Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Nintendo Embedding Classic Games on Trading Cards

Posted by michael on from the yay-I-got-the-white-sword dept.

bacontaco writes "Here's a quick article over at Adrenaline Vault about Nintendo's plan to put out old-school Nintendo games with the use of a e-Reader that plugs into the Game Boy Advance and trading cards that can be swiped with the device. The article flips back and forth on which console's games will be supported, saying either NES or SNES games will be used with the cards. It's kind of eye-opening when you think about how games that seemed so great so long ago can now be fit on something so small as a card."

7 of 336 comments (clear)

  1. Knocks the wind out of the abandonware argument? by Rude+Turnip · · Score: 5, Interesting

    One of the main reasons people use to justify trading game ROMs is that the original publisher has "abandoned" them and that they're no longer selling or making money on them. Natually, if a company has gone under and no longer exists, that's a pretty good argument. However, here, we see Nintendo showing just the opposite.

    --
    Bill Clinton: Pimp we can believe in. - The Shirt!!!
  2. Now the e prefix is become a postfix? by stienman · · Score: 5, Funny

    In other news, Nintendo is post-fixing an 'e' to each game's title in the hopes of jumping ahead of the next revolution in electronic naming.

    "People are tired of e-this, and e-that, k-this, g-that. We're leading the next naming revolution with new-age names like Donkey Kong-e, and Mario Brothers-e."

    -Adam

    1. Re:Now the e prefix is become a postfix? by webslacker · · Score: 5, Funny

      It's called a suffix, not a postfix. What kind of nerd are you?

  3. A Little more info... by Kraegar · · Score: 5, Informative
    ...is available at Nintendo's site

    (note for some reason the link generates a 404, but if you refresh, it comes up with the page)

  4. Re:Ahh, youth by Moonshadow · · Score: 5, Funny
    "It's kind of eye-opening when you think about how games that seemed so great so long ago can now be fit on something so small as a card."

    Not to mention having every one ever made fit onto a single CD, with lots of room to spare...

    *cough*

  5. I have one, using it right now. by Mike+the+Mac+Geek · · Score: 5, Informative

    Bought an E-Card reader today for my GBA and Animal Crossing (GameCube Game).

    The data itself is embedded in the card. It's a printed optical dot code. VERY TINY DOTS. I can't pick one out with my naked eye. I'm sure I could with a magnifying glass though.

    I saw somewhere that a long strip (lengthwise) can hold up to 2.2KB of data, and a short strip (width) can hold 1.1. Each card can have only two strips. Presumably so the card can be handled.

    Picked up a few ECard games, like Excitebike, Pinball, Etc. Games take 9-10 long strips. The game can the be saved in the reader, so you dont have to swipe again until you save another. Only space for one.

    This is easy to use, holds a good amount of data, and has a LOT of possibilities. Kudos to Nintendo/Olympus!

    --
    -------------------------------------------------- ---- The man, the myth, the something or other.
  6. Re:turbographic by icer1024 · · Score: 5, Informative

    I don't know if anyone reads this far down into a Slashdot thread but... The last post was correct. The Turbo Grafx 16 game system (or the PCEngine in Japan) was produced by NEC, with some significant Hudson Soft development effort.

    In case anyone cares, Turbo Zone Direct still sells new TG16 hardware and software (This is not a plug, I have no relationship with TZD). There is also a Turbo mailing list still in existence, where people discuss the PCE/TG16, as well as buy/sell/trade games and accessories. There's even a few fan sites left out there.

    The Turbo Duo was the American re-release of the original TG16, which included the cartridge (HuCard) port, and integrated CD-ROM unit. The TG16 was also the first game system to utilize as CD-ROM, and the only system to ever have a successful expansion device. Until the Game Boy Advance, the portable Turbo Express was the most powerful handheld gaming system, and it was capable of playing the entire library of games from the parent system, since they were on the extremely portable HuCards.

    While most people in the U.S. have never heard of the Turbo Grafx, the system was extremely successful in Japan (as the PCEngine), much more so than the MegaDrive (Sega Genesis). Send me a message if your a fan of the system. :)