Revolution Downloads Free

[thecrazyd]

NOA Vice President confirms what we all want to hear (http://gamesradar.msn.co.uk/news/default.asp?pagetypeid=2&articleid=36071&subsectionid=1587).

Harrison then confirmed that past-gen, Nintendo-created titles will indeed be downloadable for free.
In my eyes, the console war has already been won. </flamebait>

Editor: Nintendo you devil! q;D

[ezzkmo]

wow. nice job nintendo! this will sell a couple systems i would think...

[Dracula-X]

Awesome. I'm sold. :)

[score]

Where do I sign?

[zsears]

Nintendo is back in the game!

[Heretic Machine]

Probably the smartest thing Nintendo has done in years.

[BrokenNut]

The question is, which previous Nintendo created titles. How far back does this go? Cause if it went to like NES times, that would be amazing. Super Mario Kart for the SNES, N64, and GC all together... *DROOL*. And it'd be fun to relive the Super Mario Bros. Games from the NES on a console instead of emulator. What other games do you remember that this would be fun for? Remember, Nintendo created titles only.

[Chagrinful]

W00t, w00t and w00t! I was already getting one anyway, but this might make it a pre-order deal for me now.

[Savok]

I really didn't expect this, especially for GC games since the system can play the discs anyway. I somehow expect the latest Zelda won't be available at release.

[if76]

Nintendo created titles only? So that means mainly the Zelda series (played to death), the Metroid Series (played to death), and the Mario series (played to death, resurrected then played to death again). Not to be a downer on this thread but I've played those games in all their original forms, compilations on Super Nintendo and GCube not to mention emulators on PC and Xbox. Then there's all the rehashes on Gameboy Advance and DS (Mario 64). This is definitely a nice extra but I'd prefer a system that can play top of the line NEW games.

[if76]

I really didn't expect this, especially for GC games since the system can play the discs anyway. I somehow expect the latest Zelda won't be available at release.

Where did you see anything about GCube games? It seems pretty infeasable that GCube games could be downloaded to the Revolution's 512MB flash memory not to mention the bandwidth costs Nintendo would have to front. 1MB NES games, 4MB SNES games and 15MB N64 games I can believe.

[*Legion*]

Where did you see anything about GCube games?

They specifically talked about Super Mario Sunshine being available on this download system at E3.

[*Legion*]

Next move for Nintendo: Allow/encourage/force 3rd parties to make their old games available for free also.

[Lodin]

Nintendo is fucking us agai... Oh wait...
Yay!

[Vilderen]

I was under the impression, that when you are buying a new system it is to play new games? I mean come on, we have all played these games ( and they were good), but is it not time to move on, Nintendo? Sure they will get all the fans along with this, but it probably will not seem that interesting to newcomers.

[outontheporch]

I can see it now...around the 360, couple college guys playing the newest madden...around the ps3, a few car enthusiasts playing the newest grand turismo...and around the revolution, about 50 people taking turns playing exite bike :)

[Rommel]

Praise! Absolute praise. Now the question is, how many third party titles (Square, I am looking at you) will be included.

[sickfallout]

Nintendo's opponents = Glass Joe

Nintendo just delivered a fully charged right uppercut, TKO.

[Deadend]

I think it would be cool if by previous systems, Nintendo ment everything before the Revolution.

but hot damn, you buy the Revolution (which will probably be cheaper than the other systems) and you can just... play old games.

Now... how many people will end up buying the system, and will only end up with a few games, as in not buy ANY launch titles, or hardly anything for years.

I am hoping that all Nintendo games that are 3+ years old will end up on the system, as giving a game 3 years to sell, then making it free sounds good, as I don't think many games will keep raking in the cash 4 years after release.

[Morratut]

Lol at Lodin.

Personally this doesn't excite me at all.Don't get me wrong it's good news but for me its not a system seller. :)

Mmmm i think i'm the only person in the world who didn't really like the mario,sonics of old. I remember when the SNES came out and all my friends was playing Super Mario all i wanted to play was street fighter or Super Probotector.I know they are good games though, just not my thing i guess. :confused:

I loved Legend of Zelda :A Link To The Past though.Played it to death.Even then though i wouldn't play it again.I'd be too busy playing all the new games. :)

[TrackZero]

Holy shit. I never would have thought they'd be doing this for free. I know people are going to hate-on Nintendo for this, claiming it doesn't matter, but it does. Many of us either have the old games in our collections or play them emulated on the PC (or modded Xboxes), however to the mainstream public, this is the first easy option to play Super Mario Bros. 3 they've had in some time. I know that alone will sell my sister on this console.

[TrackZero]

The question is, which previous Nintendo created titles. How far back does this go? Cause if it went to like NES times, that would be amazing. Super Mario Kart for the SNES, N64, and GC all together... *DROOL*. And it'd be fun to relive the Super Mario Bros. Games from the NES on a console instead of emulator. What other games do you remember that this would be fun for? Remember, Nintendo created titles only.

They covered this in their E3 presentation, it does go back to NES.

[TrackZero]

Nintendo created titles only? So that means mainly the Zelda series (played to death), the Metroid Series (played to death), and the Mario series (played to death, resurrected then played to death again). Not to be a downer on this thread but I've played those games in all their original forms, compilations on Super Nintendo and GCube not to mention emulators on PC and Xbox. Then there's all the rehashes on Gameboy Advance and DS (Mario 64). This is definitely a nice extra but I'd prefer a system that can play top of the line NEW games.

Really man, stow the hate. It's a new console, of course it can play new games. This is just an additional selling feature, that simple.

[TrackZero]

I was under the impression, that when you are buying a new system it is to play new games? I mean come on, we have all played these games ( and they were good), but is it not time to move on, Nintendo? Sure they will get all the fans along with this, but it probably will not seem that interesting to newcomers.

You're right. How dare they give people a great feature for free! They should have spent that time/energy making pre-rendered movies to show off at E3 instead. ;P

Edit: Also, "newcomers" is becoming a thing of the past in this industry. North America is about to hit the roof of the video game market (as Japan did a few years back), as new gamers can only be born so fast.

[bobbler]

Well, that settles it... N-Rev has a spot in my house.

[RMan]

I was under the impression, that when you are buying a new system it is to play new games?
Hehe, haven't seen evidence of that with the other consoles :). Seriously though, this is pretty darn cool, I was already most interested in the thing before, but this makes it a sure purchase. May not be revolutionary on it's own, but wicked cool nonetheless, and I think it’ll have a pretty huge impact on their foray into online gaming (something I’m sure plays into it).

[*Legion*]

Really man, stow the hate. It's a new console, of course it can play new games. This is just an additional selling feature, that simple.

Well, to be fair, I don't think this is "just" an additional selling feature. Nintendo has decided not to try and keep up in the hardware arms race with Sony and Microsoft. Given their promises, the Revolution will be *considerably* less powerful than the Xbox 360 and the PS3. And that's assuming the Revolution delivers on the "2-3 times more powerful than the GameCube" in full.

So, Nintendo has to do something. This isn't just a throw-in bonus, this is a central feature. There's not gonna be any new games that floor people like Metroid Prime and Resident Evil 4. Like it or not, technology matters. Being technologically inferior by an order of magnitude will hurt, badly. People will still come for the first-party titles, but it will hurt in trying to pull in people OTHER than the true-blue Nintendo faithful.

The ability to play all of those old games is their answer to the problem. And it's not a bad answer at all. But let's be real, it's not just a bonus. It's a full-blown strategy. Nintendo is not competing in cutting-edge gaming, so instead, they're setting a new bar in playing old games.

[Achilles]

Well they have my money. I’m not interested in the games Nintendo has released lately but if I can buy the whole library of old Nintendo games for probably $200-$250, I’m there. Hopefully they’ll be able to offer 3rd party games like Act Raiser as well. For modern games I’ll still pick up a 360 at launch. But if it’s Nintendo’s plan to get everyone to buy a Revolution not as their first console but as their second that’s an interesting strategy that could really gain them some ground. That way the PS3 will be banging its head against the 360 and Revolution can just be running parallel.

[TrackZero]

Well, to be fair, I don't think this is "just" an additional selling feature. Nintendo has decided not to try and keep up in the hardware arms race with Sony and Microsoft. Given their promises, the Revolution will be *considerably* less powerful than the Xbox 360 and the PS3. And that's assuming the Revolution delivers on the "2-3 times more powerful than the GameCube" in full.

So, Nintendo has to do something. This isn't just a throw-in bonus, this is a central feature. There's not gonna be any new games that floor people like Metroid Prime and Resident Evil 4. Like it or not, technology matters. Being technologically inferior by an order of magnitude will hurt, badly. People will still come for the first-party titles, but it will hurt in trying to pull in people OTHER than the true-blue Nintendo faithful.

The ability to play all of those old games is their answer to the problem. And it's not a bad answer at all. But let's be real, it's not just a bonus. It's a full-blown strategy. Nintendo is not competing in cutting-edge gaming, so instead, they're setting a new bar in playing old games.

Personally I'm seriously doubting the revolution will be that bad off. They've said it'll be 4-5 times more powerful than the gamecube, which will be some great freaking graphics. Sony's specs I always take with a truckload of salt. MS will probably deliver what they're promising. But I really don't see hardware as being an issue this generation. Hell, the PS2 has handled having the shittiest hardware for years now without issue. I think it would be adsurd to assume that mutliplatform titles won't be on the Revolution along with the other two consoles. Not to mention games developed just for the system. As well, think about it. The revolution is using flash memory for storage, as well as continuing to use smaller discs with faster read access. It'll once again be the only system without load times (while the other 2 will only climb).

Anyways, I'm going off on a tangent here. My point is simply that some people are considering the revolution non-nextgen simply because they didn't go ga-ga trying to show off hardware specs at E3. You haven't even seen what the system is capable of yet and you're already writing off it's ability to play "new" games? That's just silly.

Using the assumption that it obviously is a next-gen system and will have new games, my point stands that this is merely a fantastic feature and by no means "the revolution".

[RMan]

Being technologically inferior by an order of magnitude will hurt, badly.
Yea, certainly hurt the PS2. Look, technology does matter, but it matters most here and now, by that I mean pre-release and in hardcore/enthusiast groups. As soon as they're released what will matter to the mass market is the games, and how good they look will be 90% dictated by the developer, not the hardware. To the average player the best games on the current consoles don’t look that much different, and I think it’s a really safe bet that the visual difference between what the Revolution can do and what the PS3 can do will be less than the difference between the PS2 and the Xbox. You show the average player pictures of God of War, Halo 2, and Resident Evil 4 and they will likely be unable to tell you which ones were running on the superior platform. What will make the difference is primarily marketing and developer support, technology is way down the list.

[yutt]

I think this is going to be cool. It's funny how people actually bitch about this. As if this somehow makes the console worse. Next let's complain about backward compatibility!

Yeah, because Nintendo doesn't claim their system will have big knockers and give amazing head like Sony's, it must be technologically inferior by several orders of magnitude.

*cough*

[fushi]

So, Nintendo has to do something. This isn't just a throw-in bonus, this is a central feature. There's not gonna be any new games that floor people like Metroid Prime and Resident Evil 4. Like it or not, technology matters. Being technologically inferior by an order of magnitude will hurt, badly. People will still come for the first-party titles, but it will hurt in trying to pull in people OTHER than the true-blue Nintendo faithful.
Why do you say that? They announced a buch of games at E3 and whilst most of these were old franchises or remakes, there's also a new game by Miyamoto in the works. Also, I am almost certain that Nintendo hasn't played all of its cards yet.

[Adewade]

I will be one of the first with my money on the counter when the Revolution comes.

[Vandenh]

This is a pretty good idea from Nintendo. I don't think it will appeal to the casual gamers and won't sell them many more systems (except in japan where they still love the old Nintendo games a lot) but think about some of the possibilities.
Companies *could* make new games that run on these "older" systems. Small companies could make games much cheaper and maybe we will see some great small games appearing on the Rev. I wouldn't mind porting some of my stuff to this if Nintendo allows smaller developers to get SDKs. Suddenly developers will have a system that can do small games (NES) to big budget 3D-fests (Rev). Let's just hope that Nintendo has different SDK price options depending on what platform you will write games for.

I would like to add that the 360 has something similar. XBox Live Arcade build in... not free.. not the *real* original games but it is similar.

[Savok]

Jesus fucking christ some of you people have defects. HOW?! How can you bitch about this?! Do you hate free stuff? Do you hate games?

I hate Sony and the shoddy piles of shit they call hardware, but if they did something like this with the PS3 (with Square on board at least, and hell they can even have fees), I'd be camping out in front of EB for a god damn month just to be first in line.

And Legion, are you that new to industry PR bullshit?

[womp]

What other games do you remember that this would be fun for? Remember, Nintendo created titles only.

never played it before, but i'd love to give uniracers a try.

[Everlost_MI]

Ah...yes! The legacy of Nintendo will continue in my house. So if they are a bit slow with games in this generation they can fall back on the free older titles. That works for me, but I am still not getting rid of my NES, SNES, N64 or Gamecube console or games. :)

Now my question is, will these free game include Gameboy or DS titles?

[score]

I'de love to get my hands on something like treasures Sin and Punishment for the N64. Only played it via pc emulator but that game seriously rocked.

[crashedout]

If it does someting to make the graphics on old games look good, I would give it a spin but overall I don't really care. Good for those who loves those old games or have not played them, been there done that...bring on the new REVOLUTIONARY games....that is what I am hoping for.

Smart bussiness move, they already own the family game niche this just solidifies it. Hey parents, plug your kids in and they can play 1000's of games for free...you never need to buy anything again and they never need to go outside again.

[bapenguin]

Pretty damn sweet!! Now the question, is the online service going to stay free?
Surely you don't think all that bandwidth is cheap do you?

I hope they can get some 3rd party support on this, especially Konami and Capcom. I'd love to be playing some Double Dragon again, and some of the Megamans.

[Savok]

That's why I thought the GC games would at least require a fee, the bandwidth drain would be huge... unless they have some sort of p2p model, so the bandwidth you drain is from someone else?

[bobbler]

Pretty damn sweet!! Now the question is, what is the online service going to stay free?
Surely you don't think all that bandwidth is cheap do you?

I hope they can get some 3rd party support on this, especially Konami and Capcom. I'd love to be playing some Double Dragon again, and some of the Megamans.

Well... Now days bandwidth is cheap. Also remember... most of the games people will be DL'ing are ~128k (or less) in size (with something like 128MB(?) max for the biggest N64 game; snes and nes games are sub 1mb). You could probably make most people happy with only a few MB over their entire DL'ing spree. That's part of the beauty of their system, most of the games are so small and insignificant in size it costs them very little to offer the service. I think Nintendo is resigned to taking the hit of online service expensives just to show everyone that they aren't behind the times (and no-monthly-fee looks better than monthly-fee to buyers).

I totally agree on the 3rd party support. I really hope third party support this feature -- hell, they could charge also (as long as its very reasonable, like 1 dollar or less for the old games). I'd be happy with the commonly thrown around idea of including the old games with new games (like including all the old street fighter games with the new one -- if they were to make one). It would probably help sales and be such a tiny amount of extra work.

[The_Reckoning]

Ah... back in the ages of old, I was enjoying the delights of Simcity, Dune 2000 and Doom...

[Thenetcase]

Wow.. I wouldn't call this revolutionary. I could already get all those titles for free with MAME or something and play them on my PC while downloading more.

Let's do something interesting now, Mr. Nintendo. :P

-TNC-

[fitbabits]

What I'm getting from this is that Nintendo are so worried about apathy toward Revolution that they're giving stuff away for free in order to create some interest. Nintendo's golden years are behind them now and they need to stop relying on past glories and meet the challenges of the next generation head on - not past generations.

[ferr]

Hey, the article that reported this misunderstood the point that the interviewee was trying to get across.

Past-Gen Nintendo-Created Titles will not be downloadable for free.

From the original interview:
1) They contradict that it will be free:

"GS: Do you plan on having like a per-download pricing model along the lines of the microtransactions that will be used in the next-gen Xbox marketplace?

GH: Well, we can use it in a variety of ways. We've used some of the older games already as little bonuses, either as bonus gifts or hidden in levels of games. Certainly for the first-party titles we'll be making some of those available. We haven't really talked about whether we would sell them. The third parties can make their own decision whether they want to sell them, or maybe they will add it on as sort of a free benefit when you buy a current version of the game. "

2) The part of the interview that was misunderstood:

GS: To continue with what's so revolutionary about the Revolution...

GH: Well, I think certainly being wireless out of the box is revolutionary. People sort of picked on us for not jumping in prematurely into online or Internet gaming, but we just looked at it, the way it was evolving, and just felt that it was not time to jump in. But certainly with the next console it would be, with a couple of important changes like eliminating the access fee so there's not really a monthly subscription, and making use of first-party games, downloadable for free.

He speaks of eliminating access fees then says "making use of first-party games" outside of the context of backwards compatability; he could have meant that downloadables, such as new maps for a Nintendo FPS, would be downloadable for free because access fees would be eliminated.

I'd love to be wrong.

[fitbabits]

Hmm, after reading the various posts on this thread and information from other sources, I predict a slow and agonizing end to Nintendo’s Revolution. They don’t appear to know what they want the Revolution to do and are throwing half-baked ideas out there to see if anything sticks.

Seeing Nintendo treading shark filled waters like they are now is deeply troubling to me.

[TrackZero]

Hmm, after reading the various posts on this thread and information from other sources, I predict a slow and agonizing end to Nintendo’s Revolution. They don’t appear to know what they want the Revolution to do and are throwing half-baked ideas out there to see if anything sticks.

Seeing Nintendo treading shark filled waters like they are now is deeply troubling to me.

Heh. C'mon now. This is Nintendo. They don't give 2 shits what any of us think, so they certainly aren't throwing ideas around to gauge public reaction. They already have their plan, and they'll stick with it through hell or high water, they've always been that way.

Remember a little thing called the Virtual Boy, whom everyone at the company even knew would fail? They just kept going with it, they don't change direction once they've made a decision.

[bapenguin]

Nintendo is going to do fine next generation, because all of the Nintendo fans, this is exactly what they want. By making their system 5x less powerful than the "competition" they basically eliminate the cross platform titles from their system. What does that leave? All exclusive content from Nintendo and companies developing exclusivly for them....hmm...kinda like today.

I'd like to see the revolution in this whole thing as going to be user made games distributed via their online network.

[Furious Wang]

If they were to offer all the games for free I'd definately buy a Revolution. I'm just not so sure they will. I too imagine this was just a misunderstanding in the interview. If it *were* true, then why wouldn't they have made this announcement at E3?

[Gigadafud]

i see alot of people that think its a neat idea. then i see alot of people that are like, blah blah blah, nintendo suk0r5 cuase they dont have 4399204 games in their line up'

to which i respond i would rather have 23 games instead of 4399200 games that suck a55

[fitbabits]

Heh. C'mon now. This is Nintendo. They don't give 2 shits what any of us think, so they certainly aren't throwing ideas around to gauge public reaction. They already have their plan, and they'll stick with it through hell or high water, they've always been that way.

Remember a little thing called the Virtual Boy, whom everyone at the company even knew would fail? They just kept going with it, they don't change direction once they've made a decision.

You're probably right, but it seems to me that Nintendo have been a generation behind for the last five or so years. Nintendo loyalists will no doubt ensure that the Revolution does enough to stay alive, but Nintendo need to realize that the public perception is that they are no longer the dominant force they may think they are.

I'm babbling incoherently because I've been in the office since 4 this morning and I'm tired.

[fitbabits]

i see alot of people that think its a neat idea. then i see alot of people that are like, blah blah blah, nintendo suk0r5 cuase they dont have 4399204 games in their line up'

to which i respond i would rather have 23 games instead of 4399200 games that suck a55

That's fine and all, so long as you don't mind that 20 of your 23 games will be Zelda/Pokemon/Metroid/Mario cash ins. Which Nintendo loyalists will lap up like a dog in the desert that suddenly comes across a pond of fresh water.

[normyk]

A little off topic but there seems to be a lot of doubt about the Revolution and Nintendo's entire next gen strategy flying around this thread. This is my opinion and not based in any way on any sort of facts, just lots of assumptions - I.e. I am talking out my ass. I know it so you don't need to tell me. I already know. That said...

I find it funny that so many people are crying doom for Nintendo. What is the hardware cost of a 360 or a PS3? Twice what they will be selling for? They'll be selling each unit for a loss is my point. What is the hardware cost for the Revolution? Unless the controller is something REALLY absurd it should be very cheap. The Revolution will probably be break even on hardware from day one. So instead of losing money on every console they sell and trying to make it back on games they at the very least don't lose any money on the consoles and make money from the games as well. So Nintendo sells a Revolution and they are in the black. MS and Sony need to sell how many games to make up for the hardware losses? Sony will rule in terms of sales and will do well enough - I think that is a given. MS may even do well this next gen. But both will be susidising the hardware with game sales in a huge way. Nintendo, on the other hand, will probably be selling a lot less but doing it with a lot less risk as well. Black ink all the way.

If they do charge for past-gen games a price of around $2-$5 a title would be amazing for them. They would sell so many old games it would be crazy. No advertising cost for the old stuff, no packaging, no cartridge. All they have to do is serve it up. Even after bandwidth they are making a nice fat profit per downloaded title and that just adds more to the bottom line. I can't see them giving it away for free, but I can see it being very cheap.

Anyway, I'm just trying to say that the Revolution will probably do just fine. There is a lot of risk involved in embracing high-end hardware and Nintento is having none of it. Again, talking out my ass and I know it. Flame away.

[PotatoNinja]

Nintendo probably doesn't give a flying shit about being popular on Evil Avatar or being considered the "dominant force", their profit margins for the Gamecube are far better than Sony or Microsoft's margins. Everyone wants market control, but if Nintendo is truly "TEH DOOMINATED!", why are they continuing to make money? Perhaps they're going to drown in all that revenue, a cruel and unrelenting tide of dollar bills slowly washing over Miyamoto as he begs for rescue.

If this download bit is true, the Revolution is that much better. I'd gladly pay $150-200 to have a collection of classic NES, SNES, and N64 games in my living room. Emulators just aren't the same, there's something special about having it on a console, hooked up to your TV, that just can't translate on the PC screen.

I wonder if they'll add support for GBA or GB games? Not likely, but goddamn that would be sexy.

[Chandler]

Hmm, after reading the various posts on this thread and information from other sources, I predict a slow and agonizing end to Nintendo’s Revolution. They don’t appear to know what they want the Revolution to do and are throwing half-baked ideas out there to see if anything sticks.

Seeing Nintendo treading shark filled waters like they are now is deeply troubling to me.

didnt the last EvilAvatar poll say X-Box360 was more popular?

who do you truly think will win the nextgen war....I think it's pretty obvious.

[fitbabits]

didnt the last EvilAvatar poll say X-Box360 was more popular?

who do you truly think will win the nextgen war....I think it's pretty obvious.

You want my serious answer or my churlish one?

Churlish - the gamer wins, hands down.

Serious - I predict a tie between Microsoft and Sony.

It depends on the inroads Microsoft can make in Japan. If they can make a serious dent there, then it's open season on Sony and Nintendo.

[bapenguin]

Nintendo probably doesn't give a flying shit about being popular on Evil Avatar or being considered the "dominant force", their profit margins for the Gamecube are far better than Sony or Microsoft's margins. Everyone wants market control, but if Nintendo is truly "TEH DOOMINATED!", why are they continuing to make money? Perhaps they're going to drown in all that revenue, a cruel and unrelenting tide of dollar bills slowly washing over Miyamoto as he begs for rescue.

If this download bit is true, the Revolution is that much better. I'd gladly pay $150-200 to have a collection of classic NES, SNES, and N64 games in my living room. Emulators just aren't the same, there's something special about having it on a console, hooked up to your TV, that just can't translate on the PC screen.

I wonder if they'll add support for GBA or GB games? Not likely, but goddamn that would be sexy.

I think people say Nintendo is doomed not because of profit, that's never been in question. People say it because every generation now since the SNES their sales numbers have continued to decrease in relation to the rest of the market.

Nintendo is now the Apple of the console world, plain and simple.

[Kamalot]

I don't think it will appeal to the casual gamers and won't sell them many more systems

Have to disagree. Look at the wild success of all these retro games-in-a-joystick things. Casual gamers pick them up all the time, even for their kids!

With the revolution, you get a new console as well as all of theose old Nintendo games rolled into 1. Brilliant!

[fitbabits]

I think people say Nintendo is doomed not because of profit, that's never been in question. People say it because every generation now since the SNES their sales numbers have continued to decrease in relation to the rest of the market.

Nintendo is now the Apple of the console world, plain and simple.

Nice analogy, bapenguin.

[president_fred]

Nintendo is now the Apple of the console world, plain and simple.
I don't have a problem with this. As long as nintendo doesn't get raped like sega and can continue to produce great games profitably on its consoles I am happy. The more choices I have as a gamer the happier I am. I reckon I will own all three consoles next gen unless one is really shit (but I doubt that) and I think many of these so called tired sequels that nintendo releases continue to bring fresh ideas and there are new ip's particularly in the handheld market. So long as I have the ability to play nintendo games, hopefully on a nintendo console, I am as happy as a schoolgirl.

[Rirath]

I'm amazed the vast majority of this place can scorn Sony left and right, but throw themselves at Nintendo. Good grief folks, 1) the article is probably wrong, 2) It's not THIRD PARTY titles and it's not the ENTIRE back catalog, and 3) for crying out loud, you've played them all before! MANY TIMES, on MANY systems! Have you all forgot that little thing called THE PAST? Oh happy day, my brand new next gen system is here and I can play Mario 3 again!

Nintendo could put out just about anything at this point and I tell you, people would go crazy for it. They could just dress up a NES original and I'm sure half this board would buy it as 'true fans'. If the lineup I saw at E3 is any indication, I'll be buying a DS this fall. And if the price is right, I'll be buying a "Revolution" sooner or later. But geesh folks, get some perspective here.

[TrackZero]

3) for crying out loud, you've played them all before! MANY TIMES, on MANY systems! Have you all forgot that little thing called THE PAST? Oh happy day, my brand new next gen system is here and I can play Mario 3 again!

To quote the Simpsons: "But she's got a new hat! I want it, I want it, I want it!"

[Kamalot]

I'm amazed the vast majority of this place can scorn Sony left and right...

It is downright easy to scorn filthy liars.
If they are scorned, they deserve it.

If Nintendo came out and told everyone that every Revolution comes with a free puppy of their choice, and then ships the console sans-puppy, you can bet there would be a lot of Nintendo scorn as well.

In conclusion, Nintendo has been a bit more trustworthy than Sony in these matters. Therefore when they make statements that sound good, they are usually times to be excited. When Sony makes statements that sound good, we all remember the host of other times we've been lied to by Sony.

[7ofswords]

Oh yes, I'll be buying one of these.

[Goronmon]

This would be sweet if its true, but some part of me thinks that someone just interpreted a statement somewhere wrong and its not quite as awesome as the OP is making it out to be.

[Liquidize105]

for crying out loud, you've played them all before! MANY TIMES, on MANY systems! Have you all forgot that little thing called THE PAST? Oh happy day, my brand new next gen system is here and I can play Mario 3 again!

It's simple: Old games are fun and still fun after many plays many years later. Modern games are a drag. Shooter mania, but aren't they ALL the same?

The 360's gonna have the most unoriginal/1 play-through games out of all 3 consoles. Why? Cus it's too goddamn western. The PC scifi/fantasy space is littered with me-too crap that will all be on the 360.

[riposte101]

Maybe Nintendo can age my old games like fine wine like Sony can do with my videos.

[Manzy]

If they can make Konami hop on board, I'll buy one in a heart beat.

[mkelehan]

Until I see a quote, I won't believe it. Nintendo holds their IP very close, and won't go from charging $20 a pop on the GBA (when they could've charged that for packs of 5 games or more) to just giving them away. Maybe a few will be free, but I just can't see Nintendo giving away everything.

If that were true, why bother with the download service at all? Why not just stick all of the ROMs on a disc and include it with each system?

[jBusy]

I think people say Nintendo is doomed not because of profit, that's never been in question. People say it because every generation now since the SNES their sales numbers have continued to decrease in relation to the rest of the market.

Nintendo is now the Apple of the console world, plain and simple.

Nintendo sells more game systems than Sony and Microsoft combined.
http://nintendoinsider.com/site/EEEFylpkElFffmiBlr.php

Now I guess you can argue that they've lost marketshare since the NES, I mean they had 100% of the market back then right? But retaining over 50% of all systems sold? Even with 2 competetors that have deep pockets? That's not even considering that Nintendo made $1 BILLION in profits last year - double that of Sony. ( http://nintendoinsider.com/site/EEEFylpkElFffmiBlr.php )

[Vilderen]

Remember a little thing called the Virtual Boy, whom everyone at the company even knew would fail? They just kept going with it, they don't change direction once they've made a decision.

Well why on earth did they continue developing it then?

Btw. Trackzero, never said I was impressed by Sony's bs, Microsoft is the only company to have shown any real next-gen atm. so their games are the first next-gen, you can base your opinion on, not some pre-rendered crap and since Nintendo has not shown any games for the Rev, why should i be impressed? This whole matter with FREE downloadable games, seems to be rumours too...

[Sargondai]

Doing a quick sanity check of the UK article, they claim that the Gamespot interview with Harrison says that the downloads will be free.

From the article:
GS: Do you plan on having like a per-download pricing model along the lines of the microtransactions that will be used in the next-gen Xbox marketplace?

GH: Well, we can use it in a variety of ways. We've used some of the older games already as little bonuses, either as bonus gifts or hidden in levels of games. Certainly for the first-party titles we'll be making some of those available. We haven't really talked about whether we would sell them. The third parties can make their own decision whether they want to sell them, or maybe they will add it on as sort of a free benefit when you buy a current version of the game.

Folks, this is *NOT* true as of yet. The posted article simple misconstrued Harrison's remarks. Stop with the rampant speculation! :)

[Savok]

Well why on earth did they continue developing it then?

Because that's what Nintendo does.

[Savok]

Also, why must gaming journalism mimic the MSM in that it does zero fact checking.

[Dirty Harry]

Well, to be fair, I don't think this is "just" an additional selling feature. Nintendo has decided not to try and keep up in the hardware arms race with Sony and Microsoft. Given their promises, the Revolution will be *considerably* less powerful than the Xbox 360 and the PS3. And that's assuming the Revolution delivers on the "2-3 times more powerful than the GameCube" in full.

So, Nintendo has to do something. This isn't just a throw-in bonus, this is a central feature. There's not gonna be any new games that floor people like Metroid Prime and Resident Evil 4. Like it or not, technology matters. Being technologically inferior by an order of magnitude will hurt, badly. People will still come for the first-party titles, but it will hurt in trying to pull in people OTHER than the true-blue Nintendo faithful.

The ability to play all of those old games is their answer to the problem. And it's not a bad answer at all. But let's be real, it's not just a bonus. It's a full-blown strategy. Nintendo is not competing in cutting-edge gaming, so instead, they're setting a new bar in playing old games.
Lets put this into perspective, I have never purchased a nintendo system since the Original ....... wait a tick, i bought the NES, the SNES and the original gameboy and N64 am i a nintendo fanboy?. My point is that nintendo has my seriously considering purchasing their system this generation.

[AspectVoid]

Personally, I wonder if this means that the US will finally get series that never made it out of Japan, like Fire Emblam. There are 5 FE games spread out over the NES and SNES that were made by Nintendo. If not, then I don't really seen any reason to get excited over this.

[if76]

I don't think Nintendo can keep doing what they're doing and still make a profit in the end. Even if they do break even on every console sold, they're still taking a very big monetary risk. Unless enough people actually buy their system they're still gonna lose money on unsold hardware. Of course they don't break even on things like advertising costs (tens of millions of dollars), and in-store kiosks, and R&D. The only way people will buy these systems is if the games are good enough to get their attention. This means that Nintendo will have to invest millions in software development costs which will garner diminishing returns if their user base keeps shrinking the way it is. So yes Nintendo is taking a very big risk just as any company does when they launch a console.

[A-Team]

You're right. How dare they give people a great feature for free! They should have spent that time/energy making pre-rendered movies to show off at E3 instead. ;P
The funny thing is, that's the first thing that crossed my mind when I started reading through this thread.

Perfecto!

[megatron666]

It is downright easy to scorn filthy liars.
If they are scorned, they deserve it.

If Nintendo came out and told everyone that every Revolution comes with a free puppy of their choice, and then ships the console sans-puppy, you can bet there would be a lot of Nintendo scorn as well.

In conclusion, Nintendo has been a bit more trustworthy than Sony in these matters. Therefore when they make statements that sound good, they are usually times to be excited. When Sony makes statements that sound good, we all remember the host of other times we've been lied to by Sony.

I will agree with you that Nintendo has been more trustworthy in it's statements. But the scorn for Sony here at evilavatar is pretty amazing. All because people bought into the hype for the ps2. And yet, the hype for the xbox was pretty big and I don't remember playing anything good on it, except halo, for a year and a half.

Here's the deal, as long as no one buys into the hype and buys a system based on the features it has and the games it has, you won't be let down. All I knew about the ps2 before it came out was that it would play my old ps1 games and dvds. Since I lived in a small dorm room and space mattered, those features were important to me.

Now, both Sony and Microsoft are throwing around a lot of hype and I really don't believe either one of them. Nintendo, on the other hand, hasn't really said anything exept for this: when their next gen console comes out I will (potentially) be able to have access to hundreds, if not thousands, of great games. That sounds pretty sweet to me.

[Kamalot]

Now, both Sony and Microsoft are throwing around a lot of hype and I really don't believe either one of them. Nintendo, on the other hand, hasn't really said anything exept for this: when their next gen console comes out I will (potentially) be able to have access to hundreds, if not thousands, of great games. That sounds pretty sweet to me.

Agreed. That sounds sweet to me too.

I believe they also said, "When you see the graphics, you will say 'wow!'"

Maybe I'm old, but that's something I can relate to. I don't cate how many gigaflops a machine has, I care about how much fun it is. If the graphics are nice, so much the better.

How can anyone expect me to want to upgrade consoles when the games already look fantastic. Is anyone here complaining because God of War, Forza or Resident Evil 4 are poopy-looking games?

[BrokenNut]

never played it before, but i'd love to give uniracers a try.

OMG, I had completely forgotten about that game. I rented it for a weekend and it was just a blast because of how odd and silly it was. That game was very good fun.

[PotatoNinja]

for crying out loud, you've played them all before! MANY TIMES, on MANY systems! Have you all forgot that little thing called THE PAST? Oh happy day, my brand new next gen system is here and I can play Mario 3 again!

Know Your Roots (bitch) :D


Anyways...

The Apple --> Nintendo comparison is spot on in some ways, but misses a large part of the current market setup. Like Apple, Nintendo is doing well by producing electronics marketted to a niche while maintaining a low-cost and high-yield business setup.

What the analogy glosses over is that out of all three console companies, Nintendo is currently on the best financial footing. That isn't saying the Gamecube is best (I love all three of my precious little babies), or that Nintendo is "teh perfect" or "teh doomed" or whatever.

Simply put, if the current market was to exist perpetually, Nintendo would be happiest. Sony and Microsoft are doing well in terms of market share, but poorly in terms of profits on their consoles (at least compared to Nintendo).

[dr_wily]

jesus some random site farts a rumor and we get an 80 post monstrocity.

now if even some of the games end up free that will kill the value of our originals.. sniff.

[mister_slim]

This article takes Harrison's comments out of context. Nintendo does plan to give away a lot of games, but they are probably tying them to new games, as with Fight Night 2 and Super Punchout. They aren't going to let you download everything right off the bat. I hope they build in enough of a revenue stream to support localizing games that were never released in the US, like Final Fantasy 3, Mother, or Fire Emblem.

I wonder if they'll add support for GBA or GB games? Not likely, but goddamn that would be sexy.
The Gameboy Player is awesome, btw. I don't think the Revolution will be backwards compatible with that though.
I think people say Nintendo is doomed not because of profit, that's never been in question. People say it because every generation now since the SNES their sales numbers have continued to decrease in relation to the rest of the market.

Nintendo is now the Apple of the console world, plain and simple.
Good point. Like Apple, market share is pretty small and erratic but profitablity remains high and they influence much of the market. I find it funny that Apple is now spending 2/3rds the amount of money on research that Microsoft is.
Well why on earth did they continue developing [the Virtual Boy] then?

Because it was the pet project of Gunpei Yokoi, who invented the Gameboy. He ended up being driven out of Nintendo by the failure of the VB. He then started his own company and did some contract work for Nintendo until hired by someone to develop a Gameboy competitor, which did pretty well. Then he died in a car accident. In terms of influence on the industry he's up there with Miyamoto.

[Stryfe01]

Nintendo's opponents = Glass Joe

Nintendo just delivered a fully charged right uppercut, TKO.

Riiiiight....it's a cool feature, but as many have stated. There's nothing "killer app" in that. It will bring on loyalists, and women who like "simple" gaming...but really, most kids now are graphics whores...how many will really take the time to play these older games. Not many. I see so many kids, 5-13 laugh at games i still think are cool, but are just OLD. Sad ? Not really. Why ? If I were them growing up on 3D, I wouldn't be interested in them either, definitely not on a home console.

[Zanzibar]

What the analogy glosses over is that out of all three console companies, Nintendo is currently on the best financial footing.

I don't know about anyone else, but I got a pretty good laugh out of that line.

Microsoft profits double (http://www.webpronews.com/business/topbusiness/wpn-54-20050429ProfitsDoubleforMicrosoft.html) while Nintendo is expecting a 14% drop in profits. (http://biz.gamedaily.com/features.asp?article_id=9698)

Yeah yeah Microsoft OS/Office sales Nintendo games only blah blah. Money is money and Microsoft has shown ZERO intention to back off of the console business.

[Kamalot]

Microsoft profits double (http://www.webpronews.com/business/topbusiness/wpn-54-20050429ProfitsDoubleforMicrosoft.html) while Nintendo is expecting a 14% drop in profits. (http://biz.gamedaily.com/features.asp?article_id=9698)

Seems like a 14% drop in billions of yen still makes Nintendo more profitable than Microsoft's entertainment division, even if they tripple (300%) what they are making.

I don't mind Microsoft subsidizing their game division with earnings from other divisions. It means more powerful hardware sold for cheap. Basically, Microsoft giving you money to buy their Xbox. That's good for gamers in the short term.

I'm also for Nintendo being profitable. I'd like to see them around for a long time to come. A sad, sad world it would be without Nintendo.

What I don't want to see is the WalMart syndrome, where such big companies come into town and sell things at a loss to push the little guy out of the market. Lots of good businesses that make unique products can't survive when WalMart comes into town. I hope that the Sony / Microsoft wars don't do that to Nintendo.

[bobbler]

Microsoft's game division has only had one profitable quarter since it came into existance (it's lost billions overall).

Of course when you're Microsoft and you make ~10billion in profit a year, you can do whatever the hell you want, indefinately.

[Kelegacy]

Seems like a 14% drop in billions of yen still makes Nintendo more profitable than Microsoft's entertainment division, even if they tripple (300%) what they are making.

I don't mind Microsoft subsidizing their game division with earnings from other divisions. It means more powerful hardware sold for cheap. Basically, Microsoft giving you money to buy their Xbox. That's good for gamers in the short term.

I'm also for Nintendo being profitable. I'd like to see them around for a long time to come. A sad, sad world it would be without Nintendo.

What I don't want to see is the WalMart syndrome, where such big companies come into town and sell things at a loss to push the little guy out of the market. Lots of good businesses that make unique products can't survive when WalMart comes into town. I hope that the Sony / Microsoft wars don't do that to Nintendo.

The WalMart Syndrome is here. We cant avoid it, not with people feeding right out of their hands. A few months ago I was a Nintendo skeptic, feeling apathetic about the DS post-launch release (i am not a DS fan BTW)...but now I'm starting to come around again. I've always been mildly leery of Microsoft's intentions in the console world and I think I should beware Sony too...but for the past decade Sony has brainwashed me into a happy, modern gamer. Now more than ever I see how important Nintendo is to the industry...I look at them as the good guy, the others coughing, cigar smoking kingpins striving to squash the "out on his ass bum". I dont hate the kingpins, but their intentions are anything but wholesome. They've treated me fairly well.

Nintendo needs to get that 3rd party support back and they'd be good as golden--better than golden--I am sure. Also, Nintendo irked me back in the day when they removed the blood from Mortal Kombat; if they can shed their "kiddie console" image and move more towards a middle ground (Mario with guns is not the answer) I'll be super happy. I've been burned out by killing sprees and mindless hack and slashes. A Nintendo fix is something I really need right now. The Revolution may just be the answer, if it is reasonably priced and indeed plays all the old games like rumor says. That's just unfuckingbelievable.

[Draft]

So, uh...

http://www.gamespot.com/news/2005/05/26/news_6126595.html

GS: Do you plan on having like a per-download pricing model along the lines of the microtransactions that will be used in the next-gen Xbox marketplace?

GH: Well, we can use it in a variety of ways. We've used some of the older games already as little bonuses, either as bonus gifts or hidden in levels of games. Certainly for the first-party titles we'll be making some of those available. We haven't really talked about whether we would sell them. The third parties can make their own decision whether they want to sell them, or maybe they will add it on as sort of a free benefit when you buy a current version of the game.

[mattcoz]

If any of you would have bothered to read the original interview, you would realize that Harrison NEVER said this. He said they hadn't decided if they would sell the downloadable games yet, and that first party Revolution games would be free to play online. It's all gamesradar misinterpreting what he said.

[Zanzibar]

That's my point. MS owns the world, and come hell or high water, they have the financial muscle to outlast any other company on the goddamned planet.

Splitting up profits from the 'entertainment division' versus OS division etc etc is pointless if the company views them all as interconnected.

Name me one thing that Microsoft has done that gave ANY indication that they were worried about losses in their Xbox division.

I suppose this is a thread hijack; I was just commenting on the statement that somehow Nintendo is in better financial shape than anyone else.

The truth is that if Microsoft wanted to put Sony into the ground, they've got a decent strategy. The PS3 is going to be ridiculously expensive. If they pass that cost on to the consumer, then sales will be low. If they eat it per unit, then their profits will be small, and Sony can't handle those kids of losses as well as Microsoft can.

I think Nintendo is pursuing a risky strategy by opting to not field a top-tier system that can take on Sony or Microsoft. Not many parents who buy their kids' entertainment systems will want to splurge for two or more systems.

[Kamalot]

You know what I just realized? The dominant console since the dawn of 3D gaming hasn't been the most powerful.

3D Generation 1:
Saturn
Playstation (1)
N64

N64 blew the doors off of the 3D capabilities of the Playstation, yet where did it end up? Saturn, that was too much of a bitch to program 3D on.
Winner: Underpowered Playstation

3D Generation 2:
Dreamcast
Playstation 2
Xbox
GameCube

While the Dreamcast launched first, the looming hype machine of the PS2 kept many people from ever trying the console. Both the Xbox and GameCube are both much more powerful than the PS2, yet where are they in number of units sold?
Winner: Underpowered Playstation 2

Maybe Nintendo isn't so crazy after all.

The most hysterical thing is all of the Sony fanboys screaming about how their system will rock because it will be the most powerful. Since when did processing power matter to Playstation's success?

[mister_slim]

Zanzibar, aren't those the results from the quarter where MS booked an extra $300 million from Halo 2 and also cut R&D investments in half?

[JM_Zen]

Wow, I'm sold. I mean, I already was, but not I'm even more sold. I think I'll buy one of these for my sister (who also loves classic Nintendo games), just to show my support.