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Nintendo iQue Set To Go Online

Posted by Hemos on from the building-the-online-world dept.

An anonymous reader writes "The Nintendo iQue looks set to go online. The china-market console is based on N64 architecture and the long awaited iQue USB upgrade cable should be available in 2 weeks. The cable will allow users to download new games , enable online play of N64 ported titles , update the console via the internet and it will allow communication with other iQue owners. This move could signal Nintendo's online gaming ambitions for the DS handheld and their next generation home entertainment console."

24 comments

  1. Why not us? by Apreche · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I can understand why a product like this is released in China. But why not also release it here? I mean, the only official X games in one stuff we get is Atari stuff. If we want legal NES games we have to go pay $20 for one game for the GBA. Yet china gets multiple N64 games in a single cheap unit? There are bootleg controllers you can buy with every NES ROM ever in a single unit. Nintendo, make an NES controller with every important NES game ever init. Then do the same thing for SNES. People will buy it. Hey, then you can put it online and people can pay 50 cents per rom. If you want to stop piracy/emulation you have to sell it.

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    1. Re:Why not us? by KDR_11k · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I can pretty much gurantee that the majority of slashdotters would boycott Nintendo if this device ever came to the US since its delivery system is geared for an environment where cheap bootlegs represent the majority of games sold: It is completely locked down with DRM and games are only sold "online" (in special stations in stores), delivery is digital and tied to your key (stored on your memorycard). A game can be redownloaded for free if you already bought it for this card and games cost 5$ a piece. Since slashdotters hate even modest forms of DRM they'd go crazy at the thought of a completely DRM-protected system.

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    2. Re:Why not us? by KevinKnSC · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I'd be happy if they'd release the NES/SNES/N64 ROMS as a [series of] collection[s] for the GameCube. We know it can emulate the NES and probably the SNES as well, and they've been able to make small changes to N64 games to make them playable on the Cube. I think a lot of people would pay for that, and the development costs would be essentially zero.

    3. Re:Why not us? by Guppy06 · · Score: 0

      (OK, time to do mental back-flips and justify my own double standard...)

      The big difference between music and video games in my mind is what you intend to use it on. With music, most people intend to listen to it on a variety of devices in different places, be it a walkman, a car stereo, a home a/v setup or a computer. Being a passive media, people don't like to think about whether they have the right permissions on a file and/or the right proprietary hardware to listen to it where they happen to be.

      With the active nature of video games, it's a little different. Unless you're a rabid collector that has to have one of every color GameCube available, most people buy exactly one player for a specific medium and leave it at that. With the exception of Game Boy, you get the game with the intent to sit in front of the TV and play it, as opposed to playing it in your car, at work, etc. And with that, DRM doesn't get in the way of typical console game use. You might have to bring the controller (i. e. the console) with you to someone else's house if you want to play the game elsewhere, even if they already have their own iQue, but this isn't much different from bringing your GBA with you to play Crystal Chronicles or Four Swords Adventures.

      Really, it's a matter of the companies imposing restrictions where people never had any before. DRM restrictions were new to music because nobody ever thought about having "the right" to make a cassette recording of a song to listen to wherever. DRM on console games, on the other hand, isn't all that different from the requirement to own the right proprietary hardware to begin with.

      There's also the issue of price: lossy, DRM-riddled music recordings are the same price as lossless, libre CD tracks, and that price is pretty much fixed no matter how old the album is. On the other hand, the games Nintendo is selling through their iQue network is the genuine article and the price is about the same as finding the original cartridges in a bargain bin.

      Call it my inner rabid Ninetndo fanboy peeking through, but while I wouldn't touch an iPod with a three-meter pole, I'd jump on the opportunity to purchase an iQue stateside.

    4. Re:Why not us? by Zangief · · Score: 1

      Well, you can't blame Nintendo. They are trying to sell this device in China, which is the mayor piracy center in the world.

    5. Re:Why not us? by Guppy06 · · Score: 1

      "But why not also release it here?"

      For all we know, there will be an iQue type of service for the DS when it launches. The hardware can handle N64 games and there is supposed to be a heavy online presence for the handheld, so all it would need is a blank cartridge like the iQue has...

    6. Re:Why not us? by ZzzzSleep · · Score: 1

      I think that the closest you'll get to that at the moment is Animal Crossing.... :-(

      --
      Emerald Astrology
  2. No subject can be thought of by wongn · · Score: 0

    By the look of it, it would have been to much easier for Nintendo to repackage an N64 - or just make it smaller. And then give Chinese customers a much bigger software choice by giving them "backwards" compatibiilty with the original cartridges. Does the iQue use a flash card as its medium? Seems an... unconventional choice. The controller looks worse than the X-Box's. Do the Chinese have extra large hands or extra fingers? :s

    1. Re:No subject can be thought of by wongn · · Score: 1
      Ok. That was a slightly silly commment on my part about the controller size and medium :s. I had failed to dig around and look for more information about it.

      "The iQue Player is Nintendo's controller-style console that was released in China at November 21, 2003. The console connects directly to the TV and is based on N64 hardware"
      "Games for the iQue Player are not available the traditional way, they have to be downloaded to a 64 Mega Byte Flash Cartridge that is included with the system. In order to download games, you had to use one of Nintendo's iQue Depots (KIOSK) in one of China's supermarkets"


      It's still quite big though.
    2. Re:No subject can be thought of by Mekabyte · · Score: 4, Informative

      The thing is, the controller IS the repackaged N64, accounting for its size. And yes, it uses a Flash card (custom) as its medium. There really isn't a reason to give them a N64 cartridge backwards compatible slot since the Chinese market shouldn't have had direct access to them in the first place and the new games are all Chinese-language localized whereas the old ones would be in Japanese, English, etc. The nice thing about this new service is that it keeps track of which games you have purchased, so when your Flash card becomes full, you don't have to worry about deleting your games to free space because you can just download them again without repaying.

    3. Re:No subject can be thought of by KDR_11k · · Score: 2, Interesting

      And then give Chinese customers a much bigger software choice by giving them "backwards" compatibiilty with the original cartridges.

      And more importantly, give them compatibility with counterfeit carts. In China few people buy retail since that's way too expensive, counterfeits are much cheaper than the original stuff. Nintendo can sell old games for 5$ a piece and still make a profit since delivery costs next to zero and the development costs have long been paid for, thereby equalling or undercutting the counterfeiters.

      --
      Justice is the sheep getting arrested while an impartial judge declares the vote void.
    4. Re:No subject can be thought of by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I've seen this before. The Phantom does the same thing and all of you (even me) cried how we wanted to have a copy of the game in our hot little hands.

    5. Re:No subject can be thought of by Guppy06 · · Score: 1, Insightful

      That's because nobody believes they actually have the games available for the system (if it even exists). Whoever doubts that Nintendo has games to offer (and good games at that) has been living under a rock since the 1970's.

  3. 10 games total? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I thought i read this wrong when i read it on gamespot. but this article says the same thing.

    so this thing's been out since last year and there are only 10 games available?

    I know nintendo 3rd party support hasn't been that great lately, but comm'on !

    1. Re:10 games total? by Guppy06 · · Score: 1

      "I know nintendo 3rd party support hasn't been that great lately, but comm'on !"

      They're SNES and N64 games (or is it just N64 games?). It's not a matter of seeking developers as much as getting the right to offer third-party games in such a format to a market that is known to be very pirate-friendly. I'd bet the iQue will have to demonstrate how locked-down the device and the network is before they get permission to distribute, say, Gauntlet Legends appear for the device.

      Besides, it could be worse: their Pokemon Mini only had 4 cartridges.

  4. there's a reason i foe'd you by Acidic_Diarrhea · · Score: 1

    Because Nintendo releases those single games on the GBA for $20 in the U.S. and they sell. Those bootleg controllers with all the NES games sell for about $20 and so people would expect about that price point for those types of units - even ones released by Nintendo. So, think about it - release all Nintendo produced games [your idea to release every NES ROM lacks intellectual maturity since you should have realized that Nintendo doesn't own the rights to many, many games released for the NES] and make $20 on it or keep releasing a few at a time for different platforms [selling those platforms in the process] at $20 each time. Even a person of moderate intelligence can see why Nintendo wouldn't want to do what you suggest.

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    1. Re:there's a reason i foe'd you by MisterSquid · · Score: 1

      I just wanted to say that I am HONORED you have picked me as your foe. Now the button next to your name is an appropriate color.

      Thank you, thank you, thank you.

      --
      blog
    2. Re:there's a reason i foe'd you by Apreche · · Score: 1

      wow. um, you started out ok, but what's with the intelligence insulting? I do realize that Nintendo doesn't own the rights to many of the NES games, and that would prevent them from releasing many of them. However, a slashdot post is not a bill in congress. I don't need to to specify every detail of every little thing. It's just casual conversation.

      Consider yourself equally foe'd. I'd love to have a childish insult war with you, because you seem to like that sort of thing, but your slasdhot username says it all.

      --
      The GeekNights podcast is going strong. Listen!
  5. So, wait... by RyoShin · · Score: 1

    So a re-worked console from a generation ago released in a country known for it's rampant piracy of video games (both in physical and digital form) gets not only the ability to play both N64 and SNES games, but also has it so that some of those games can play online, all while the current next-gen system in more 'moral' countries has something like 5 games internet ready? Hell, the Gamecube doesn't even come with a browser for online use (does the broadband/modem adapter come with one?)

    I call shenanigans.

    If Nintendo released a more portable N64 in the U.S., I would buy it up in a second. Even better would be an add-on to the Gamecube that would allow you to play N64 games on the Gamecube. Why haven't they done this yet? They could claim backwards compatability. They could re-release some of the better N64 games in a smaller (but still cartridge-bsed) format, and people wouild buy them if they were something likie $30.

    I recall a few years ago some company had liscensed the Game Gear, and was going to start limited production on that, as well as on the more popular games.

  6. Goldeneye Online.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    So would this mean that my dreams of an online N64 version of Goldeneye come true???

  7. Why would this sell? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Why would this sell in a country known for piracy? Wouldn't the consumers already have played and had their fill of N64 games back when it was out, and being pirated/counterfeited? HELLOOO!

    1. Re:Why would this sell? by Guppy06 · · Score: 1

      Online Mario Kart goodness.

  8. Funny how... by pappy97 · · Score: 1

    Funny how the Chinese get to play classic N64 games online, but Nintendo GameCube online is still a PATHETIC JOKE. Tell me, can you play Madden 2005 ONLINE on Gamecube? Is Madden 2005 even OUT for Gamecube at all? I think Nintendo is trying to do everything they can to make everything BUT Gamecube a big online player.

  9. Isn't this kind of counter productive? by Asmor · · Score: 1

    The iQue was originally created as the ultimate anti-piracy system for a high-piracy markey. Now they're gonna not only let people connect it to their home computers, but let the people download the games on their own. I give it a week. Wait, China. It'll be cracked 10 minutes before it's released. Not saying it's a bad idea, just saying it basically throws out everything the iQue was supposed to be.