By which I mean, does the Handheld Virtual Console/Virtual Console diminish (DSiWare/3DSWare)/WiiWare? If we HAD any 3DSWare, I mean?

I'm not sure how much actual data we can use here, so I am going to rely on the next best thing: personal anecdotal experience. I don't feel nearly as much excitement in the 'gaming community' for DSiWare/WiiWare as I do for the Virtual Console. People vocally lament when the VC runs fallow, but have almost no noticeable reaction to the movements of DSiWare/WiiWare. That goes for most of the media, as well.

But I'm guilty, too. Seeing all of these classic Game Boy games that I've never played come out excites me. Rather than take a chance on an unproven quantity, I could just fill in a missing spot in my classic gaming history.

I will say, though, that the videos on the 3DS Shop are great. Those videos, combined with the 'suggested' software lists, are a powerful marketing tool, assuming anyone actually checks them out. There are several DSiWare titles (like Go Go Kokopolo!) that are now on my radar, solely due to the handy promotional footage. Still, would I get Go Go Kokopolo before Super Mario Land 2, or even Mole Mania or Wave Race? Proooobably not.

It might also be interesting to bring the other consoles into the discussion. The Xbox Originals section is probably too small to affect XBLA. And nobody gives a shit about the Indies. However, when XBLA launched, it was full of truly independent games. Now that the bigger pubs have started to use the service, I'm not sure a title like Cloning Clyde would even get its money back.

As far as the PS3, I honestly have no idea of how that community feels. PS1 games don't seem very similar to PSN games, in general. And only a handful of PS2 games have been announced.

URL to share (right click and copy)

This is my first time in a roundtable thread, is it normal for everyone to be posting drunk?

Maybe it's in the FAQ...

@Simbabbad

That's just Casper that said that though. Applying his POV to everyone else here is not fair. That's actually true for any one postern fact.

@Simbabbad

Good grief. If I thought you were going to read it as an accusation, I wouldn't have mentioned it at all.

I just thought I was referencing this post...

Simbabbad said:

On the other hand, when a WiiWare game collects 9 scores and enthusiast reviews, it gets ignored in favour of decade old games with "Mario" in the title that everybody played already. So it does seem the VC detracts from new experiences and means death for developers.

...which I assumed was what sparked this roundtable in the first place. And, I'm sorry to say, you do come off as grumpy towards the board, there, for not being sufficiently hyped about escapeVektor, whether that was your intention or not.

But even so, that's not a crime and I never intended anyone to take my comment so seriously. I didn't see myself as accusing you of actually being angry about it. It was just a reference to your post.

I'm going to assume the rest of your response isn't directed at me, since I don't even know you well enough to know any of that stuff. If people around here think you're an X-bot, that's news to me.

@kriswright

Some of it was likely directed at me, which I owe @Simbabbad an apology for. So here it is:

I'm sorry for twisting your words. I was basing my posts from memory from last week's Nintendo Download thread (September 29) without actually looking back at your posts in that thread. In my head it came off as angry. You say it wasn't, so I'm taking you at your word and withdrawing mine. My apologies.

We're all friends again now, right?

@Zero

Yeah. Let's all play hackeysack and forget this whole episode.

Simbabbad said:

I was just a bit sad for the developers of escapeVektor: their game is cheap and has kickass reviews, and it's a really good game, but it gathered apathy. Not even "not interested" messages: indifference. At least Motoheroz had some hype and interest going on (not really deserved IMO).

I think that's more to do with the state of the Wii rather than the game itself. Right now, at least in America, the Wii is basically dead aside from Zelda and Kirby. I hate to say it, but it's true. Unless it's an absolute killer app coming to WiiWare, it's tough to justify the purchase, let alone turning the Wii on, you know?

Had escapeVektor arrived a year or two ago, totally different story. It's just a little late...even La Mulana, which I've been anticipating for well over a year, is losing interest fast (if it's still coming at all).

ludist210 said:

Unless it's an absolute killer app coming to WiiWare, it's tough to justify the purchase, let alone turning the Wii on, you know?

I've seen a couple of people use that backwards logic here and there and I really can't understand it.

Your consoles exist so you can play games on them. A good game comes out? You get it and you play it.

What other reason would you have to turn your console on? Exactly what is there to "justify"?

If you've already packed your Wii, then I guess that's another thing. But then I'd say "it's not worth the effort to unpack the Wii for one game", then at least we'd avoid confusion, and it would make some sense.

Simbabbad said:

About the subject, from message boards, it seems clear the VC is a negative for WiiWare games: how many times did I read "no Earthbound, nothing this week" when some really interesting WiiWare game was releasing? Whether it's an actual negative influence or not, it's understandable Nintendo is careful about it, especially since they make more money with DSi/Wii/3DSWare.

At the very least, people were checking regularly the updates to see if Earthbound had come out. I don't think those same people have downloaded more Wiiware since the VC has died out.

My experience with Wii Ware was that Nintendo just doesn't care about selling me games on that service.

The most ridiculous, convoluted digital distribution platform I've ever used. Honestly if they just made it function like something we are all used to... Steam, XBLA... fucking iTunes, I don't care I would be happy. As it stands I bought a couple bit.trip games and that was it just because their billing process pissed me off so much.

As to the Virtual Console, I personally tend to emulate older games, though I can definitely see the value in it for those that don't. I just have a hard time paying money for a game I've already bought once or twice back in the day.

@Oldmanwinter

That's just hyperbole. Entering basic credit card information is not the pain in the ass you make it out to be. A PC gamer would be used to doing more complex operations to get his games running.

Guillaume said:

@Oldmanwinter

That's just hyperbole. Entering basic credit card information is not the pain in the ass you make it out to be. A PC gamer would be used to doing more complex operations to get his games running.

No, it's not. It completely destroys the entire concept of impulse buying anything. Further the interface and everything about it looks a decade old.

If I had to, with a fucking Wiimote, enter my address, name, credit card information, etc every time I bought something on Steam I would have ditched Steam after two purchases as well. There is absolutely no excuse for the service to work like that. It's beyond a pain in the ass.

Secondly maybe I'm not a real PC gamer however other than booting up 99% of my games and waiting for them to auto-install whatever they need to I don't have to do anything nearly as frustrating as that.

Guillaume said:

ludist210 said:

Unless it's an absolute killer app coming to WiiWare, it's tough to justify the purchase, let alone turning the Wii on, you know?

I've seen a couple of people use that backwards logic here and there and I really can't understand it.

Your consoles exist so you can play games on them. A good game comes out? You get it and you play it.

What other reason would you have to turn your console on? Exactly what is there to "justify"?

I'm not saying that's my personal reasoning, but that's the general feeling right now with the Wii in general. This board is part of the minority, in general.

I still pop on and download games every now and again, but I didn't get escapeVektor (yet). I watched some video of it, and while it looks interesting and has good presentation, it doesn't appear to be my cup of tea.

Oldmanwinter said:

No, it's not. It completely destroys the entire concept of impulse buying anything.

Then make informed, though-out purchases. The process doesn't prevent those.

And it's not nearly as bad as you say. You don't enter a name or address, just CC number, State and Zip Code. Bam. With the pointer, you're done in less than a minute.

It's easier and faster than entering my password on the iPhone.

Guillaume said:

[ref=id=6667&pagenumber=2#187738]I've seen a couple of people use that backwards logic here and there and I really can't understand it.

Your consoles exist so you can play games on them. A good game comes out? You get it and you play it.

What other reason would you have to turn your console on? Exactly what is there to "justify"?

To me anyway, it's that other consoles, PS3 in my case, already have a ton of games to come out and a lot more coming out in the next few months compared to the Wii. Unless a game is mind blowingly good for the WiiWare, I really have no desire to fire it up just to quickly play a game for a short bit.

I actually wait for multiple things I want to be up on the VC before I buy points and download them. It's such a stupid system that makes it as difficult as possible to conduct transactions. It might sound like a minor complaint, but with all the alternatives available it's much easier to just play/buy something else.

Simbabbad said:

At least Motoheroz had some hype and interest going on (not really deserved IMO).

Wait... the hype and interest weren't deserved? I can see how you might think the actual game itself was undeserving (although I disagree, it's a fun game, if overpriced) (also, it probably ultimately didn't sell much so it'd be tough to say it got more attention than it deserved) but the hype and interest leading up to it were certainly deserved. At least, if Trials HD is everything people claim it is. Meanwhile I'd never even heard of escapeVektor leading up to the release and all that the developer really did before it was a bunch of lame casual stuff, right?

Simbabbad said:

However, in the thread here that announced escapeVektor release, nobody but Guillaume commented on it

I commented!!!

@VofEscaflowne

Hmm, maybe you have forgotten after playing the PS3 for so long, but you can jump into a Wii game really quickly, as opposed to the 30 minute required for the warm-up, PSN sign in, and patching process of the PS3.

@Simbabbad

Purely because XBLA is integrated in to the interface. Jumping in to browse the selection has much less of barrier than the Wii. The other difference is having to enter my credit card information each time I want to buy points.

It should be said that the Xbox 360 dashboard is abominably slow. For some people, at least. It often takes me over a minute to go to my Game Library. That's totally unacceptable, but MS doesn't catch much flak for it. Or their Point Cards expiring.

@kriswright
Mrs. Mustache got me a hackysack that looked like a baseball in NYC!

Hackysack is hard. My record is, like, THREE.

Anand said:

It often takes me over a minute to go to my Game Library. That's totally unacceptable, but MS doesn't catch much flak for it. Or their Point Cards expiring.

Or never stopping charging your expired credit cards.