VC Games too Expensive?
Huge props to Schvizel for the following post. This, an many other quality articles, can be found in our forums.
The VC is used to attract classic gamers to their favorites and to attract new gamers to the legendary games that they’ve heard about but had no (I’ll say legal because of internet modding) means to play. I’ve got to be honest, I joined gaming in 1998 with the N64 and, boy, did I miss out on a lot! When I heard about the VC, that was one aspect of the Wii that convinced me to buy it. I was tantalized by the thought of downloading Kid Icarus, Earthbound, games that I’d only heard up and read bios of.
But then I get the VC we have today. A vast collection of good games, “meh, I’d play it games,” and downright crappy ones. I mean, come on Nintendo, Baseball? Tennis? Look, you just gave us Wii Sports with the Wii and now you’re charging us to buy these games again in 2 bit mode for nostalgia? And the price!?
The prices now stack up at 500 for NES, 800 for Genesis and SNES, 600 for TurboGraphx, and 1000 for N64. Now, the only one of these prices that actually seem fair, if not a down-right deal, for the games that are currently out would be TurboGraphx and Genesis.
If you look at the games currently on the VC for the NES, which include Wario’s Woods, Soloman’s Key, Baseball, Hockey, Tennis, Mario Bros, Super Mario Bros, The Legend of Zelda, and others, not only do we own many of these already (there are how many versions on Mario Bros. on the market now?), but many of them we want to buy for nostalgia but we are forced to pay 500 Wii points when we could get on eBay, pay virtually nothing for shipping, and buy the same game for $1. And then some hard to find NES games that are being offered are good too and could cost a lot more, so I like the price there.
I guess where I have a big bone with the prices is the N64, which costs 1000 points although many people will want to purchase games that they already own for the N64. If we already have Super Mario 64, why should we pay 1000 points so we can play it again, having broken or sold the N64 years ago? Also, I could go on eBay, and get the game for $10 or under, so again, why?
My main gripe hear seems to be the games currently out, but this too relates back to the price. My conclusion is that many of the prices are fair while others are simply ridiculous. What I propose is that Nintendo change their prices for the game, while not exceeding the prices they have now. For instance:
Wario Woods–500 Points
Baseball–200 Points
Soloman’s Key–400 PointsInstead, we have set prices which can either be a deal or a rip-off.
So, I agree with some prices and I disagree with others. It all depends on the title and how long it is going to last. But how Nintendo is organizing the VC right now….I generally disagree with it.
I mean, shouldn’t they give us demos to try the games before we buy them so we don’t waste hundreds of points…..
What do you think on this topic? Are set prices for consoles good or should different games cost different amounts? Speak up and let us know! Who knows when Nintendo is watching….
Comments
I definitely think different games should have different prices. I love Super Mario 64 and would gladly pay 10 points to own it. But some games are not worth that much. I don’t want to pay $5 or $8 for nes/snes games thnat reviewers say are trash. However if the prices were dropped to 2-3 dollars for the not so popular games, it becomes an impulse buy. I would buy many for that price, no matter what the reviews.
Do you guys think that in the future prices will drop?
I think Nintendo should get a serious online network for the Wii like LIVE, charge fourty dollars a year, and lower VC costs to a dollar per first party NES and SNES game for those who subscribe to the online service. If you lower the cost to a dollar per game and grow a user base of fourty or fifty million in the end you’re guaranteed to sell millions more (allowing the company to bend PR and raise stocks).
If they keep the VC prices so high they are only going to sell fewer Super Mario Brothers where if they lowered the price they could sell to half (or more) of their user base.
I just posted something like this in the forums! LOL.
But I believe there are larger issues with the Wii than VC prices.
Nintendo is going to have MP3 and Mario Galaxy out by Christmas this year but what else? What big exclusive (and of course meaningful) original character driven games do they have? Silicon Knights is developing original content for 360 and Factor 5 is doing the same on PS3 with a dragon game (that would have been cool on the Wii). Retro can’t be expected to pick up the slack for all Western games for the Wii. Metroid Prime 3 is going to be just that, Metroid Prime 3. It will have weird attacks like the screw attack that just won’t translate to multiplayer and the enemies will all still be soley puzzle based with robotic AI.
Nintendo is missing an original exclusive cooperative shooter in the vein of Gears of War or Halo– they don’t even have something simple like Quake or Doom online.
I’m afraid they are going to repeat MP2’s multiplayer and it will be the death of online shooters on the Wii.
In the next year I suspect we will get Mario Kart online, SSB online, Mario Party, Mario Sports, etc– I’m not convinced Nintendo is persuing with their software any new market outside of the people who bought GameCube. They need games that do for the new generation what Goldeneye, GTA, and Halo have done in the past in the West.
Nintendo has not convinced me that the Wii remote is good for shooters– Nintendo put a directional pad and an A button on the remote, they have designed it for games heavy on buttons rather than focusing on games heavy on camera controls. If Metroid’s camera controls were the motivation for the new interface it would have involved a trackball. Perhaps the pistol shell will offer a new paradigm (if redesigned to be rounder like a revolver and used along with another remote or nunchaku).
Recent rumors suggest that Nintendo Wii is about to get a shooter built from the ground up specifically designed for the Wii. As to what game that is, no one knows but if I were to venture a guess, I would say maybe a new Rainbow Six Game.
I feel you with a shooter similar to Halo or Gears (I literally just got done playing Gears online for 2 hours).
Metroid is supposed to be THE game. Overhauled graphics and awesome controls should pave the way for more shooters.
If they are working on an online comp. for metroid, I really hope that they do not tack it on like MP2. Metroid Prime hunters for DS was extremly fun online so we have that to look forward to.
As for other big name titles, I am sure we will get some soon enough. 3rd parties have really taken notice on how well the Wii has done thus far, so get ready! It should be a great year.
@3rd Anonymous:
Thanks for outlining essentially everything that isn’t VC related.
I believe that Nintendo has a good year coming. Many of the titles you listed are confirmed to release this year (it is now 2007), with the likes of Mario Party, Mario Strikers, SSBB, MP3, Super Mario Galaxy, Fire Emblem, BWii, and more along the way….and many of these supposedly have online.
I personally feel that MP3 will be the Wii’s Halo or Gears of War, but if you look at the Wii and the market it’s aimed towards, you can see why Nintendo might not be focused entirely on producing games like that. So far in, I’ve seen Nintendo really try and capture the non-gaming market and if anything, I see them snubbing the fanbase from the GCN, but I also see that improving later this year. I, do not, however, see them aiming the Wii towards the hardcore gamer.
Metroid Prime 3’s multiplayer has not been confirmed yet and it still remains open. There have been rumors of online multiplayer and there have been rumors of same-screen Co-Op modes. There is no way to tell at this moment, and since there is no way to tell, I don’t see how we can insult it. It was confirmed a while back that it would be in a different vein than MP2, so right there, that’s something to look for. And I don’t see how attacks like the Screw Attack not translating to multiplayer hurt you….I also don’t see why they wouldn’t fit in the long run. You could use them to reach extra weapon upgrades or to find a sniping range.
All in all, I don’t see what you’re griping about. The Wii is off to a powerful start with plenty of first party (I mentioned above) titles coming, and that doesn’t even include the third party games. All you seem to be concerned about is FPS games, which I agree, haven’t translated very well to the Wii so far, but again, it’s technology being used in a new, innovative way, and it’s going to take some time. You can’t expect a second generation 360 game to be out in the first generation of Wii games….it simply doesn’t work like that.
~Shvitzel
I would think cooperative play would fit Metroid better than deathmatch– but they have geared up several new characters in MP3 (if you’ve seen the opening cinematic of the game you know what I’m talking about).
Deathmatch is about aiming, not spin attacks (which require an understanding of the move to perform making it very difficult for guests to just jump in)– the grappling beam would work in multi player.
Also, Samus’ method of dropping bombs in ball mode just doesn’t translate to deathmatch– maybe if in ball mode she rather were able to bounce; the point is there is no real grenade in the game (where Halo 3 is going to have up to four types).