Oh, and the virtual console is a massive success because it finally released Super Mario RPG in Europe.
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Tell me to get back to rewriting this site so it's not horrible on mobile
That's a pretty big stretch. I'll just shoot down the arguement right now so we can go focus on endless threads focusing on penis jokes.
Here's why the VC has not ruined gaming. Hasn't only like 25% - 30% of the Wii audience engage in an online transaction? If that's the case then it's safe to say the overwhelming majority of Wii owners never bought anything off of the VC, and therefore weren't let down by their purchase.
Ravenprose said:I don't expect most modern kids to suddenly like old-school 2D games as much as they do the 3D ones they grew up with just because they can now play them on VC, XBLA, or PSN (there are a few that do, though).
I'm teaching my son well. He already prefers Burger Time to virtually any other non-music releated game. Yes, I'm quite proud thank you.
Also, the Wii has plenty platformers, 3D and 2D.
Also, the VC was made to make money off of nostalgia and classics, not to lead gaming down a retread of the 90s. It succeeded. And at times it did lead into some retreads, like Sin & Punishment 2, Alien Crush Returns and recently Blaster Master Overdrive, all of which were probably made as a result of the sales of the original titles on VC.
Anyway, I don't see any failures on a company's intentions, only a failure of you to restrain your hype :-P
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As I talked about in the 90's thread we all grew up, we will never few games in the same way again no matter how much we try, and believe me I try. Last night with FFXIII, I had to finish my studying for the night before starting the game, right there is something that has been eating away at me. I go to start the game and cell phone goes off, sigh, so I pick up and talk to my brother about stuff. Finally I get to just play and for a moment I was transported away to that amazing world. But had to end my play time quickly cause I had to sleep and get ready for the things I had to do the next day.
Now I never had the dream you did about the VC, I never saw it as something that would revive 2D gaming or something. In fact it has done more than I could dream of, I never would have expected Mega Man 9 or Sonic 4. I did think that it would be the ultimate museum of our past, a place where I play all the games I grew up with and the ones I missed. In that regard it failed, your thread of old school classics is far more the vision I had for the VC than the reality.
As for not liking the games as much, I don't have that issue. Granted games are better now, argue with me all you want, they are better. When we go back and play those games we need to enter a certain mindset, we need to understand we are playing something from the past. Older games can be and many are more fun than games of today as long as you are of the right mindset. You can never transport yourself back to your childhood but you can play the games with those memories fresh on your mind.
I never stopped playing old games so playing VC games to me was not a new thing. I appreciate all games from all eras (post NES) so it was extremely easy for me to love old games that were new to me. If you recall I loved Kid Icarus when it hit VC, it was the first time I ever played it. I have gotten to play so many great classics and replay so many that I love. SMB1 I can play at any time, that game is timeless. So no it has not erased anything for me.
Yodariquo said:...Oh, and the virtual console is a massive success because it finally released Super Mario RPG in Europe.
Oh man, that's awesome news, which gets to my point.
I still have SMRPG and a working SNES that is hooked up. But I'd probably buy the VC version to replay it rather than use the cart. Why? Because VC games have been adjusted to look good on my HDTV, while the old ones have not. Plus it's nice to be able to play without a cord. Small things, but worth the $8-$10 for me.
I think the VC has introduced a lot younger people to the history of gaming. I am absolutely positive that there many kids who had never heard of any of the consoles before the PS2 (I have three nephews in that category). Sure, most will see the older games and think that they are utter crap, but for the closeted geeks they will play the old games and dig them, and cultivate their interest in gaming (much as many have done through emulation over the last 15 years or so).
The VC has also provided a way for publishers to make money from their back catalog. In the past the only avenues for revenue beyond the first two months were Greatest Hits or compilations. Unlike movies there is no DVD rights, airline rights, foreign markets (like china and india) or box stores who are willing to carry 20 year old games (while they happily carry 50 year old films).
I think the VC may also have influence game design. There are many more 2D side scrollers/ brawlers in this generation than in the 5th and 6th. Though, I'd concede this may have more to do with XBLA and indie studios.
Where has VC failed? With people like me who distrust the motivations of any corporation. I have about 3 virtual console games. I would have at least 50+ if it were not for one thing. Nintendo (and the other manufacturers) have not made clear, or addressed in any way, the migration path to the next console generation. And as a result there is no fucking way I am going to put hundreds of dollars into games that will reside on a single hard drive or memory card with no way of knowing if I'll be able to play those games in the future if that console dies.
Oh, and lots of SNES games look great to this day. Many have aged better than PSX games.
Devil's Advocate usually means when you defend a side of an argument that's contrary to your own. Usually its done just to gather more information or to see a differing perspective.
You'd be surprised how many private messages I get from GameSpot of people telling me: "Man. That game just isn't as good as I remember it."
Some of the responses I got here were... interesting...
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The VC hasn't failed anyone or ruined anything, it's just a slow and slighting too expensive way to play old games.
I think you're over thinking things. And shovelware/motion/party games are a seperate issue.
Games are a form of media quite unlike all the others. Music, for example, is great, but only a fraction of a fraction of songs that are produced stay in your head and stand the test of time. Music tends to be faddy and although a great song can transport you back to a certain time in your life for the moment, you're pretty unlikely to play a song over and over again to remind you of old days, instead it's the random occurrence of actually hearing a song that stirs the most memories. It's usually not an active participation kind of thing.
Movies are a huge industry too. You sit in a theater though, and you are spoon-fed a story and visuals, and again, although a lot of them can be great, how many times are people actually motivated enough to go back and watch their favorite movie time and again? They are only an average of two hours, yet most people rely on catching them on cable or buying the DVD and watching it once or twice more. Compared to a game you'll sink a hundred or two hours into, movies are given much less of your time and attention.
Games stimulate your Eyes. Games stimulate your Ears. They cause you to take Action. They are an active participation kind of thing and the combination of stimulus and interaction tends to hook people in a unique way. Games tend to Imprint on one's brain so that not only THEY but that particular moment in TIME stay with you in an incredibly strong sort of sense.
I relate Mega Man 2 to a summer's day at my friend's house, experiencing Air Man's stage as the sunlight hits the wall near me and the warm breeze coming through the window makes the shade blow in and out. I think Mega Man 2 and I still expect to turn around and see my friend Mike and his little sister Michele sitting behind me. Vader recalls Resident Evil and envisions a bunch of friends surrounding him and his brother, the controller being thrown to the floor at a scary point and him taking up the mantle and beating the first few zombies that no one else could. With the games, it's often NOT just the games themselves, but the events surrounding the games too that keeps them so vivid and gives sooo many gamers the passion they typically display.
I was ECSTATIC when I heard of the Virtual Console for the first time! What a concept! All the games of my youth? Available to download? At any moment? This was too good to be true! I envisioned all my old games given a new lease on life. Surely, people would download Actraiser, appreciate it as much as I did on the SNES... someone at Square-Enix and/or Nintendo would take notice of the number of downloads and games/series of the past would be revived! Nintendo classics like Kid Icarus would be made available to a whole new generation of players and Nintendo would bring Pit back from the Land of the Dead too... Right?
...right?
Some things happened though that were unexpected. People downloaded Gun Star Heroes and weren't as thrilled with it as some would think. Kid Icarus, a game seen as Metroid's equal back in the day, was met with a "Meh."
Where's the excitement? Where's my Wii Kid Icarus? WHAT HAPPENED?!
The rose-colored glasses may have a crack in them. Without the warm summer day behind me and a group of people surrounding Vader, these games almost seem to lose their appeal! Did we get older? Have our reflexes slowed a bit? Are the games just NOT as good as we remembered them to be? Was it just the combination of EVERYTHING... NOT just the games themselves... that created these memories? You can digitally download a game from your past, but you can't download your past along with it!
A few years ago, I envisioned a bold future created by Nintendo, where their old series suddenly ruled the market again; where side-scrolling shooters were given a new generation of players to play them; where 2D platformers were given HD make-overs and where creative games like Actraiser were given a second chance.
This hasn't happened! Casual games have taken over. First person shooters still abound. There have been a few attempts here and there by a handful of companies to do retro-revivals and even Nintendo released a New Super Mario Bros. --BUT-- this is not at all what I envisioned!
Has Nintendo's Virtual Console back-fired? What could have been THE digital museum of classic gaming that should have revived gaming's history may have had the reverse effect! Playing those games in this day and age may shatter your memories of them! What could have revived history may be erasing it instead!
Nintendo has been reduced to releasing games in fits and spurts on the Virtual Console. The market is 85% motion control gimmick games, casual-catering-crap and party games. Nintendo seems to have lost focus and Sony and Microsoft are STILL scrambling to copy them anyway! The almighty dollar may sway the course of the mightiest companies but is THIS what they had planned from the start?
The Wii was designed to do two different things. One was to give you back all the games you loved as a kid. The other was to make it possible for ANYONE to be able to play video games.
We ALL see the direction the industry is taking (Arc and Natal). Has the Virtual Console FAILED and killed gaming as we know it?
--Discuss!