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Virtual Console

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File:Img virtualconsole.jpg
A logo from Nintendo's Virtual Console website

Virtual Console, sometimes abbreviated as VC, is a video game download service that is currently offered by Nintendo for its Wii gaming console. Described by Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata as "the video game version of Apple's iTunes Store", the service features titles from past Nintendo consoles (NES, SNES and N64) and formerly competing systems, the Mega Drive/Genesis and TurboGrafx-16.

Library history

While the gameplay remains unchanged for all of the classic titles offered via the Virtual Console, Nintendo has stated that some of the games may be improved with sharper graphics or better framerates.[1] The Virtual Console is region-locked, just as the Wii is region-locked for regular Wii games. The Virtual Console service will not be used exclusively for retro games, however no specific non-retro game has been announced for the Virtual Console.[2]

Satoru Iwata stated in a speech on March 23, 2006, that Nintendo, Sega and Hudson Soft are working in collaboration to bring a "best of" series of games to the Wii.[3] This gives the companies a pool of over 200 Sega games from which to choose. At E3, Hudson also declared it would bring upwards of 100 titles to the Wii's virtual console. Additionally, Hudson mentioned that its lawyers are working on acquiring the licenses to games from now defunct companies.[4] Nintendo has mentioned MSX compatiblity but has yet to announce any games from it.[5].

Third party support

Unnamed Nintendo employees have reportedly speculated that licensing issues will be a predominant factor in determining whether a game is available for Virtual Console[6], giving the examples of GoldenEye 007 and Tetris as games that might be too expensive to license for the Virtual Console. Tecmo has announced it plans to "aggressively" support Virtual Console by releasing classic games such as Ninja Gaiden, Rygar, and Tecmo Bowl.[7] Tecmo was the first third-party game developer to release a game on the Virtual Console (Solomon's Key on the NES). Since then, Capcom and Konami have also released titles.

Matt Casamassina of IGN reported that Rareware titles not featuring Nintendo characters would not be available to download due to Rare's current licensing, but neither Rareware nor Microsoft (who currently has majority ownership of Rareware) has confirmed this.[8] SNK Playmore has recently announced intentions to help support the Wii Virtual Console by releasing the Samurai Shodown series and a few other games to the Virtual Console.[9] Midway also plans to bring classic Mortal Kombat games to the Virtual Console.[10]

Atlus, Namco Bandai, Banpresto, Chunsoft, D4 Enterprise, Enterbrain, HAL Laboratory, Irem, Jaleco, KEMCO, Koei, Midway Games, NCS Masaya, Netfarm, Paon, Rocket Company, Square Enix, Sunsoft, SNK Playmore, Taito, Takara and TOMY are confirmed supporters.[11]

Issues regarding PAL Wii systems

With the launch of the Wii in territories using the PAL television system, it has become apparent that in most cases the games supplied for the Virtual Console run in 50Hz mode and in their original unoptimised state. Unoptimised PAL games run roughly 17% slower than their original speed in 60Hz and have borders covering about 10% of the screen.[12] A particularly obvious example is Sonic the Hedgehog, which retains the slower framerate and borders of the original PAL Mega Drive version. By contrast, Super Mario Kart was partially optimized for its PAL release, approximating the speed of the original 60Hz version.

Setting the Wii console to 60Hz mode does not force the 50Hz game into 60Hz mode (as is possible on emulators and modified PAL consoles), and Nintendo has made no announcement regarding this issue on PAL Wii systems. Note that there are some exceptions: Super Mario 64 is properly optimised to run at equivalent speed to the NTSC version, which was not the case with its original PAL release (although this game does still run in 50Hz). Donkey Kong Country was developed by Rare, and as a result the PAL 50Hz conversion did not have borders and ran at the same speed as the NTSC version. TurboGrafx-16 games are the only Virtual Console games to actually run in 60Hz on PAL Wii systems.

There is much speculation regarding the reasons for this decision, as this may have implications for the future Virtual Console lineup. If Nintendo only intends to release exact copies of PAL releases, for example, then many games that never had a PAL release (such as Nintendo's EarthBound, or Treasure's N64 game Sin and Punishment: Successor of the Earth) simply will not appear on the PAL Virtual Console.

Pricing

On September 14 2006, Nintendo revealed that Virtual Console games in Japan would be priced starting at JP¥500 for NES titles, JP¥800 for Super NES titles, and JP¥1000 for Nintendo 64 titles, with points purchasable via credit card or a "Wii Points" card. In the United States, Wii Points are priced at $19.99 MSRP (2000 points), yielding game prices of US$5, US$8, and US$10, respectively.[13][14] Wii Points in the UK cost £7.00 per 1000 when buying them directly online by credit card, and a card with 2000 points typically retails at £14.99. In the Eurozone points are €20 per 2000.

Country NES SNES N64 Mega Drive/Genesis TurboGrafx-16 MSX
Wii Points 500+ 800+ 1000+ 800+ (600+ in Japan) 600+
Australia $7.50 $12 $15 $12 -
Canada $6.25 $10 $12.50 $10 $7.50
Europe €5 €8 €10 €8 €6
Japan ¥500 ¥800 ¥1000 ¥600 ¥600
New Zealand $9 $14.40 $18 $14.40 -
United Kingdom (with points bought online) £3.50 £5.60 £7.00 £5.60 £4.20
United Kingdom (with points bought on point cards) £3.75 £6.00 £7.50 £6.00 £4.50
United States $5 $8 $10 $8 $6

Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has indicated that new small-scale titles could be developed and sold through the Virtual Console at a price of between JP¥500 and ¥1000 (approximately US$4-$9, GB£2-£5),[15][16] and that free downloads may be offered as a bonus with the purchase of specific Wii titles, similar to Nintendo Europe's VIP 24:7 incentives.[17]

Storage and control

The classic controller can be used to control games from the Virtual Console

Games downloaded from Virtual Console library will be stored on Wii's built-in 512 MB flash memory, or on SD cards, though to play these games they must be copied back onto the Wii's internal memory. If the internal memory is filled, Virtual Console games can be deleted to create more room. If the player wants to play those deleted games at a later date, they can be downloaded again at no additional cost. The Virtual Console games are locked to the Wii they were bought on, so a player cannot play their Virtual Console games on another Wii by simply swapping the memory cards. In the event that a Wii is damaged and the Virtual Console games can no longer be played, Nintendo will provide support.[18]

The Virtual Console service is region-locked - that is, different versions of games are provided to different regions, and game availability may vary from region to region.[19]

Virtual Console games can be played using three different controllers. The Wii Remote itself (turned on its side) can be used for NES, TurboGrafx-16, and some Sega Mega Drive/Genesis games, and the separately sold Nintendo "Classic Controller" can be used for all Virtual Console games. The controllers from the Nintendo GameCube can be used for all Nintendo systems' games, however Nintendo's site claims that it can only be used with some TurboGrafx-16 and Sega titles.[20] All Virtual Console games have their buttons mapped to the respective buttons on the controllers, e.g. users cannot use X and Y instead of A and B.[18]

With the release of Bomberman '93, it was revealed that TurboGrafx-16 games can support full 5 player games using a combination of Wii Remotes/Classic Controllers and GameCube Controllers (at least one controller has to be a Remote or Classic controller, and at least one has to be a GameCube Controller).

Platform Wii Remote Classic Controller GCN Controller
NES Yes Yes Yes
SNES No Yes Yes
N64 No Yes Yes
Mega Drive/Genesis Some* Yes Some*
TurboGrafx-16 Yes Yes Some*
  • While Nintendo officially states that only "Some" games are compatible, all games currently available for Mega Drive/Genesis and TurboGrafx-16 in all regions are compatible with all three controllers.

Titles

North America

Main article: List of Virtual Console titles (North America)

There were 12 titles total of NES, SNES, N64, and Genesis games available at launch on the Virtual Console for the North American region. Two TurboGrafx-16 titles were added two days later on November 21 2006. Releases as of January 2007 are on Mondays at 9:00 PST and 12:00 EST[21][22] (dubbed Virtual Console Mondays). There are currently 38 Virtual Console titles available.

Europe

Main article: List of Virtual Console titles (Europe)

There were 17 titles total of NES, SNES, N64, Mega Drive, and TurboGrafx-16 games available at launch on the Virtual Console for the European region. The store updates every Friday at midnight.[23] There are currently 38 Virtual Console titles available, which will be upped to 73 Titles by the end of Q1.[24]

Australia and New Zealand

Main article: List of Virtual Console titles (Australia)

There were 11 titles total of NES, SNES, N64 and Mega Drive games available at launch on the Virtual Console for the Oceanic region. The store updates on Fridays, in Australia at 10:00 and in New Zealand at 12:00. There are currently 29 titles available for the Australian and New Zealand Virtual Consoles, although the full library of European TurboGrafx-16 titles can be accessed by changing the country setting on the Wii to United Kingdom. [25]

Japan

Main article: List of Virtual Console titles (Japan)

There were 38 titles of FC, SFC, N64, Mega Drive, and PC Engine games available at launch on the Virtual Console for the Japanese region. The store updates on Tuesdays. There are currently 49 titles available for the Japanese Virtual Console.[26]

Criticism

Many American gamers, such as Wired's Chris Kohler, have protested the disparity between the American and Japanese libraries, both in quantity and quality. [1] In addition, the overall release strategy, with a handful of games at the beginning and two or three every week. Some have suggested exploiting the effects of the Long Tail, and releasing as many games as possible as fast as possible.

The pricing has also been criticized as too high [2], given the prices of many of the games on eBay and the near-zero costs of manufacture and distribution.

The variations between regions has also become an issue for Wii owners. Dungeon Explorer was release on the American Virtual Console almost a month after Europe, whereas SimCity and had an American release several weeks before Europe.[citation needed]

See also

References

  1. ^ Patrick Klepek (21 June, 2005). "Nintendo Remaking Classics". 1up.com. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  2. ^ "Virtual Console Launch List". play-nintendo.com. 2006-09-09. Retrieved 2006-11-15. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |curly= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  3. ^ Tor Thorsen (March 23, 2006). "GDC 06: Revolution to play Genesis, TurboGrafx games". gamespot.
  4. ^ Casamassina, Matt (2006-05-11). "E3 2006: Hudson Declares 100 Games for Wii". IGN.com. Retrieved 2006-11-13. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameters: |curly= and |coauthors= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  5. ^ Casamassina, Matt (2006-09-19). "IGN's Nintendo Wii FAQ". IGN.com. Retrieved 2006-11-13. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameters: |curly= and |coauthors= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  6. ^ Cardinal, Chris (2006-05-11). "Live From E3: Fun Wii Facts Confirmed". playfeed.com. Retrieved 2006-11-15. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameters: |curly= and |coauthors= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  7. ^ Shawn White (August 29, 2006). "Tecmo to Aggressively Support Virtual Console". thewiire.com.
  8. ^ Glen Bayer (March 27, 2006). "Rare games for Nintendo Virtual Console?". N-Sider.com.
  9. ^ Ron Kimberly (May 15,2006). "Various new SNK tidbits - Virtual Console support + more". gamesarefun.com. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  10. ^ Captain (September 9,2006). "Mortal Kombat creator discusses Wii development". aussie-nintendo.com. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  11. ^ Niizumi, Hirohiko (2006-09-14). "24 Wii VC devs ID'd". gamespot.com. p. 1. Retrieved 2006-11-16. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |curly= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  12. ^ "PAL Issues with the Virtual Console". videogamesblogger.com. December 6, 2006.
  13. ^ Kyle Orland (September 14, 2006). "Nintendo Japan Conference Not so Liveblogging". joystiq.com.
  14. ^ The Wiire Staff (September 14,2006). "Fils-Aime Talks American Launch and More". {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |Publisher= ignored (|publisher= suggested) (help)
  15. ^ Template:Ja icon "Wiiの発売日、価格の発表は9月。WiiとDSの連動は『ポケモン』から". Famitsu. Retrieved 2006-06-07.
  16. ^ Casamassina, Matt (2006-06-07). "Virtual Console Prices Revealed". IGN. Retrieved 2006-06-08. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameters: |month=, |curly=, |accessyear=, and |coauthors= (help)
  17. ^ "Iwata: Revolution downloads not free". IGN.com. 2006-06-08. p. 1. Retrieved 2006-11-14. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameters: |curly= and |coauthors= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  18. ^ a b "Interview: Virtual Console: Secrets exposed". ComputerAndVideoGames.Com. November 3, 2006.
  19. ^ "Wii upholds Cube region lock". Eurogamer.Com. November 10, 2006.
  20. ^ http://wii.nintendo.com/virtualconsole.jsp
  21. ^ http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/11-16-2006/0004476212&EDATE=
  22. ^ "Wii Virtual Console Update For Monday". Kotaku. 2006-12-2. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  23. ^ http://wii.ign.com/articles/750/750296p1.html
  24. ^ "Upcoming Virtual Console releases revealed!".
  25. ^ "Captain", "Get Turbo Games on your Aussie Wii", Aussie-Nintendo.com, 2006-12-11. Retrieved on 2006-12-15.
  26. ^ "バーチャルコンソールタイトルラインナップ" (in Japanese). Nintendo of Japan. Retrieved 2006-12-26.
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