Virtual Console

[Tellyn]

I've just had a few ideas which could happen at Revolution launch with the virtual console...


About ten free games on the virtual console (maybe a choice or ready selected quality games from each platform, like Zelda OOT for N64, Super Mario Bros. for the NES, stuff for the Megadrive and SNES, etc.)
A free GameCube controller shell in with the Revo pack
The option to buy a little pack of Revo shells, like a spare GameCube one for multiplayer, N64 one, NES, SNES, Megadrive..
Instead of using the VIP stars to buy rubbish wallpapers, use them for Virtual Console games!
Use the Virtual Console to get demos for the Rev, and DS (in the last case, that would only happen if the Rev's last feature is a DS download station)
A little news page that is updated when you log into Wi-Fi that can show you a list of new videos for games. You can subscribe to newly announced games and have videos and pictures sent to your Rev, that can maybe be stored on like a Movie Player on your DS


If anyone else has any suggestions I'll put them in a list here.

[Nintendork]

Iwata has said that the games on Nintendo Revolution's back catalog will not be free.
They're experimenting with pricing structures and closely looking at the consumers who use xbox live arcade.

I think a shell would be nice to go with Revolution free, though it's kinda unnecesary as we do have £5 GameCube controllers on eBay with 4 ports on top of the Revolution. I'll probably buy one for myself but not 4 for my mates.. that's just over the top.

Interesting point about the Sega/Hudson shells.. I'm curious about that too, there are no shoulder buttons for SNES playback on the Revolution FHC when displayed sideways and it must be pretty uncomfortable.

[Tellyn]

I know they're not free, I'm just saying to promote the console, you get them free at first. I mean, who can resist Zelda OOT with updated graphics?

[Nintendork]

I don't even think we'll get 1 free as a taster.
I think we'll get demos for free, and video trailer content via Nintendo WiFi free using the digital rights management they're implementing.

But I seriously doubt we will get a full game free.

I don't think graphics will be updated either dude, to go back and tinker with all those classic games would be a very time consuming process considering there are so many going on the back catalogue and they probably wont be at a hugely profitable price point.

[Pit-Jr]

I think 3rd parties could benefit from giving away promotional VC games. Lets face it they need all the help they can get selling to alot of Nintendo elitists.

For instance, Capcom could say, buy Resident Evil 5 and Killer 9 and get 3 free VC games. Just a thought

[Nintendork]

Interesting, Buy Mario 128 limited edition pack @ an extra £XX and get the classic Mario's too. I think chances of this are quite likely.. some people have hinted that Nintendo stars catalogue needs a real incentive.

I think there's a frigging petition against how crap it is lol.

It would be wise for them to offer games on the virtual console in exchange for XXX stars.

I remember iTunes said they wouldn't offer free songs at first then we got free single of the week (usually kack) and also Pepsi did that 1 in 4 bottles gets a free tune. GAP try on some jeans get a tune.

[glucoseaddict]

There are two types of people that will use the VC: people like us, who understand it already and will know how to download games etc. The other type of people are the 'new gamers', the "ones who usually don't play games".
This second type is the market that Nintendo are very interested in (but not only interested in) and what better way to get them to use it and make them feel comfortable using it is to include a leaflet in the console box explaining the VC and sayin something like "It's really easy, use this code to get your first game free!"

I would be surprised if Nintendo don't give the first game for free, even if it's just from a selection of 4 or 5 of the games available on the VC. It's the perfect way to make people aware of the VC and to get them to use it.
On top of that, they can say on the console box "one free game inside".

[ShadowV7]

I would like games from the Nintendo VIP Catalogue that would be good and have part of the Nintendo Site for Rev and DS demos.I think that the demo feature is highly likely and i'm sure I read somewhere it can.

[Charlie]

I hope we dont have to pay for game demos - you don't have to on XBL, why should we have to pay for them on the Revo? It would be cool if we could get DS demos too and transfer them to the DS.

[Jamba]

True Moria. Demos should be free.

I would like to have a system similar to the "Star" reward to be able to get cheaper or free VC games as a reward. I really hope they are affordable.

It would be great to see lots of promotions for VC games though, like the Pepsi ideas mentioned earlier. Make it really public domain stuff.

[xernobyl]

I hope they'll sell discs with Virtual Console Games, things like "SNES Vol I", "N64 Vol II", "NES Vol IV"... things like that.
I also hope that if they allow us to download game demos they make them small, not like today's huge PC game demos.
I also want to be able to develop software for it, but that won't happen without a few hacks.

[Jamba]

I hope they'll sell discs with Virtual Console Games, things like "SNES Vol I", "N64 Vol II", "NES Vol IV"... things like that.


Unlikely. The reasoning for the VC is because digital distribution is cheep and efficient. Making "real" versions of the software would counter act that.

[21st century cowboy]

I would lurve to be aboe to control SNES games with my DS. As the SNES is the only Nintendo system I haven't bought, I think this is where nost of my money on the virtual console will be going.

I can't really see this happening though.

[Nintendork]

What's the situation between Squaresoft, the virtual console, Nintendo and Sony like?

Is it gonna be another RareWare fiasco resulting in shit all third party games for the virtual console?

[xernobyl]

I would lurve to be aboe to control SNES games with my DS. As the SNES is the only Nintendo system I haven't bought, I think this is where nost of my money on the virtual console will be going.

I can't really see this happening though.
That would be cool.
The revmote for nes, ds for snes, gamecube for n64/gcn, everyone for revo...

[RuneSP]

I don't think graphics will be updated either dude, to go back and tinker with all those classic games would be a very time consuming process considering there are so many going on the back catalogue and they probably wont be at a hugely profitable price point.

Not if we are "just" talking about a higher resolution + a bit of AA :) Like we know from a rom emulator, for instance...

[Librarian]

I really hope this service will be a succes.. and that the library of games you can download will grow.. I have a handfull of old old games I really want to play.. without having to buy a commodore 64, og emulate it.. or doing it illegal
I know it's probably not going to happen but i cross my 11 fingers

[triforcemario]

Well, the part I'm worrying about is How we're gonna pay for the Virtual console games, since my parents don't own a credit card, nor a paypal account, nothing like that... What I'd like to see is that you'd be able to enter a game store, and buy coupons that would allow you to buy, for example, 5 NES games, or 3 SNES games, or 1 N64 games... simular to ow you'd buy phone credit in a supermarket, or something...

[Konfucius]

I doubt Nintendo would give away some games for free but maybe it's something like: you got 500 VIP stars with your Revolution, you can get 10 crappy wallpapers, 5 stupid windows sounds or a game from the VC for free.
I really hope that you can get games form the VC for something like the VIP stars or charge only 1 to 5€ per games. I'm not a retro fanatic, sure some games are fun but usually I want to play them to relive old memories but never complete them and more then 5€ would be too much for me. And if they are too pricy mainly the non-gamer (the ones that don't know about the illegal way) will still go the legal way.

[ShadowV7]

VIP stars I think is very likely,link your rev to your account and download them directly to rev or something,they should really do that.

[mike-zim]

i think there should be a free download with every Rev purchase. get people into the way of it.

[ShadowV7]

They should atleast do 3 free downloads or something which each Revolution and with big games like zelda they could do a special download like the first Zelda free,so many oppertunities

[mike-zim]

well if they gave away nes games or something like that then people would be tempted to download other game making nintendo some cash.

[Pestneb]

I think it would be nice to have free game downloads coming with games in a similar way to VIP cards, maybe a specific title, or a choice of 2 or 3 titles, or just credit.
having top up cards for the VC would also be good - they could possibly have retro themed cards which would be a nice touch, could lead to the card becoming collectable, which could encourage people to buy them.
maybe they could actually have game cards, the card has a code, type in the code and it automatically downloads the game that the code corresponds to - lots of ways they could do this.

[ShadowV7]

A free NES,SNES,N64 from a selected number fopr buying a reb vwould be good,or Pestnebs idea that ones quite good

[Jay]

Virtual Console

I believe the virtual console system will work something like this -

There will be three ways to actually purchase the games, these being

A) By using VIP stars, gained from buying games and systems, in this way you will essentially get a free game with the Revolution as it will have enough VIP points to buy one NES game (or something along those lines)

B) By using a credit/debit card to pay for more VIP points which are then added to your total and can be used on the virtual console or online star catalogue.

C) If you don't have a debit/credit card you will be able to buy vouchers for stars with cash, these will work in the same way as the VIP vouchers included with games and systems now where you simply enter a code into the Revolution. This will top up the stars total.

Basically it will work in a very similar way to Xbox Live Arcade, only with the stars also included with systems and games. :) Somethings about that may not be quite as I've predicted but I think I'm probably going to be fairly close.

What I would like to see is something that I feel is one of the best functions of Xbox Live Arcade, the ability to demo a game first - For example you can play the very first level, or the first 20 mins of a game for free. Then you get to choose whether you want to buy it or not, this gives a very small taster and gives those who haven't played games a chance to see whether they like them or not, this would also work ideally for any new games developed for the system. I think its likely and I really hope Nintendo include such an option.

I also think downloadable demos and videos will appear, free of charge for new Revolution games and DS games. The Revo games will be playable as you would expect, and the DS games can be sent to your DS simply by enabling the "download play" function on your DS nearby, although these cannot be stored.

I'm not totally convinced yet that games will be downloaded in their entirety onto the Revo's memory either, think about it this way - It would take some clever copyright work to stop someone plugging in a USB hard-drive or an SD card and copying Virtual Console Games/Revo Demo's onto them and putting them online, and then no-one would ever pay for them. What I think may happen is the bulk of the file be streamed from an online server, this is certainly possible with NES/SNES games. The only thing stored on the hard-drive will be saved games, which can be backed up on a PC. Once you have bought a game however you will be able to stream it off the server as many times as you want as it will essentially have been "unlocked to you" and your VIP account will keep track, therefore if you accidentally delete a VC game it will still be accesible, likewise if your Revo breaks and you have to replace it you will not have to buy all your VC games from scratch. I could be totally wrong, Nintendo may just have security that prevents VC games being read by PC's but I'm not convinced. All will be revealed in due time :)

[Nintendork]

I think there will be a way for parents to allow their kids to buy a game once a month like the parental control system on iTunes.. obviously complimented by the games rating system.

There has been no word of Revolution demos coming via Nintendo WiFi, in fact we haven't even heard about the DS demos yet.. only demos of back catalogue games.

I think as we're working on a standard cheap DVD medium it is not unlikely to see demos featured in gaming magazines rather than as downloads via WiFi.

Demos will probably comes on a DRM basis (to avoid unnecesary coding times) where you canplay for a few hours unlocked on the game.. but after those few hours are up you'll be required to pay for the NES/SNES/N64/Sega/Hudson game. You are free to keep the game downloaded until you wish to purchase.. but it will be unplayable.

Each file will record time played.. simple DRM tech, but will be based on the system clock so no time travelling.

DS demos as Jay described but I really doubt we'll see Revolution demos.. maybe trailers and downloadable extras but not entire demos, that's crazy.

[ShadowV7]

Let the rev console alone let you download either 1 N64,2 SNES,3 NES Games through stars or as a bonus because you bought the console during the first week of release or something.

[Stefkov]

maybe so that peopl ecant put the files on their pc and share it with others, is o make the roms as a completely new file if you can do that. ike a .nrm file (nintendo rom file)when that file has been downloaded onto your rev, it will aquire a unique code and will go directly into the file. if this makes any sense if you put it on your pc and give it to another person, they out it onto their memory card, it wont work.
didnt ninty say that each rev will have their unique own code?? i might have made that up but it would be good against this sharing files.

i remember readin that someone i think sony are making it so that when you play a game on your machine, it is assigned to your machine, this then cant be used on any other machiine, i think this was to reduce pre-owned games. well maybe they can do his with the downloads.

[ShadowV7]

They said something about the security so that the games can't be copied,I think it will have unique coding so it can't.

[m_fergy]

you wont be able to download the games to your pc

you cant do this with the 360 and i dont think there will ever be a way to do it so you will have to no chance with the rev

the system will be almost the same as the 360's just with nintendo games

[ShadowV7]

We know that you won't be able to download it to your PC because it will be easy to copy and spread out.Think of it as a DS and a Wi-fi game,Your DS Game (SD Card) will work on your DS (Rev )easily but when you put your DS (SD Card ) game into another DS(Rev) and try and get online(VC Game) it will get deleted(Won't work),hope you follow that example ok.

[glucoseaddict]

maybe they could actually have game cards, the card has a code, type in the code and it automatically downloads the game that the code corresponds to

Great idea there Pestneb! It would be fun to collect game cards of all your fav retro games. Something like Premiere League stickers that kids go nuts for, with the added coolness that you can actually download a game with the card.

Nintendo would have to sort something out that you just can't show the card code to all your friends and they can all download the game for free, something like using the Revo unique coding thing so each game code can only be used with the first Revo code it was used with.



I really doubt we'll see Revolution demos.. maybe trailers and downloadable extras but not entire demos, that's crazy.


Well if people are using WiFi then chances are they have broadband. And seeing as you could download a 300mb demo easily in less than half an hour with a broadband connection, I don't see why distributing Revo demos through WiFi should be a problem.

But I agree that getting Revo demos on DVDs packaged with magazines is much more likely.

Finally, Nintendo understand the importance of game demos!!! :yay:

[ShadowV7]

I really want to have demo-discs for the Rev ,if there was demos for the GC then I would have a lot more games and with the game cards you could have 3 downloads per card so you can give the game to 2 of you pals.

[Nintendork]

i remember readin that someone i think sony are making it so that when you play a game on your machine, it is assigned to your machine, this then cant be used on any other machiine, i think this was to reduce pre-owned games. well maybe they can do his with the downloads.Nothing more than a nasty rumour. Sony has no intention of doing this.

Who's gonna pay for this 300mb demo then? I don't think they will be offering huge free downloads over WiFi like this.
I'm not questioning the time it takes to download a demo, it is likely that if you're using an online gaming service that you have broadband I just don't think Nintendo will pay to distribute demos to all Revolution owners who want it.. it's not a cheap business.

Buy a magazine, get a DVD with a load of demos on it.. buy a game and get some demos on that as a bonus if there is space left on the disc.

Much easier.. and tbh, where did this 300mb figure come from? Revolution games are coming on DVDs, I guess a Revolution game will be a lot larger.

[glucoseaddict]

Who's gonna pay for this 300mb demo then? I don't think they will be offering huge free downloads over WiFi like this. ... I just don't think Nintendo will pay to distribute demos to all Revolution owners who want it.. it's not a cheap business.

where did this 300mb figure come from? Revolution games are coming on DVDs, I guess a Revolution game will be a lot larger.

If Nintendo provide a server that gamers can download 1st party demos from, I think it favours them much more than if they leave it up to Mag publishers to get the demos out there. They can host the demo files for a specific length of time and advertise it directly. This way they have total control over their distribution and, as a result, effect.

They will be hosting all the VC games themselves so I think it's entirely plausably for them to do it. I know VC games will be small, small files but there might well be hundreds of them (as opposed to a handful of Revo demos, if they stick to 1st party software).

The '300mb' came from my head, just to illustrate that downloading demos is something that can be done easily and fast. Revo games will be on DVD disks but that doesnt mean that a demo will have to be a gig or so in size.

I'm not saying that Nintendo will necessarily distribute demos over WiFi, I'm just sayin that they could easily do it and there are advantages for doing so.

[ShadowV7]

Aslong as we get demos I don't how we get them

[Tellyn]

I think that some free Virtual Console games will be given when bought with the machine.

That's definitely a given.