Topic: whats the big deal about virtual console?

[ViewtifulJoe]

I dont own a wii yet but i dont understand why every one thinks the vitulal console is so great.  None of the games are diffrent and they can get kind of repetative (super mario bros). Nintendo should make new arcade games like the 360 and ps3s downloads or at least add online capabilatys to supersmash bros or mario party.  It just seems like a waste of money when you could just as well download an emulator for free online.  

[Strell]

There's only been about a million conversations about this over at CAG lately...

[darknight06]

Arguably, it's some of the closest emulation you'll ever get your hands on.  

[UncleBob]

*yawn*

What's the big deal about iPods?
What's the big deal about Madden?
What's the big deal about anything?

It's for some people, it isn't for others.  'meh.

[Dirk Temporo]

Quote
Originally posted by: ViewtifulJoe
It just seems like a waste of money when you could just as well download an emulator for free online.

Or you could LEGALLY SUPPORT THE COMPANY.

Seriously, if you don't want to use the VC, then just DON'T F**KING USE IT! You don't need to make a goddamn topic about it, because we don't care.

[ViewtifulJoe]

if you dont care then dont post

[The Omen]

Quote
if you dont care then dont post

He doesn't care about the whining of idiots, but he does care about the rampant, blatant stupidity of it all.

[NWR_pap64]

Don't we technically have an official VC thread, along with countless others?

I don't know about SB but I am tired of re-posting my rants and opinions regarding the VC.

[MorningStar]

I don't see why you people get on his case about this. Tired of the topic? Then don't post. But likewise, if you don't like the VC, then don't buy any of the games. I'm only defending the post because I imagine he started the topic with the hope that somebody COULD change his mind about the VC. If this isn't the case, then yes, please don't beat a dead horse.

[MarioAllStar]

The Virtual Console, in almost all technical aspects, is inferior to downloading emulators and ROM images. However, I think that piracy is wrong and so I do not pirate games. If a company wanted me to play their game for free, they would release it to the public domain. For those who oppose piracy or want to support the developer, the virtual console is among the best ways to go.

[Kairon]

Well, I was raised not to steal. I've had my moments of legal and moral grey areas, but I'd like to avoid them as much as I can. Also, I feel bad for stealing from something I respect. I believe that degrades me, and that in the act of stealing I am degrading my own evaluation of what is worthy of my attention. If I truly think a game is good, aren't I a hypocrite in not paying that game its respects with good money? Life is all about prioritizing, and while I don't judge others for prioritizing games low enough to "steal" them, I personally find that if I don't care enough to pay good money for something, then it isn't interesting enough to me anyways and not worth my time to begin with.

But enough moralizing! There is a non-moral impetus to this as well. ROMs are ugly. VC emulation is beautiful. I hated playing games on a computer, and even with a pad the experience was ruined. You can't even play multiplayer easily. As a scar of ROMs, I now and forever hate Seiken Densetsu 3, the sequel to Secret of Mana. I HATE A GAME BECAUSE OF THE ROM AND AM NOW RUINED FOREVER FROM THAT GAME, MY EYES ARE FOREVER CLOSED TO WHETHER THE GAME IS GOOD OR NOT BECAUSE OF THAT ROM GIVING ME HORRIBLE PLAYING EXPERIENCES! *ahem* Simply put, VC emulation is worth the money because of the immense benefit it gives to my experiences of the games.

It's like buying a good first-party controller instead of a crappy third party one. Even if they were giving away their crappy controllers I wouldn't use 'em, because their qwuality ruins the experience. That's what the VC is to me.

~Carmine "Cai" M. Red
Kairon@aol.com

[segagamer12]

AS far as I am concerned the Virtual Console the THE reason to own a wii, Wii Sports, Opera, Mii Channel, All that is secondary. Oh and Zelda is must own too but VC is THE reason to own a Wii. But to each his own.

[TrueNerd]

The following statement is a fact:

Super Mario 64 has never looked/played so good. Virtual Console justified.  

[Kairon]

Quote
Originally posted by: ViewtifulJoe
None of the games are diffrent and they can get kind of repetative (super mario bros).

1. Faithful releases of old games is a retro gamers dream. There are countless old games from the NES and SNES era that are fine just the way they are, and don't need some developers today going in and mucking things up in the hope of making them "prettier"

Quote
Originally posted by: ViewtifulJoe
or at least add online capabilatys to supersmash bros or mario party.  It just seems like a waste of money when you could just as well download an emulator for free online.

2. It costs money to add new features or to reprogram them. This is a ridiculous course of action when the games are ready for release already, as is, and Nintendo can better spend that money in making new things instead of messing with the past...

Quote
Originally posted by: ViewtifulJoe
Nintendo should make new arcade games like the 360 and ps3s downloads

3. In fact, instead of retooling old games, hopefully Nintendo takes the manpower they save and instead do a little bit of this, as well as make new traditional games. One wonders as to whether Wii Sports could have been downloaded over the VC, for example... or a Wii version of Brain Age?

HOWEVER, games like Wii Sports and Brain Age are WAY TOO mass market and non-gamer to ever be released on the Virtual Console exclusively. Hardcore gamers connect their rigs to the net, and some casuals. Non-gamers do not, they get bored or get discouraged and are less likely to jump through the hoops. This already suggests that the Virtual Console should NOT be the delivery system for major games, because it basically splits the userbase by requiring internet connection to play... not a mass market play. Only niche, indie, low budget and hardcore titles will ever call VC their true home.

~Carmine "Cai" M. Red
Kairon@aol.com

[Rancid Planet]

The Virtual Console is and should be a "big deal" to any gamer that hasn't been the pack rat I have and kept all of his old games. For you see I honestly don't have much need of the VC. NES games? Still have them. SNES? Oh yeah. N64? I've actually been game shopping for the N64 as recently as this year. GB games are scattered across my pad from all eras of handheld goodness. Hell if I still had a working Atari I'd have kept those games too. But to be honest they mostly sucked because I was 7 and had no idea what a good game looked like. But as I said I know there are many gamers, in fact most, that are not like me.

No,you guys actually "clean" your room once or more per decade. Ha! Not me. I'm pretty sure if I dig far enough under my bed I can find a TG-16 under there. And I've never even pwned one. And were I in you poor shmucks' shoes then I would also be looking forward to playing through the old Zelda games, The Donkey Kong Country titles, Goldenye 007, No Mercy, the SMB titles, Super Mario Kart, Dragon Warrior, The T.M.N.T series etc. But not me. Nope. I'm literally up to my neck in outdated console software. I mean it's honestly starting to turn into a virtual Big Lots in my digs.

And in a weird way...I'm kind of proud of that.

[IceCold]

What about people who didn't own the Genesis or TurboGrafx?

[Artimus]

As I was playing Castlevania last night I thought to myself "This VC is such a big deal" and then proceeded to grovel at its greatness.

[Requiem]

Just wait until they have a 100 or so titles out...

it'll become a big deal then...

[Strell]

Requiem is right.

Wait until they put out Chrono Trigger, Mario RPG, Ogre Battle, etc etc etc.

People will shut up at that point.

[Hocotate]

Quote
Originally posted by: Kairon
Well, I was raised not to steal. I've had my moments of legal and moral grey areas, but I'd like to avoid them as much as I can. Also, I feel bad for stealing from something I respect. I believe that degrades me, and that in the act of stealing I am degrading my own evaluation of what is worthy of my attention. If I truly think a game is good, aren't I a hypocrite in not paying that game its respects with good money? Life is all about prioritizing, and while I don't judge others for prioritizing games low enough to "steal" them, I personally find that if I don't care enough to pay good money for something, then it isn't interesting enough to me anyways and not worth my time to begin with.

I can't agree more.... I agree so much its almost scary actually. Worded very nicely too

[Pittbboi]

The Vitual Console will not become a big deal until MOST of Nintendo's back library is on it. Period. Right now all it offers is a smattering of their oldest titles (that are mostly lacking in variety) that only the hardcore would know enough about and/or be griped with enough nostalgia to buy. I'd say that, with the exception of Sonic, what the VC is offering now does not cater to most people, even most gamers, and especially this non-gamer market Nintendo wants.

I will concede that Nintendo may have its reasons for not releasing ALL of their games at once (like some would like), but in order for Nintendo's virtual console to become a major hit and have a chance at being comparable to what XBox360 and PS3 are offering they NEED to have most - if not ALL- of their library available for download by the end of 2007. The really need to pick up the pace. The virtual console can be a major draw, but it cannot be a buffer for the lack of Wii content in incomplete state it's in now. These are fun games, but Nintendo needs to realize that these are OLD games and it's not cute to treat them like new releases (the general "are you sh*ttin? me?" reaction to SMB being the big Christmas surprise should be proof).

Virtual Console Mondays may a fun thing to look forward to, but at the rate Nintendo's going, the bulk of their library wont be on the VC until near the end of th Wii's life. A lot of people won't admit it now, but when the VC was announced the first thing people did was come up with a list of the games they were going to buy. Not too many people are going to sit around and buy titles as Nintendo releases them if they're not what they want, and most people already KNOW what they want and it sucks that there's a chance that some of those titles won't come out until possibly years from now.

Nintendo needs to focus on getting most of their titles on the Virtual Console before the end of 2007 (preferably by Q3) and then spend the rest of the Wii's life promoting NEW online games/content.  

[Chode2234]

But the games are artificially scarce.  Its not like you are paying for a tangible thing that has input required to make it for you (that was paid for years ago).  Nintendo is just a bunch of greedy Japanses businesmen and they want to rip you off for as much as possible.  I can't belive you guys have this loyalty to them that you consider a natural undermining of their artifical constraints to be stealing.  Thats such crap, and I can't believe you guys have been duped into thinking that you owe Nintendo (or any other corporation) anything.  

I have bought VC games, but because I feel that have value added above the pirated versions.  But I don't buy them because there is some sort of moral question not to.  When it comes down to it, I would rip Nintendo off for as much as I could, the assumption being that they would do the same thing to me.  Capitalism at its finest.

[Strell]

I'm just going to quote myself from over at CAG, because I can't believe how retarded people can be about the VC.  "Nintendo ripped us off."  "Nintendo tricked us."  Good god.  Grow up you babies.

Taken from CAG:

I'm sorry, but the VC is totally a "if you don't want it, don't buy it" scenario.

If you want to pretend you don't know wtf you are doing for the sole purpose of bitching about a price that you know before purchasing a game, that is your own damn fault.

I think a lot of the anger regarding the VC comes from two kinds of people: 1) people who think the pricing sucks, and 2) zealot nerds who are harboring a lot of residual angst over their squashed dreams resulting from "the promises Nintendo made with the VC," which centers around the ideas that bounced tossed to and fro prior to the VC's full functionality being shown.

In other words, all these people who are up in arms about it from the second group - where the author clearly sits - had all these dreamy thoughts about the VC a priori, which included things like "it will have tools for indie development," or "it will spruce up the graphics," or "you'll be able to use characters from one game in another," or "it will include online multiplayer," or "it will harness the Wii's power to deliver 60 FPS," or "it's going to include (insert obscure game that dreamer can't live without apparently, even though it's totally subjective)." All of that was the work of lonely little boys on the internets, and while I'd kill for them to come true, that doesn't change the fact that Nintendo never rolled them out like delicious apples on the forbidden tree.

The pricing sucks. I haven't bought any because of the pricing. And it doesn't help that B&M stores - the only potential source of deals - are f*cking consumers with inflated prices (Best Buy sells the cards for 22.99, and I've seen them 29.99 at other places).

But you can't call this being "tricked." It's called being screwed with - there's a difference. And to justify this labeling with "Nintendo is in it for the money" is laughable. Of course they are. That was the whole damn idea of the VC to begin with - that it was a total cash grab.

There's every reason to be angry about the VC, but at no time is it being snuck under your eyes like contraband, unless you're just a damn fool that wants to piss and moan because you think that'll get mommy to make it all better.

[Ceric]

So Strell if you I get you placement of certian people would you make good on your promise above? ;P

[Strell]

Quote
Originally posted by: Ceric
So Strell if you I get you placement of certian people would you make good on your promise above? ;P

This post I do not understand!

MAKE STRELL ANGRY!

GHWARAAAAAAAAARGH~!