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VC Friday: lackluster week for downloadable games
What's this ... just Xevious? We appreciate a good, old school scrolling shooter just as much as the next fanboy, but this is a pretty boring offering when it's the only offering for the week. You can do better than this, NoE! Show us what you've got.The NES game will set you back 500 points, if you are so inclined. And here's hoping for a more exciting next Friday.
5 new VC titles from Sega
Sega has 5 more titles planned for the Wii's Virtual Console service and they're pretty damn good games! Not only are we finally getting the classic beat-em-up Streets of Rage, but we're also getting the greatly underappreciated title Comix Zone. To tell you all the truth, those two games are in our top 5 for favorite Genesis games of all time (our first choice, which is Gunstar Heroes, is already on the VC).Sadly, the 800 Wii Point standard for Genesis titles could be broken, as Sega is stating that prices for these games are to "start at 800 Wii Points," meaning Sega could pull a fast one on all of us in the way that Hudson did, jacking up the price for their titles. We expect that only Streets of Rage really has any reason to cost more than that, due to its incredible popularity in the gaming community.All five games to be offered include: Streets of Rage Comix Zone Bio-Hazard Battle Gain Ground Bonanza Bros. [Thanks 20XX; via Joystiq!]
VC poll: what games do you want to see more of?
The VC has been kicking out some great games on a fairly consistent basis, but we know not all of you are pleased. many argue that there aren't enough N64 games for grabs and some want a little more SNES action. So, we decided to run a poll and see just what all of you are looking for on the Virtual Console! So, do us a favor and vote in our poll? We would really be upset if you didn't! Honest, we'd like cry and junk. Our T-shirt would be all soggy from the warm, salty tears ejecting themselves from our tear ducts. Now, you wouldn't want that on your conscience, would you? We thought not ... What console do you want to see more games from on the VC? NES: I can never get enough of those old-school classics SNES: that's more my cup of tea TG-16: I missed out on the console before, show me what was so great about it Genesis: Sega rocked the 16 bit age N64: I need more evolved gameplay and graphics on my VC Free polls from Pollhost.com
Nothing new on XBLA this week ... but there is Ms. Pac-Man
Everything old is "classic" news now, with the Gamerscore blog revealing this week's Xbox Live Arcade release to be Ms. Pac-Man. Though many insist that it's far superior to the original Pac-Man, is it really different enough to warrant its own Wednesday release slot? In fact, wasn't it a free launch title for the original Xbox Live Arcade? Perhaps if we received the miss before (or instead of) the man, it wouldn't come across as just another hurdle to be leapt over in the race to fresher content.Not to incite the pellet-munching hordes, but it seems that both Xbox Live Arcade and Nintendo's Virtual Console regularly get the terms "old" and "classic" confused. We don't want all of the old games again, we want the best ones. True enough, not everyone agrees on what makes a quality arcade title, but taking greater care in choosing them in the first place would greatly enhance the lineups of both services. A true classic is something you'll pick up and play right this second, with nary a thought about graphics, sound or age -- and there aren't as many of those as you might think.In those respects, perhaps Ms. Pac-Man is a classic. However, its familiar trappings don't demand an immediate 400 point ($5) purchase, especially not with Pac-Man already sitting on the same service and Worms being pushed away another 7 days. Games like this and New Rally-X only dilute the XBLA experience and a quick succession of them could steadily lead to more and more apathy.Hell, it's not even that hard to defeat apathy. It just kind of lies there.
VC Friday: Mushroom, mushroom
It's Friday, and for our European friends, that means it's time for another Virtual Console update. This week you guys get some super classic goodies, which makes up for the fact that there's only two classic goodies. Super Mario Bros. (NES) - 500 pointsMotoroader (Turbografx) - 600 pointsWhen we first picked up Super Mario Bros. over here (we couldn't resist), everyone immediately started singing/humming/otherwise-recreating the theme, loudly and tunelessly. Thus, we recommend earplugs for the first foray into this one ....
It's (technically) Virtual Console Monday!
And you know what that means ... new games! Unfortunately, it looks like Nintendo has one hell of a hangover (we can't blame them, we were up till 6 AM ourselves), and they only managed to spit out two rather inauspicious titles: Baseball and Urban Champion, both for the NES. After five hundred points each, we maintain that both playing baseball and punching someone in the face are both far more enjoyable in real life in Wii Sports.And by the way, fellow fanboys, Happy New Year! Did your megaton party involve raucous Wii-playing? As you know, there was a more important countdown in Times Square around a month and a half ago, so if you played right through midnight, wish yourself a happy belated 2007 and check the ball-drop on your TiVo. Just kidding. We know you've already erased that to make room for the next episode of Heroes.
VC Friday: vampires and cities
To those in Europe: don't forget to check out today's Virtual Console updates, because there are some sweet games available now.SimCity (SNES) -- 800 pointsSuper Castlevania IV (SNES) -- 800 pointsBaseball (NES) - 500 pointsIce Hockey (NES) -- 500 pointsR-Type (TURBOGRAFX) -- 800 pointsSuper Probotector was scheduled for today, but we've heard it was a no-show. Not like you needed it today, not with that lineup! Planning on buying any of these? We definitely recommend Super Castlevania IV.
Contra III to rock the VC?
The official site of the ESRB (Entertainment Software Rating Board) has updated its Wii section with a rating for Contra III: The Alien Wars. The rating is E10+ and suggests that the title could be showing up on Nintendo's Virtual Console service soon (perhaps as soon as Monday). Although other titles show ratings on the ESRB site and have not released on the Wii's VC, we're raising the alert status of this title to "probably." We might not get it Monday, however there is no reason the game should take much longer than that to release.
Mario Kart 64 headlines Jan. Wii VC lineup, in Japan
Nintendo will deal a strong hand of nostalgia to begin the New Year, as January will see Japanese Wii owners tempted by the likes of Mario Kart 64 and SNES Super Famicom's Fire Emblem: Seisen no Keifu (the last series' title to be produced by Gunpei Yokoi). Additional classics like Ice Climber, Kid Icarus and Zelda II: The Adventure of Link will fill out the first-party offerings; and new Genesis and TurboGrafx-16 titles will ensure that the Virtual Console service always has something stirring a soft spot.Which Christmas releases did you give in to?
Christmas sees first VC price increase
Wii owners waking up this Christmas morning expecting to download some classic space 'shmup goodness might be a little surprised at what they have to pay to get it. R-Type, released today on the Wii's virtual console, is the first TurboGrafx-16 game to be available for 800 VC points instead of the normal 600.This didn't come as a total surprise: Nintendo casually mentioned last month that virtual console games merely "start at" the now-standard point levels (NES: 500, TG16: 600, SNES/Genesis:800, N64:1000). They also mentioned the R-Type price specifically in a press release last week, but our eyes glazed over and we misreported it at 600 points. Silly us... we thought the price used in six other TurboGrafx-16 games so far would carry over to the seventh.While R-Type is a bit more popular than a similar game like Super Star Soldier, we can't help but wonder why Nintendo chose this game to break out the first price hike. While a 200 point increase isn't too outrageous, we can only hope this does not represent the start of a trend in ever-increasing virtual console prices.
VC Friday: Tennis and Toejam
Don't forget, there are new games on the Virtual Console today in Europe. Though we've already posted the full list of VC Europe games through the end of the year, it's a good day for reminders. Available today: Donkey Kong Jr. (NES) - 500 pointsSoccer (NES) - 500 pointsTennis (NES) - 500 pointsSpace Harrier II (MEGA DRIVE) - 800 pointsToe Jam & Earl (MEGA DRIVE) - 800 pointsMilitary Madness (TURBOGRAFX) - 600 pointsTo buy or not to buy -- that's the Friday question for European Wii owners!
Opera browser live today
The free trial of the Wii's Opera browser is now live and ready for download, so don't forget to grab it for a little Wiikend surfing. Apparently there's also a super secret page at the Opera site accessible only from the Wii's browser in support of the My Opera community. They promise specialized content therein, but with gaming news provided by GameSpot, so we'll just have to check and see what's unique to the page and what you can access from any ol' browser. Download it, check it out, and tell us what you think! How do we look on the Wii -- spectacular or merely a little fantastic?[Thanks to everyone who sent this one in!]
VC Christmas: Super Mario, four more, no hand outs [update 1]
[Update: The original post erroneously listed the price for R-Type at 600 points. More here.]Nintendo has confirmed five titles for the Christmas Day Virtual Console update, and it's quite an impressive release. Just as we thought, Nintendo is not giving away any titles. Instead, they are uploading five major titles to increase their profit margin. The titles are: Super Mario Bros. (NES, 500 points): Nintendo's flagship title is sure to sell like hotcakes despite already racking up 40 million in sales since its 1985 release. How many times can we repurchase the game? Street Fighter II: The World Warrior (SNES, 800 points): Compared to the Xbox Live version, it's your choice whether you want online play or would rather pocket $2.00 in exchange rate difference (800 Nintendo points vs. 800 MS points). Super Castlevania IV (SNES, 800 points): One of the best in the series. Easily the best Castlevania title on the SNES, though it only had one other iteration (Castlevania Dracula X) to compete against. Toe Jam & Earl (Genesis, 800 points): Strong two-player action title, worth the price based on style alone. R-Type (TurboGrafx16, 800 points): One of the classic space shooters. We're excited by the list, even if our wallets aren't. Nintendo of America's Reggie Fils-Aime has talked about strategically releasing VC titles when there's a drought of first-party Wii titles. With all these delays recently announced, might we be seeing more great VC Mondays forthcoming? And when are we going to see Square Enix games or any Nintendo 64 goodies?Keep up on: Virtual Console Mondays
Free VC games for Christmas? Keep dreaming
There's been a surprising amount of chatter recently about some sort of "Christmas surprise" coming out of Nintendo on Monday, Dec. 25. The source of all this speculation, as far as we can figure it, is a Nov. 30 post on RumorReporter.com that coyly suggests "you might want to keep an eye on your Wii's WiiConnect24 service leading up to this Christmas. Nintendo's sending a nifty gift... a surprise."The only cited source for this information? "A friend of mine from Germany, who works for a very legitimate gaming production and publication." And really, if you can't trust some guy's unnamed German friend who works for an unnamed "legitimate" gaming company, who can you trust?The extreme sketchiness of this tip hasn't stopped the 'net from rampant speculation on what the big surprise might be. The current leading contender seems to be free Virtual Console games. As GamersReports notes, a little Firefox hacking can turn up Wii Shop pages for upcoming games Super Mario Bros., ToeJam & Earl and R-Type that list the price as "0 points / Free." The report is careful to note this as a rumor, but still holds out hope for "a real Christmas miracle, though."We don't buy it. As noted on the original hacking guide on Following Revolution, "any unreleased game says free for now, as it's just a placeholder for price" which will be set later. Some might say that the "free" message where the "download" button usually appears proves that the games are indeed going to be offered gratis, but it would be a relatively simple process for Nintendo to set that message as the default for any page with an unset price. At best, this proves that the virtual console has the functionality to offer products for free -- something we've long known was planned for the system's Opera browser.But the greatest argument against this Christmas surprise is that it's bad business. Giving away Super Mario Bros., a title that is likely to be one of the Virtual Console's biggest sellers, is not a smart move for a company that obviously values profits. The positive PR for the move likely wouldn't offset the hundreds of thousands of dollars lost to the free downloads.We suppose we could be wrong here, and that some huge surprise could show up on our systems come Christmas morning. Just don't get your hopes up, is all.
PAL Wii owner pulls the ol' region-switch to access more VC titles
A New Zealand Wii owner gets creative when faced with his country's lack of Virtual Console titles. He changes his console's PAL region to the UK. Voilà!Unfortunately, this "trick" -- popularized by Xbox 360 users (before Microsoft wised up) -- doesn't work with Japanese or North American Wiis. Japanese owners can't change their Wiis' region, and North Americans don't have access to the Japanese or UK region options.
Street Fighter II headed to Virtual Console?
1UP is stating that Street Fighter II: The World Warrior will soon be available via the Wii's Virtual Console service, allowing players to toss hadoukens and smash grills with flash kicks on the new system. 1UP believes this based on a recent ESRB rating approval, which you can view here, causing us to believe that it could be possible for us to get our hands on the game as early as this coming Monday.If this turns out to be true, the game would more-than-likely cost 800 Wii Points ($8 USD) and offer no online play, widescreen support or new game modes. Obviously, this causes one to compare and contrast the Street Fighter offering on Microsoft's Xbox Live service, but at least we can say playing it on the Wii won't be as tough as it is to use that d-pad on the Xbox 360.[Via Joystiq]
Friday is VC day for Europe
Looks like Friday is update day for the European Virtual Console, though we're not sure why Nintendo wouldn't do all regions on the same day, even despite differences in content from region to region. Maybe they just want things to be confusing for those who obtained a console from a different region!We've included the full list of this month's VC updates for Europe -- and it's pretty extensive! Check it out after the jump.
Gunstar, Mean Bean, and 2 more invade VC Mondays
Nintendo has announced the four new titles coming to the Virtual Console today. As predicted, TurboGrafx-16's Alien Crush makes the list, although the also-mentioned Dungeon Explorer is currently MIA. The other three titles are Gunstar Heroes, Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine (both Genesis) and Ice Hockey (NES), which were all featured on the launch list for the US Virtual Console.Also on the launch list, but still absent, are Baseball, Tennis, Urban Champion (all NES), Space Harrier II and Toe Jam & Earl (both Genesis). As noted by Joystiq tipster Eric B., Sega lists Space Harrier II landing next Monday (December 18) and Toe Jam & Earl arriving Christmas Day. Assuming Dungeon Explorer makes the list by 2006 -- it, too, was on the list -- that's at least six more titles we can expect before the New Year. With any luck, we'll also see a few better titles purported by Nintendo -- that is, unless it interferes with Reggie's strategies.The four new VC titles today will be added at 12:00pm EST. Ice Hockey is 500 points, Alien Crush 600, and both Genesis titles are 800 points apiece.Keep up on: Virtual Console Mondays[Thanks, ElChibo and Shadow Hog]
Exchange 'Stars' for Wii points in UK
UK Nintendo membership holders will finally be able to put their 'Stars' to good use. Earned via codes packaged with Nintendo hardware and software sold in the UK, Stars have been useless (redeemed for wallpaper) until now. Nintendo has announced it will be adding Wii points to the Stars Catalogue.By linking a Wii Shop Channel account to an online Nintendo membership, Wii owners will soon be able to put their Stars toward Virtual Console purchases (by way of Wii points). But it gets better: completing a survey upon purchasing a VC title will transfer some new Stars back to your membership. It's almost like the VC games are paying for themselves -- but not quite. We're willing to bet the 'Stars to Wii points' exchange rate ain't so hot.
2 more TG-16 VC games revealed
The folks over at Bits Bytes Pixels Sprites have discovered that two new Virtual Console games, as of now unannounced, will be headed to the Wii sometime in the near future. See, in poking around Hudson Entertainment's website, they found pages for both Alien Crush and Dungeon Explorer, mentioning their inclusion into Nintendo's Virtual Console line of games. For the unaware, Alien Crush is a pinball title with an extra-terrestrial theme, where Dungeon Explorer has playing as Detective John Gutter, a tough-as-nails cop with a dark past. As witness to a rather disgusting murder with no evidence left on the scene beside your testimony, you have 48 hours to find the one responsible before your fellow police officers toss you into the slammer.OK, we're kidding. You do, in fact, explore dungeons. [Via Joystiq]
