Post by Gamesoul Master on May 24, 2007 19:17:28 GMT -5
OK... I've been ranting at friends of mine and been very passionate about this for a bit of time now. So I wanted to throw it out here and see what people think. Because I'm not sure if there's some point that I'm missing or some reason it's not possible or something, so maybe you guys can help me figure that out.
As many of you know, on the Wii there is something called the Virtual Console, where you can download retro games that were released on NES, SNES, Genesis, N64, and TG16. And the selection on there is indeed getting better and better. But it's all games that most of us have for those systems already, since the games released were/are very popular, but also quite common.
That's where my thought comes into play. The Virtual Console has so much potential... so much more than they're using. Why doesn't Nintendo dabble with translating some games that never made it here, to release on the Virtual Console?
Think about it... the whole cost of putting up these games boils down, pretty much, to writing the emulator that's (most likely) packed with each game (which... I'm willing to bet is a general emulator for that system that is merely tweaked to suit each particular game), the bandwidth to host the game, and whatever small costs in manpower are needed to accomplish this work. And of course... licensing costs.
If we take SNES games as an example... they cost $10 a piece to buy on the Virtual Console. Taking the above into account... with 1,000 sales of one game, they've made $10,000, which I'm sure more than covers all costs for that particular game. Would it cost so much more to get a small team together to translate an old SNES game? And even if it did cost more than I think it would... they could easily charge $15 instead of $10 for these translated games.
Take something like... Fire Emblem 4 or 5. They must be aware that there are hundreds, maybe thousands of people out there who would instantly, without thought, drop $15 to get their hands on a fully translated copy of that game. And there are so many games out there that have such high demand, either because there is no complete translation for it, or the existing one is nowhere near good enough to be fun to use. I can tell you right now... I have never bought a points card for the Wii, because I have seen no point to buying any of the games they offer on the Virtual Console. But if they were to put a fully translated copy of one of the SNES Fire Emblem games, or Dragonball Z - Hyper Dimension, or one of the many great games that never made it here... I would be first in line at the nearest store to buy a points card. And I wouldn't even mind if they charged a few dollars more for it. Because it would be so much more worth it than any games they have on there now.
And there's another view to this too. Nintendo, of course, wants a piece of all the different groups of gamers. And hardcore gamers... is gonna be one of the harder ones for them this time around. Mainly because... they're making too many games that are oriented towards first-time gamers and the younger crowd. Not to say they aren't making good games, but that's simply more the direction their games are pointed towards. But if they were to do something like what I've suggested... don't you think that would bring a lot more of the retro, hardcore gamers to their door? Something like that could be a very huge selling point.
And I know throughout my rant here, I'm probably missing some points. But the main question is... what makes this idea so unreasonable? You can't tell me that out of all the minds they have at their disposal, that *somebody* hasn't brought this idea up. So if we're to assume that... then why hasn't it been done yet?
And of course... I'd like to hear what y'all think about the idea...
As many of you know, on the Wii there is something called the Virtual Console, where you can download retro games that were released on NES, SNES, Genesis, N64, and TG16. And the selection on there is indeed getting better and better. But it's all games that most of us have for those systems already, since the games released were/are very popular, but also quite common.
That's where my thought comes into play. The Virtual Console has so much potential... so much more than they're using. Why doesn't Nintendo dabble with translating some games that never made it here, to release on the Virtual Console?
Think about it... the whole cost of putting up these games boils down, pretty much, to writing the emulator that's (most likely) packed with each game (which... I'm willing to bet is a general emulator for that system that is merely tweaked to suit each particular game), the bandwidth to host the game, and whatever small costs in manpower are needed to accomplish this work. And of course... licensing costs.
If we take SNES games as an example... they cost $10 a piece to buy on the Virtual Console. Taking the above into account... with 1,000 sales of one game, they've made $10,000, which I'm sure more than covers all costs for that particular game. Would it cost so much more to get a small team together to translate an old SNES game? And even if it did cost more than I think it would... they could easily charge $15 instead of $10 for these translated games.
Take something like... Fire Emblem 4 or 5. They must be aware that there are hundreds, maybe thousands of people out there who would instantly, without thought, drop $15 to get their hands on a fully translated copy of that game. And there are so many games out there that have such high demand, either because there is no complete translation for it, or the existing one is nowhere near good enough to be fun to use. I can tell you right now... I have never bought a points card for the Wii, because I have seen no point to buying any of the games they offer on the Virtual Console. But if they were to put a fully translated copy of one of the SNES Fire Emblem games, or Dragonball Z - Hyper Dimension, or one of the many great games that never made it here... I would be first in line at the nearest store to buy a points card. And I wouldn't even mind if they charged a few dollars more for it. Because it would be so much more worth it than any games they have on there now.
And there's another view to this too. Nintendo, of course, wants a piece of all the different groups of gamers. And hardcore gamers... is gonna be one of the harder ones for them this time around. Mainly because... they're making too many games that are oriented towards first-time gamers and the younger crowd. Not to say they aren't making good games, but that's simply more the direction their games are pointed towards. But if they were to do something like what I've suggested... don't you think that would bring a lot more of the retro, hardcore gamers to their door? Something like that could be a very huge selling point.
And I know throughout my rant here, I'm probably missing some points. But the main question is... what makes this idea so unreasonable? You can't tell me that out of all the minds they have at their disposal, that *somebody* hasn't brought this idea up. So if we're to assume that... then why hasn't it been done yet?
And of course... I'd like to hear what y'all think about the idea...
