have added Valkyrie Profile, Final Fantasy Tactics, or Parasite Eve (hell, they DID in Japan).

I get why Symphony isn't here, bit Konami could have easily added Silent Hill.

This list is pathetic.

Games like Klanoa or Toomba also could have been added.
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Offline ejamer

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Re: PlayStation Classic launching in December 2018 for $100
« Reply #47 on: October 29, 2018, 04:14:02 PM »
So for context, I went to see what some PS fans thought of the lineup on a different site. A few weren't feeling the game selections, but most came off sounding really excited.  Nostalgia plays a big part in how we view things.

Modding capability could make this more interesting. But storage space could be an issue, and I'm also a bit of a stickler for actually owning a license for the games I play. Even just stocking it up with games I've purchased from PSN would be an improvement (to me) though.

That said, I want to give props for the puzzle games they selected. Intelligent Qube, Mr Driller, and Super Puzzle Fighter II. And it's not like the other games are bad.  Honestly, the (often somewhat obscure) games that I wanted most probably wouldn't generate as many nostalgic sales as the ones they've picked.
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Offline Ian Sane

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Re: PlayStation Classic launching in December 2018 for $100
« Reply #48 on: October 29, 2018, 04:45:24 PM »
One thing that is very odd is that Square has three more games on the Japanese version: Parasite Eve, SaGa Frontier and G-Darius (Taito game, which they own the rights to).  All of those games got North American releases so they could have easily put them on the Western version and while those aren't Square's biggest titles they would make for a better lineup.  I hate to keep going back to Rainbow Six (seriously that's like putting the SNES port of Wing Commander on the SNES Classic) but it comes across as a desperation title to fill a list to an even 20 titles.  Ubisoft is not on the Japanese version at all so it seems like something SCEA negotiated.  But it would have been unnecessary if all of Square's titles were included.  So what happened with Square to get their contributions down to only FF7?  Surely Sony wouldn't want to do that on purpose.

The choice of games also appears to try to appeal to a false nostalgia based on franchises that are currently popular.  I'm specifically referring to Persona and GTA.  Those titles are not considered very good and were not especially popular at the time of release.  Neither of those series mattered much until the third game in the series was released on the PS2 (funny how it's the third one for both series).  I assume the intention here is hope that a present day fan of GTA or Persona will see the first game in the series on the PlayStation Classic, make the reasonable but completely wrong assumption that those are on par with the later titles, and buy it.  The intention isn't to present a snapshot of the PlayStation experience from back in the day but to latch onto the popularity of current hits.

Offline ejamer

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Re: PlayStation Classic launching in December 2018 for $100
« Reply #49 on: October 29, 2018, 05:48:42 PM »
...  I assume the intention here is hope that a present day fan of GTA or Persona will see the first game in the series on the PlayStation Classic, make the reasonable but completely wrong assumption that those are on par with the later titles, and buy it.  The intention isn't to present a snapshot of the PlayStation experience from back in the day but to latch onto the popularity of current hits.

Obviously we don't disagree:

.... It really feels like this idea was put together by marketing, instead of by people who want to preserve some great old games.
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