Gaming Anyone else think the virtual console is a ripoff?

[adgloride]

Softmodding an xbox is easy to do, all you need is a memory card and a game like splinter cell.  You will need a way of putting the files on the memory card but once thats done its easier to do.  You can then run emulators, backups and Xbox Media Centre which will play most movie formats on your TV.

See? See? The Virtual Console is aimed at people who wouldn't know how to do all this. They are a vast majority.
Them, and the people who don't want to have to buy an Xbox when they already have a Wii.

And last but not least : using VC is LEGAL.
Emulator + ROM (of original games you don't own) is ILLEGAL.

F***ing warezian

I don't see how downloading games 10+ years old is hurting anyone. Better than downloading the latest xbox 360 games etc... and companies are actually loosing money one them. As I have said before nintendo have made money already from these.

OuahOuah: If someone can set a wireless router up or even the nintendo wifi dongle, I can see them knowing how to download and get the games working on a PC.

 

[directive0]

yah I think its a bit of a ripoff...mostly cause the selection right now does nothing for me. The whole "licensing" instead of "owning" titles is also a little annoying, but from a business model that Nintendo is trying to kick-start, it makes sense. Allowing people to own content downloaded is a big can of worms, and the VG market is already well acquainted with pirates and people making backups of "property". I wouldn't want to get into a debate about piracy however, as I myself am no angel.

Just for fun I went to my local game store today that sells used titles, I asked him how much for Zelda ALTTP cart sitting there, he told me 15 bucks!!!! I asked if that was cause it was available on the VC for 8 and he said "It is???!" Looking around I can see the average nes cart is about 5-6 bucks, genesis games less, etc. Alot of the titles on VC are kinda hard to find too, so I couldn't find some to compare, but for the most part the two used stores I went to were all more then 5 bucks for a single cart.

So I guess when you get down to it, no the prices are not an excessive value but not a total ripoff, and its not advantageous to do it if you have a folder of romz and a good emu. But for those people out there who have a steady line of income, could care less about setting up emu-box and want to play old titles on their new wii, its perfect. Albeit maybe possibly sorta a little pricey, but not unjustifiably so. Seems to be how companies are fighting piracy now, with slightly better pricing and convenience.

And at the end of the day, if you really think its a total ripoff, you're not obligated to use it

 

[legendofphil]

IMO if you buy games that you own or have completed before then it can be a rip off.
Personally I will only be buying the games that I either never owned, or the games I loved.
In the short term its worth while, especially if you don't own the original console. In the long run it might not be worth it.
In the future the price may drop and brand new content may also appear, as soon as I can I will be buying a few VC titles.

Prices are different things to different people, we in Europe pay more than most of the world and we get most things later also. So the US VC prices to me are very reasonable.

 

[shaunj66]

Effing Warezian? I'm not paying a second, sometimes *third* time for the same game, is all. Paying for DRM'ed music is also LEGAL, but it's fucking idiotic if you ask me!

The NES classics on GBA is the epitome of how fucked in the arse the regular customer is, when a simple emulator on a lowly supercard allows for save states, speed hacks, cheat engines, the possibility to run rom hacks and different graphic modes.

Hell, why didn't Nintendo even bother to add a tunneling software that some guys on their own free time and out of their own goodwill developed like Kaillera, Zbattle, and other such software? Because they don't give a flying fuck about improving it as long as the cash cow (that means us customers) keeps allowing them to keep up with this shit.

If you want to see Nintendo put a little more thought, and work, you *need* to boycott this waste of money that the VC is. It is the *only* language a corporation understands.

Sadly, no consumer will ever understand it, with good reason.

Well said

 

[Hitto]

So I guess when you get down to it, no the prices are not an excessive value but not a total ripoff, and its not advantageous to do it if you have a folder of romz and a good emu. But for those people out there who have a steady line of income, could care less about setting up emu-box and want to play old titles on their new wii, its perfect. Albeit maybe possibly sorta a little pricey, but not unjustifiably so. Seems to be how companies are fighting piracy now, with slightly better pricing and convenience.

And at the end of the day, if you really think its a total ripoff, you're not obligated to use itÂ

You said it better than I did, buddy.

 

[Wuschmaster]

The Japanese prices are fine.
I'm happy for owning a Japanese Wii, got it cheap, too.

 

[shtonkalot]

I would just love to see some system where I could take my cartridges into say an EB store and receive a download voucher for that game, for free.
I mean how many times am I supposed to pay for the same game?
I would love to have all the Zelda console games sitting on my Wii but that would mean paying for them all again.
I've spent $15 AU so far on two NES games that I already have the carts of.
I have a modded XBOX plugged into the TV too, I just like the whole on Nintendo thing.
I don't like it enough to pay for anymore games again though..

 

[Bowser128]

Prices are different things to different people, we in Europe pay more than most of the world and we get most things later also. So the US VC prices to me are very reasonable.

Seconded. I look at the US prices and think that if only we were getting them at those prices I'd more than likely end up buying quit a few games. But as things stand though, with the quite frankly stupid prices and the unforgivable PAL issues I'm not buying any VC games. I mean, honestly, if the game runs perfect on my computer for free, why am I going to pay extortionate prices for a 'broken' game?

 

[xanth]

Is the virtual console a ripoff? Possibly

Can you emulate all the stuff offered on it and more? Of Course

But I actually see this as one of the cleverest moves Nintendo or any other company for that matter has come up with to deal with piracy, as they've been unsuccessfully trying to battle the emulation scene for over 10 years at this point.

And let's get something straight. Nintendo is a company. They are out to make money. Just because they're a popular company and they've historically put out some quality games does not obligate them to be nice to their customers and/or give their product away for free. Perhaps like apple they may eventually do a promotion where they give a different VC game away for free every week. The best way to encourage them to do more with it is to show them that the technology is profitable and worth spending their time on.

 

[Youkai]

Yeah totaly ripoff

One of my friends told me before the Wii got released that he wants to buy the wii only because of the VC cuz he heard that the games are all just some cents and some for free, after i heard that as well from some other people (so i assume they were thinking of doing this ?) i really wanted to buy the wii ... now i have it and finaly got it online and see those VERY high prices ...

I can get those games cheaper and legal if i want but it would really have been better to have it all on the wii ... but ok if the people are intelligent (what i do NOT believe

) than there will be not many people buying something from the Wii Online store and Nintendo won't get any money for that so that they will have to lower the prices later on

 

[iisdev]

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reason: CNET affiliation

 

[VmprHntrD]

Sorry not going to read 3 pages of posts so it could already be covered.

I know that when the dollar is converted to the YEN that the Japanese pay $2-3 LESS than we do per game across the board on all formats. That's how far overpriced the stuff is in complete fairness.

I call complete bullshit to their tactic because the old rules do NOT apply. These are old games. These games are NOT being reboxed, reburned/flashed, retranslated, redone manuals, NOTHING. They're straight ROMS stuffed into their universal hardware emulator for the Wii.

That's my beef and why I haven't sunk a dime into it as that's just wrong. Oh and well you euros, aussies, etc can figure out what the loss is to you from the $2 diff or so the US gets off the yen using a convertor but I"m sure it's more insulting.

 

[Bowser128]

That's my beef and why I haven't sunk a dime into it as that's just wrong. Oh and well you euros, aussies, etc can figure out what the loss is to you from the $2 diff or so the US gets off the yen using a convertor but I"m sure it's more insulting.

Put it this way, you pay $20 for 2000 points, we pay £15, which is $30. I think in mainland Europe 2000 points costs €20, which is roughly $25.

 

[angelfly]

I may be the only one here who has no problem with the current prices. I know how to use every emu out there and even have a modded xbox filled with every emu under the sun but I still prefer the VC. I've easily plunked down over $100 in VC games (yeah a few impulse buys in there). IMO the prices are cheap and not overpriced. Also as someone else mentioned above it's a big plus having to have only one system connected.

 

[sdoc96]

Curiosity got the better of me though, so I decided to try Mario64. I just got a 3rd party GC controller (Antsig) which works perfectly with GC games on the Wii.
Pity it doesn't work with Mario64. Just comes up with a message about needing a classic controller, unlike the VC shop that says a GC controller will work. Of course, I can't get a classic anywhere.Â

I guess this is one of those 3rd party controller issues, but still off-putting where VC games are concerned.
Wonder if the Wavebird I've ordered will work?

JIC anyone was wondering, the Wavebird works well with VC Mario64, unlike the Antsig.

 

[MrPlacard]

Any response to this will *not* tip me over into purchasing a VC-based game(I'll buy a Wii anyway at some point), but I was wondering whether or not it was in the original resolution--one of my friends claimed quite forcefully that virtual console-based NES games ran in the original resolution, and I was wondering if that was true--it certainly seems to not be the case with Xbox-based emulators I've tried for that(or any(i.e. Dreamcast)) system. All console-based console emulators I've seen seem to run with some high-but-annoyingly-blah resolution. Get stoned and it's great, but it's *not* an original NES. Bah. Stone me for being a closet purist. If Wii VC games are in the original resolution, it'll be a great surprise to me. I wonder how verifiability will work for this, because SNES games with the proper settings in Xbox-based SNES emus *seem* to be in the proper resolution--yet I'm sure they're not. So, meh. I like the ol' DS.

EDIT: Changed "Wii games" to "Wii VC games"

 

[iisdev]

post deleted by author.
reason: CNET affiliation

 

[iisdev]

post deleted by author.
reason: CNET affiliation

 

[jumpman17]

Oh man, Mario Kart 64 is coming next Monday...oh man...I might cave with that being a choice...

 

[directive0]

^lol, yah the n64 games make sense to me. I'd be happy to buy some of those titles as emulating them is a bit of a pain, and they are still pricey carts to find used.


Indeed, Xanth. When you get down to it the whole thing kind of reminds me of the iTunes Music Store. There are some parallels; Licensing product, downloading to a single point of use, except for the relative currency scheme its pretty much the same paradigm. I wouldn't be suprised if thats what gave them the idea.