Nintendo Revolution's Classic Games to be Free.

[Jain Zar]

Hmm.. the Nintendo Revolution might be the only next gen system I buy.  PC Gaming is dying alongside my current bad hardware luck, the XBox 360 has iffy backwards compatibility, the PS3 has typical Sony hardware quality and high prices to look forward to..  seems as if the Big N is gonna keep me playing.

[Daydreamer]

I'm waiting for more info before I decide.   But I'm really intrigued by the 360's games from Bioware and Mistwalker.  I guess we shall see.

[SurfD]

What is all the hate for Sony Hardware?  I have owned both a PS1 and a PS2, and never had problems with either of them.

[Merusk]

What is all the hate for Sony Hardware?  I have owned both a PS1 and a PS2, and never had problems with either of them.

Ditto.  However, I didn't buy either unit until they'd been out for a few years.  I recall that the first year's worth of both units had some big hardware/ cooling problems that cause them or their CD drives to burn-out early.   The 'first gen' of Sony hardware just seems to mean you'll either have to put-up with some eccentricities (PSP's square button is the current example.) or accept that if/ when it burns out you'll be buying another unit. (Unless you go with the Best Buy "no questions" warranty system.)

[Aalhashem]

While this does sound nice, I wouldn't take anything to heart until Iwata makes an official announcement. The fact that he hasn't said a word about this makes something seem out of place (he came right out and said the online service will be free, for instance).

Personally, I don't think they will charge for this or the online service. What I imagine they will do, and this would be the "catch", is offer a service similar to My Nintendo. Currently, if you register Nintendo products on their website, you can unlock certain features, have access to exclusive offers, etc. I could easily see them carrying this over to the Revolution. Just to throw an idea out there: each Revolution title you register (and therefore purchase) would give you points, which you can use to unlock these classic games. The more Revolution titles you register, the more games you can download. (Something along those lines...)

I think this would be a fair way to go about it (for both parties), and it's probably not too far-fetched. Afterall, I'd imagine they'd want to get something out of this.

[Murgos]

I think this would be a fair way to go about it (for both parties), and it's probably not too far-fetched. Afterall, I'd imagine they'd want to get something out of this.

They do get somethign out of it.  Quite a lot really.  Greatly increased console sales for giving away something they have already made massive profits off of for one.  Also, if more people own your console then obviously the market for your games is larger and a larger market means developers are more likely to develop for your platform to reach that market even if most purchasers only originally bought it for the free back catalog.

I wasn't considering buying a revolution before this news, but I am now (if it holds true).

[Jain Zar]

It hasn't.  1Up.com has reported Nintendo WILL be charging for games.
Anything over 5 bucks a game and they can go fuck themselves and enjoy getting their asses handed to them by Sony and Microsoft 2 console generations in a row.  3 if you count just Sony vs Nintendo in the 32 bit war.

[Fabricated]

What is all the hate for Sony Hardware? I have owned both a PS1 and a PS2, and never had problems with either of them.

Sony seems to have a problem with popping out batches of lemons on their first production runs. 1st Gen PSXs and PS2's had various problems. I have an early gen PSX and PS2 and have been pretty lucky so far.

[Rodent]

It hasn't.  1Up.com has reported Nintendo WILL be charging for games.

Linkage? Granted I only looked through their News section but I couldn't find it ( may have something to do with me being dead tired and sick ).

Meanwhile, why would I belive 1up when the VP of NoA is qouted in many places that first party titles will be free.

http://gamesradar.msn.co.uk/news/default.asp?pagetypeid=2&articleid=36071&subsectionid=1587

"People sort of picked on us for not prematurely jumping into online or internet gaming," he mused, going on to point out that now the company has more to offer besides online gaming. Harrison then confirmed that past-gen, Nintendo-created titles will indeed be downloadable for free.

[Aalhashem]

Well, according Gaming Age, Iwata just announced that the games will not be available for free. But at the same time, there's no mention that they will charge for them either. Here's the translation they provided from Famitsu:

Iwata says, "Though the baseless rumor flows in the internet that the virtual console download service is free, it is not scheduled to deliver it in free.
maybe download it (old games) as a privilege when consumers buy a new game,
maybe download it by consistent of the campaign at limited time,
variety methods will be used.
Using the properties in the past, I want to take shape that the profit is paid to Nintendo to the end."

[HaemishM]

That list of games is just super, and made me realize that my wife will want a Revolution simply for the downloadable games like Mario Kart.

But an idea occurred to me in the shower. Offering these games is going to be a key selling point of the Revolution (or it goddamn well should be). The Nintendo marketers should be wetting themselves with the anticipation of using that as a selling point. Instant game library of quality games. But another reason I could see this being added is legal. Perhaps Nintendo is attempting to ensure that the copyright on older games is maintained. Part of the whole emulator scene not being a legal target is that they are trading games which aren't being sold anymore. Nintendo isn't making any money off of Donkey Kong the original game, so suing someone for trading a ROM of it is just silly. No one loses any money currently. But if Nintendo is selling a system, one of the benefits of which is these games, they have legal justification to smack down the emulator scene. Not to mention they can refresh the copyrights on some of the older games that they haven't been supporting (Duck Hunt).

Deviously ingenious, IMO. Now, the Big N may not see any problem with the emulator scene, but who knows?

[Margalis]

Nintendo has been pretty agressively anti-emulator in the past.

As far as the games distribution, my guess is initially it will be something like the package deals they've had on the GC. Buy a new Zelda get an old one, buy Metroid get the original Metroid, etc. That's my guess, but hopefully they won't do that. Just charge $5-$10 depending on age

[Jdub]

About a week before E3 I participated in a study at a local market research firm. We were never told what company was performing ths study, but it was on 3 methods for distributing/selling video games online for a major next-gen system. Method 1 was "a la carte" - you would be able to purchase titles from the last generation, and 6 months + old titles for the current generation, for anywhere from $5-$20 each. Method 2 was a Phantom-esque subscription service - download as many games as you want (again, last gen or 6 months + old from the current gen) for a monthly fee of $20-$25 or so. Games would be stored on a hard drive, but disc copies could be purchased at a greatly reduced price if desired. Method 3 was distributing games via P2P services. Gamers would download from a P2P source, burn to disc, and would need to pay for an unlock code to be able to actually play the games. Likely fee of $3-ish per title.

Everybody there for the study thought it was either Sony or MS doing the research, but less than a week after doing it I started getting emails from Nintendo. So, unless one of the other 2 is trying to be strangely tricksy, and give a competitor some free advertising at the same time, it's a safe bet that it was Nintendo doing the research.

At any rate, you'll notice that they were looking for opinions with regards to fairly recent titles - they never said a word about old, classic NES or SNES or anything like that. I'd guess that when the Revolution hits you'll see either Method 1 or Method 2 available for the fairly recent older titles (the 2 methods were pretty evenly popular with my focus group). As to the way older stuff - looks like they're not too sure about that. I would guess free or very close to it.

[Strazos]

Kid Icarus, Earthbound, the TMNT series, and many others, for free or very cheap?


YES PLEASE

I would be very willing and able to pay a few bucks a month, or a small chunk of change a year, to have access to these old gems.

You know how they could achieve a Super++ Win? Strike a deal with Sega to get access to Their old library also. If that happened, I'm pretty sure I would make a mess in my boxer briefs.

Oh yeah, and drop a down payment on a Revolution. The new games might be good too, you never know...

[AOFanboi]

Nintendo isn't making any money off of Donkey Kong the original game

If you ignore the GBA title in the "classic" line, that is.

[Daydreamer]

Nintendo isn't making any money off of Donkey Kong the original game

If you ignore the GBA title in the "classic" line, that is.

Which didn't have the brick level, damn them.

[Rodent]

Well, according Gaming Age, Iwata just announced that the games will not be available for free. But at the same time, there's no mention that they will charge for them either. Here's the translation they provided from Famitsu:

Iwata says, "Though the baseless rumor flows in the internet that the virtual console download service is free, it is not scheduled to deliver it in free.
maybe download it (old games) as a privilege when consumers buy a new game,
maybe download it by consistent of the campaign at limited time,
variety methods will be used.
Using the properties in the past, I want to take shape that the profit is paid to Nintendo to the end."

Damn, was really hoping it would be free. I really hope they let you buy'em atleast. I'd hate to miss out on Earthbound because I didn't want to buy Pokémon Channel or because my router went haywire they week it was part of a limited campaign. But still, if the 221 list proves true Nintendo has the best launch title line-up ever.

[schild]

I'd take Dead or Alive 4 over all 221 of those titles. You see, I've got all the ones I want as original cartridges. Neh.

[Rodent]

While impressive, you must admit it would be much easier to have'em on the Rev then to dig out your old NES/SNES/N64 whenever you feel like alittle Nintendo nostalgia.

Looking forward to Dead or Alive 4 aswell... Age 99 may make me feel like a dirty old man, but in a good way.

[schild]

Bewbies.

Ya know, Nintendo isn't the first console to have emulation. They are, however, the first console to...ahem...charge for it. I say they bite the bullet and give the 300k-3MB downloads from SNES and NES for free. That would be a great incentive to ya know, buy shit that's bigger than a floppy disk.

[Margalis]

I'd take Kid Icarus over DOA 4 straight up - I really would.

[Kairos]

You do realize that that list of 221 games isn't actually a confirmed list of games, right? It is just a list of games that Nintendo can offer without brokering deals with anyone. The chances that all of them will be available at launch are vanishingly slim.

In any case, charging for the games probably isn't a great plan. Can you imagine a better hook than offering Nintendo's NES/SNES/N64 for free? I imagine an awful lot of people would buy the system for that, setting themselves up to buy Revolution/Gamecube software. I know that I would. But without the free games, it's just another next-gen system, and I have no interest in buying one.

Nintendo is not going to come back from number 3 in the US market this way.

[Yegolev]

When asked about Kid Icarus on the Rev, Miyamoto got all coy.  Either he meant the downloading or a new game.  Second option is pretty unlikely, I think.

[voodoolily]

Nintendo is not going to come back from number 3 in the US market this way.

Naysayer!

[Yegolev]

Can you imagine a better hook than offering Nintendo's NES/SNES/N64 for free? I imagine an awful lot of people would buy the system for that, setting themselves up to buy Revolution/Gamecube software.

It's pretty obvious to me that this is the way to go, but I'm just talking out of my ass since I don't have a degree in marketing from Tokyo U.

[AOFanboi]

Ya know, Nintendo isn't the first console to have emulation. They are, however, the first console to...ahem...charge for it.

Well, when I had Activision Anthology on the PS2, that sure looked like an emulator I had paid for. Same goes for Intellivision Lives! and possibly the Midway Arcade Treasures 1 & 2. Dunno about the Atari retro collection since I never bought that.