But it begs the question, what's the point? Like you said above, the Rev. reads GC discs. You will still be able to walk into most retailers and buy GC games when the Rev. comes out. And they will all be readily available at stores that offer used games for sale. They will still be plenty accessible.

I don't know. I would like to have something like Cubivore or something rare that I couldn't find for $10 seeing that there isn't going to be a limited amount of people getting downloads. Sort of like saying what is the point of Itunes when you can just go to the store and buy the CD even though your computer can still play it.

With all this being said, though, I am thinking that Nintendo might allow Gamecube games to download a little later as a stunt of its growing backwards compatable library grows to its last generation like maybe a year or so after it has been out. I hope to see the Revolution's online abilities to be more vast than anything seen before.

Are gamecube games really going to be downloadable? I thought those were just "backwards compatible"? My impression was that the Rev wasn't shipping with large enough memory to store a whole gamecube game.

I'd bet the cost of a revolution that they won't be downloadable.

I'd have to agree about Gamecube games never being downloadable.

You'd need a large hard drive to store any sort of game collection.

Yeah I don't think they'd do it either, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense. I've kept most of my Gamecube games because of this, like Resident Evil 4, SSBM, Zelda, tons others. I was just speculating if it could be done or not.

Not a very good analogy. A song from iTunes runs about 3.5MB, you can then store that on your 250GB hard drive or 30GB iPod.

So far the only storage options for the Rev. are SD cards. So one 1.5GB game could be stored on a 2 GB SD card, and you are maxed out as far as GC games go. That SD card will run you about $100 as well.

Big difference. It just isn't practical without a hard drive. It would be nice to see an add on though for those that want it.

Gamecube games will NOT be available for download, period.

Next topic please.

This was proven false over on GoNintendo as Chris K pointed out, but apparently joystiq didn't get the memo: http://joystiq.com/2006/01/14/possib...n-menu-screen/

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=14079



Nintendo market research hints at Virtual Console pricing structure

Paul Loughrey 16:06 16/01/2006

Questionnaire reveals suggested price points for classic software download service

Excerpts from one of Nintendo's market research questionnaires have appeared on the Internet, providing an indication of the potential pricing structure for downloading classic Nintendo software titles.

The survey, conducted by marketing company Zanthus, focuses on the forthcoming Nintendo Revolution games console, which is set to include functionality for wireless downloads of classic NES, SNES and N64 software, in addition to reading GameCube discs.

Dubbed the 'Virtual Console', Nintendo's plans were initially revealed following the issuing of a technology patent in October 2005. At the time however, scare details on the system were revealed, and a pricing structure for the service continues to generate speculation in the industry.

In June 2005, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata spoke at a business strategy conference in Japan, confirming that the company would not be providing back-catalogue titles free of charge.

Iwata did suggest however, that some titles may be used as a promotional incentive. For example, by offering a free dowload of a classic title with pre-orders of its next-generation iteration.

"We hope to create a system which allows both Nintendo and [third-party publishers] to make a profit by using [software titles] from the past," Iwata stated at the time.

According to the information from a market research questionnaire undertaken by website Classicgamer.com, the company has highlighted three potential pricing structures. The first is a monthly flat-rate subscription charge of USD 14.99, which would allow gamers to access and play any of the available titles from all three retro consoles at any time. By comparison, NES titles were listed at approximately USD 2.99, whilst several N64 titles were listed at a significanty higher USD 19.99.

The questionnaire is, of course, only an indication of the intended pricing structure, and the figures are subject to change at Nintendo's discretion. A statement from Nintendo of America reads:

"Nintendo is considering a variety of options for the virtual console service for our next console, code-named Revolution, although details have not been announced at this time. In our normal course of business, Nintendo conducts consumer research for many of our products with information and imagery that do not represent actual product specifics."

Full disclosure of the company's intentions, both in terms of a launch strategy and its overall pricing structure for the Revolution console and Virtual Console service is expected to be announced at the E3 expo in May 2006.


Chris

$2.99 is great for NES classics. if true. Much better than that @$10 arcade game shit MS is peddling.

Even though I don't think that Zuma was an arcade game, it is well worth the $10 I spent!

Chris

To be fair, many of the $10 arcade games on live arcade go above and beyond any nes games. Of course, gameplay is objective, but arcade pefect gauntlet with 4 player coop supported over live? Seems like a deal to me. Also some of the games were cheaper than $10 I thought?

Gauntlet was also an NES game, so there!

I kid, I totally agree with you.

Another fake?

Looks like a pretty good fake. I like the crosshair and battery indicator in the top-right.

Question: what if your controller isn't set properly, how can you get into "Controller Settings"? I guess you could use the D-pad anyway.

Promising that WiFi settings seem to be configured at the machine level rather than the game. Here's to hoping for persistent buddy lists across games.

If this is already been posted, my bad. It's on track for the holiday shopping madness 10 months from now at the latest, perhaps sooner if possible.

http://www.gamespot.com/rev/action/m...ml?sid=6142572

as soon as preorders go up, I am ordering two!

Sounds like a plan, but surely they took notes during the 360 launch. Might want to hold off on that second one.

This will be the first system I get at launch since the SNES.

Well, my parents got THAT so this will be the first time I pay for a launch system.

really, is there any point in pre-ordering now seeing as some of those who pre-ordered 360's still don't have them?

Pre-orders go in order, so if you're one of the first to pre-order it's worthwhile. Otherwise not so much.

But I imagine Nintendo will have more than the 300,000 X-box 360's MS had available at launch (and about the same they've got to stores since then). None of their previous launches have had those kind of shortages.

Plus I'm guessing demand won't be as high initially in the U.S. as so many people seem skeptical of the controller.

Has there been any word on what the controller shell is going to look like? I really am hoping for a more SNES type pad, as my fingers just can't get used to pressing the shoulder buttons on the GC's pad(its too small for my hands).

I am quite interested in this, but fear the inevitable problems a system has when it first launches. Did the gamecube have some of the same problems after it initially launched as the x-box or PS2?