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New PS3, Wii, 360 Downloadables Announced
360 gamers have Lost Planet to look forward to this week, but PS3 and Wii owners have things to smile about as well. Today's virtual console game releases feature the Hudson classic title Dungeon Explorer, as well as the shmup Gradius and the sidescrolling shooter Soldier Blade. PS3 owners will get six great downloadable titles sometime 'in early 2007', courtesy of Midway and Sony Online Entertainment. "The six games announced in the deal are Mortal Kombat II, Gauntlet II, Joust, Rampage World Tour, Rampart, and Championship Sprint. Sony Online said those titles were chosen specifically for their multiplayer components, as the company is adding online play for all six." Update: 01/08 22:32 GMT by Z : Oops. Missed Ms. Pac-Man on XBLA this week.
That sony will charge a mere $400/title for these downloadables.
Hey, that's pretty cool.. downloadable content for the console (Wii) I still can't find anywhere, despite calling stores and still being told "we're getting a shipment on Tuesday, you might want to line up the night before", only to see 10 people already lined up at 9pm the night before. :(
Gran Turismo HD and Motorstorm demos are both outstanding, I spent a couple of hours playing each. Also Tekken 5 is available for Japan and Hong Kong accounts (USA users can create a new user account to download). About $15 USD for the download, it's definitely worth it if you can get passed the non-English menus.
Good stuff if its really Multiplayer on the PS3. Id still like to hear why they have been delaying the release of Tekken 5:DR in the US stores. many of us have bought it from Asian stores already, but there is rumor that the NA store release has been delayed for an Online COmponent...that would be amazing.
WHY is Nintnedo delaying the release of Super Mario Bros. 3 and more N64 titles in favor of a lot of the old 8-bit games that (let's face it) not many of us are waiting for? Compatibility problems? Artificial inflation of demand? Not that this list for the VC is all that bad -- hmmm.... Gradius -- but I'm not really looking to spend more Wii points just for the sake of spending Wii points.
Mario, Mario, wherefore art thou a game that Nintendo dost sit upon?
The Overrated mod is for reversing inappropriate, positive mods, not for voicing disagreement with a post.
I keep plenty of room around my wii, and wiiconnect24 doesn't generate a whole lot of heat - it's at least cooler than my AP. Just leave it on, you ought to be fine ^_^
Why can't all fpga/microcontroller manufacturers just release free optimizing compilers???
Well, i've never heard of Dungeon Explorer or Soldier Blade, but DE seems like an interesting game, I might download that one. However, I'm still waiting for my Baseball Stars and Tecmo Super Bowl. =) I already got my Toe Jam and Earl, but I'm still crossing my fingers for Metal Warriors and waiting for Super Mario World (SNES).
Boy, Nintendo is surely making a killing on these (expensive) download games ($5-10 for what? Converting a ROM?)
Cheers,
Fozzy
"The past was erased, the erasure was forgotten, the lie became truth." ~1984 George Orwell
No problems here. You should move your Wii to a more open area, mine hasn't been turned off (not even to standby) since I bought it in Nov. and no overheating what-so-ever.
Because Nintendo is still selling Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3 for Game Boy Advance and the Nintendo DS's GBA compatibility mode.
and more N64 titlesNintendo is selling N64 titles on the Nintendo DS.
Compatibility problems?Could be part of it. I've read reports of sound being off. If the emulator used for NES games in Virtual Console is anything like the emulator used for NES games in Animal Crossing Population Growing for GameCube, then it appears that bug-for-bug compatibility isn't Nintendo's first priority. Specifically, the "killed by spark" sound on emulated Balloon Fight isn't nearly as buzzy as the sound on the NES cartridge version; it's more like a hum. If Nintendulator, Nestopia, and FCE Ultra on a comparably powerful PC (PIII 866 MHz, 128 MB RAM) can get it right, then why can't Nintendo's own emulator? Furthermore, Nintendo wants to avoid the problems that Konami has had where the two players on Contra for Xbox Live Arcade have got out of sync.
...you were ahead of your time with your color handheld game that took the same credit card sized game cartridges of as the regular console. I'll wax nostolgic about how I used to play Dungeon Explorer until the wee hours of the morning- on a quest for Natas.
That's very true and I'm not ignorant of that fact; however, there are a number of games, particularly in the SNES and N64 lineup, that I'm sure people are aching to purchase -- not including those who are aching to get their hands on a Wii, of course. (Maybe I should rephrase that. Anyway...) Considering the rather large library of games for those two systems alone, it's staggering that they're still holding out. It's not that SMB3 would be the only game that people would buy or that it has the highest demand of all of the games. But I believe that SMB3 would be one of their biggest VC sellers, which could then be used as that much more capital that can be applied to the conversion of other titles that are also in high demand.
I'm at least fortunate that I still have an N64 that works just fine with about ten games for it, but that includes Mario 64, which is the only N64 game available on VC. So, I have no interest in purchasing the Wii version unless my N64 completely craps out. And for games that I don't have on the N64, I'd be more apt to purchase a VC version of an N64 game than a 10+ year old cartridge that could have gone through who-knows-what abuse from its previous user(s).
The Overrated mod is for reversing inappropriate, positive mods, not for voicing disagreement with a post.
If your Wii is overheating, it is defective. If your Wii is defective, don't be surprised when it doesn't work right. Get it replaced, or send it to me if you are unhappy with it.
+0 Meh
You know they have to space out the goods. Considering they stated 1-4 downloads every week (despite Christmas having 5, I won't fault them for that :-> ) for around 10 VC games a month think about what that means. It may not seem like alot now, but 10 games a month = 120 games a year for a console with a 4-6 year life span (until we get WII or Wii mark 2) that is a HUGE amount of games.
Wii will continue to see more games that utilize the Wiimote sideways (NES, Genesis, Turbo-16) since the user doesn't have to buy additional hardware, the files are small, and the back catalog is greater. I expect something like 1 N64 game per month, 2 or 3 SNES, and the rest for the NES, Genesis, Turbo-16.
The Wii titles are out, while the PS3's downloadable titles are announced with no firm release date, given that it appears the downloading feature hasn't even been used yet -- does anyone know if it's ready at all?
Good to see Sony is getting at least one good game on their machine. I loved playing Gauntlet 2 back when I was 6 with my brother.. We got up to around level 200 before we realized the game never ended. Pissed us off royally.
;p
Too bad I won't be buying a PS3. At least I can dig up the old NES sometime and play it
Green Elf, your life force is running out!
As the original system was not released here :( I'm not sure why Nintendo wont release the games to Australian users. Any ideas?
But you can get the games by changing your region to UK and then download. But the consumer shouldnt have to do that.
See my art -> http://herbevore.deviantart.com
that played it on an original TG16? Military Madness was a mess when you got to larger levels, slow scrolling with the sound cutting out. I want confirmation dorm someone before I d/l DE that the emulation is better than in military madness.
Just out of curiosity, how many games do you guys have over there? In Japan we had 49 on the virtual console last week. I'm pretty sure we've had Gradius a long time. I'm not sure how many we have now.
That is a huge amount of games, but when you figure that the combined library of N64, NES, SNES, Genesis and TB16 games (plus any additional platforms they may add later... maybe C64?) is far more than 480-720 games, they could speed things up a bit. For a lot of games, there's no point in holding off 3-4 years to release them. Most of the top-shelf games should come out in the first 12-18 months, if not sooner. I think the main delay in a lot of the iconic games like Mario 2 and 3, Super Mario World, Zelda 3, etc, is that they have all been rereleased for GBA within the last couple of years, and Nintendo would probably rather save those for months in-between the big first party releases, like Metroid Prime 3 and Mario Galaxy. What I would really like to see on the VC is a bigger mix of game styles, for example, it would be cool to see at least 1 RPG a month, along with all those platformers and puzzle games. Even though they've stated they don't plan on using the VC to bring over games never released in NA, I'm hoping they reconsider and bring over some of those that have had fairly large fan-followings in emulation circles. I would definately pay for an official release of Seiken Densetsu 3, and there are a bunch of other Square Enix games we never saw over here like Bahamut Lagoon and Dragon Warrior/Quest 5 and 6 (and they should release the earlier ones for NES as well).
I don't have a DS and I'm really not inclined to get one just for those games, although my daughter does have a GBA.
The problem with your argument (not that it's an argument, but anyway...) is that at least the DS and GBA are portable. The Wii is not. Anyone who has both a Wii and a DS/GBA need to decide for themselves which features are more important - the portability and expense of the DS/GBA with a small screen and lower resolution or the low cost but higher resoluion and permanence of the Wii.
The two really are not in the same market. I can't take the Wii with me on a car trip or a waiting room or other places where a DS/GBA can be used, but I doubt that the GBA/DS would look anywhere near as good if connected to my 55" 16:9 TV via component running at 480p. So I don't see why recent releases of those games on DS/GBA should be a factor on whether or not to release them on the Wii.
The Overrated mod is for reversing inappropriate, positive mods, not for voicing disagreement with a post.
Ah, online Rampart at last, after all these years!
I still wouldn't pay $600 for it, though.
Midway has already put out several collections that include those games. I believe they are out for PS2 and Cube, so if the PS3 and Wii are backwards compatible, I don't understand why people are excited about titles like Guantlet 2 and Rampage since you can already get them for your system, and not waste HD space. I love retro gaming on my new 360, and can't wait to get the other systems, but if they are in a collection, I opt for that. The only problem with the 360 is its crappy compatibility, but I heard the Wii and PS3 are really good about that making those collections even more worth while in my opionion.
don't care until there's free downloadables for the Wii...
How about a trade-in program so those of us with the original NES/SNES/N64/Sega/NEC game cartridges can exchange the old physical game carts for their Wii virtual console counterparts? That way, these aging game carts can be collected at a centralized location and recycled (as in real recycling, not the "sprawl the toxic parts on the ground of a third world country" type). They could also offer such a service to recycle old consoles as well, and then credit the user 500-1000 points for each console they send in.
15-20 years worth of games/consoles adds up to one hell of a lot landfill space.
8==8 Bones 8==8
Woo hoo! I get a ignore these games a second time around! Thank you, Sony et al!
*shaking of head*
This is as sad as those aging musicians who keep releasing "The Best of..." albums instead of recording something, oh, I don't know...NEW?
Bearded Dragon
Right. Turn it off and set it to standby then come back and tell me how much heat it generates. :)
When it's on, the fan cools it down. When it's on standby the fan is off but the machine is still working so generating heat. When it's off then there is no fan and no heat.
I don't want my machine to be permanently WiiConnect24 anyway.
(Please browse at -1 to read this comment.)
In standby mode the fan is off but the machine is still working, so generates heat. It's by design and I don't like it. So I have WiiConnect24 activated, but not when it is off. Weather channel should still work.
(Please browse at -1 to read this comment.)
They refuse to release VC games in a non-fucked up format in Europe - apparently they'll only let you experience games the way they were the first time - so there's no chance of newly translated games coming out...
I agree with what you're saying, especially about RPGs. I'm dieing for them to finally release some epic games. Although, there's a good business reason for them NOT to release them, which is that RPGs are usually a full-time deal, once you start playing them, you're more often then not, not going to touch other games for a good 30 hours (in the case of many SNES RPGs, that is)... and that possibly means Wii games. So, currently they're more inclined to release short, arcade-style games that won't interfere with sales of new Wii games. If they were to release, say Chrono Trigger or FF6 (the latter of which you won't see for a VERY long time, due to it's comming release on the GBA), they would likely see a fairly steep decline in sales of Wii games. I hope I'm wrong about this, as I'm a huge RPG gamer.
As for a 6th console, I'd put my money on the Saturn, since it's only about half the power of an N64, and Sega seems more than happy to have their name on the VC. C64 is a bit too obscure, me thinks. My question is, is the Wii powerful enough to emulate a DreamCast? I'd LOVE to finally be able to replay a version of Grandia II that doesn't SUCK (ie: PS2 and PC versions). Also, why not original GameBoy/GBC? The GBAs life is almost over, and original GB games aren't compatable with the DS or GBA Micro, so it's not as if they're going to cut into sales at all. MAYBE they're planning on releasing a GameBoy player for the Wii, but even if that were the case, I'd highly doubt they would see any sales due to GB/GBC games.
A few other things: all those consoles may have over 1000 games, but how many of them are good enough to sell? MOST video games are shelf warmers; think about how many GOD AWEFUL classic NES games there were. If you take only the games that are at least somewhat marketable, you're going to get a lot less. However, I think their ratio of top games is still annoyingly low. Do they really expect that the VC will still be a big thing in 3 years? Maybe... but if they don't release more games than they are now, people aren't going to be able to pay attention for 3 years. I don't think they should be trying to make money off of VC games, it's mostly just an incentive to buy Wiis. If, a year down the line, they have a library of, virtually, every known game on those 5 consoles, people are going to be buying Wiis simply for that... right now, VC isn't going to generate a lot of sales, because people don't really know what the future holds for it... not that Nintendo needs ANY more sales, right now. Maybe that's the thing, they're going to hold back VC games until they actually have Wiis to be sold.
Multiplayer Gaming (defined): Sitting around, discussing single-player games with my friends, at the bar.
Go Sudoko, Lemmings 2, GripShift (www.gripshiftgame.com), Blast Factor, and Cash Guns Chaos are already available for purchase and download on PS3. Sony Online Entertainment was the publisher for GripShift and Cash Guns Chaos, SCE for the rest.
Additionally, there are several PSOne games which can be downloaded for PSP, several demos of full retail PS3 products, and many trailers on the marketplace.
One problem with either Saturn or Dreamcast is that the size of a download would be much to large. Internal flash on the Wii is 512 MB. Dreamcast discs could be up to 1GB. While it's a possible that the download for an emulator would be possible, the problem is that the games are not readily available, as most resale stores don't carry them anymore. I think we'd be more likely to see some sort of Saturn hits collection released by Sega than any downloadable Saturn or Dreamcast games.
C64 is a bit too obscure, me thinks.
:)
The C64 still holds the crown as the best selling personal computer of all time. At about 30 million units (not counting the backwards compatible C128) it's certainly less obscure than the TG/16.
(Never owned one myself. I was in the Apple II camp.
They can't release all games on all of these consoles. Nintendo doesn't hold the rights to most of these games. There's probably quite a bit of licensing and behind-the-scenes discussions/negotations involved.
Then it's a good thing it costs less than a hundreth that then.
Saying the game costs $600 because the console does it like me claiming it costs me £5500 to drive to work in the morning because that includes what I paid for the card.
I'm guessing you're in the USA: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Virtual_Conso le_titles_(North_America)
SMW will come out shortly. Lots more games for you than for us poor Europeans though...
Also: SMB3! Duck Hunt, probably with the Wiimote as the gun? Super Metroid, Donkey Kong Country...
The downloaded games aren't your property. When Nintendo decides it's over for you or changes the fine print or whatever, you're no longer able to play the game. If you sell the Wii, the games are gone. They're non-transferable, you're not able to back them up (I think?), you can't sell them on eBay.
Conclusion: cartridges own VC games.
PS. I just bought SMB and it totally rocks!
Saying the game costs $600 because the console does it like me claiming it costs me £5500 to drive to work in the morning because that includes what I paid for the card. If there's absolutely nothing else on the system that he's interested in, then yes, Rampart online does cost him $606.
Just like DarkAlex's 302OE-b cost me $154.
The PSP version is pretty much broken. Rampart on the PSP is unplayable since the cursor moves so fast. Don't buy it.
That's an unlikely scenario, especially as there are many cheaper ways to play Rampart.
You could write off every game on the system as not being worth $600 but in reality the system costs is spread over all those $10-$60 games that ARE worth those prices.
I recall the early screens and press kits saying that the Wii would offer "rentals" where the downloaded games would expire after a day or so, maybe at a dollar a piece.
I recall that Sony at one point said they wanted to focus on turly next-gen ideas with 3-D games only on their download service.
Neither has been delievered, only compromises. So far, the only online console which is going according to plan is the X360.
However, they would have to license titles from each game manufacturer individually...and there were a lot of them, since there was no need to make a licensing deal with Nintendo like there was with a NES/etc. I'm actually surprised they have a few third party titles in there, I figured they would have stuck to Nintendo licensed games at first (other than the other companies they presumably made licensing deals with - Sega and I assume the TurboGrafx16 people). My only question: where's Metroid?
o le_games_(North_America)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Virtual_Cons
-- OpenVerse Visual Chat: http://openverse.com
Not quite true, that'd be true if there were nothing else on the system he's interested AND there never will be, which seems "unlikely" at best.
Fanatically anti-fanatical
Not quite true, that'd be true if there were nothing else on the system he's interested AND there never will be, which seems "unlikely" at best.
It might seem unlikely to you. I personally doubt anything will ever warrant those prices for me, and consider it unlikely that anything will come out on it that I'm interested in. All the must-have series that prompted me to get the PS2 have either ended (Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver) or been driven into the ground (Final Fantasy, MGS) in the PS2 generation. I doubt I'm the only one.
Except, to play this online version of Rampart, I would have to buy a console because it's only for the damnable PS3, a system that there is nothing else for it I'm even remotely interested in playing, bunky.