Nintendo iQue Set To Go Online

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."

Comments

Why not us?

[Apreche]

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.

Re:Why not us?

[KDR_11k]

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.

Re:Why not us?

[KevinKnSC]

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.

Re:No subject can be thought of

[Mekabyte]

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.

Re:No subject can be thought of

[KDR_11k]

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.