The Slow Decline of Wii's Virtual Console

How Nintendo's virtual classics download service has died.

[lsujester]

I've been pretty disappointed with the retro selection myself. While Earthworm Jim and Boogerman bring very special smiles to my face, the fact that some of my favorite Nintendo games are not coming brings a tear to my eye.

[theusedfake]

everything in the gaming world is "dying" lately

[name]

Basically. Every story this gen has to be rediculously dramatic and bold.

[eagle21]

I see Super Mario All-Stars in the top left corner of the pic. That is not on the VC, correct?

[Jackthepwnsaur]

Wait chrono Trigger hasnt appeared on the VC yet!? 0_o WTF

[Old Snake]

It is just like the rest of Nintendo. A fad. I hardly use my Wii anymore. I'll get a big game, then play for a week and leave it to collect dust. Like the VC, very cool at first, bought all the classics, then it just died out.

[Style]

The Wii is being left to collect dust in my house. I'd much rather go outside and play.

[cloudkillerffvii]

that's why is consistently outsells the other home consoles, right?

[Denzelio]

A Fad.. because Nintendo has nothing left to offer, nothing else up their sleaves. We have already seen all they have and appart from the rare Mario game their is nothing that keeps the consumer a Nintendo only gamer. Nintendo has no exclusive titles that appeal to the adult gamers only Wii owners with children keep buying titles for their kids and little if any games for themselves.
Lately Nintendo are even making themselves look bad denying consumers any type of larger storage, as the consumers simply want to buy more VC and Wiiware titles, even calling those people geeks.., besides did we ever ask for Wiiware games? If anything people desire demo's not even more shovelware titles. Nintendo have greatly reduced the release of Virtual console titles along with well known classics making the Wii less interesting and this combined with no larger storage medium just looses Nintendo more profits that they would of otherwise had.

[iamtehpwn]

Majora's mask up yet?

[sumfood4u]

A. Space Wii don't want to Erase, Download, Erase, Download!

[SaiyanFury]

I'll admit it up front: I'm not a fan of Nintendo today. I will say that I'm a fan of Nintendo 15 years ago before it went all sequel-crazy. All the sequels not withstanding, I never understood why Nintendo would ever sell one of their best second party developers. The developer in question is none other than Rare. Why would they sell a company who's games are perfectly suited to Nintendo's demographic, to a company like Microsoft where they will always be treated like second class citizens? I realize the underlying reason, because MS wanted to target a younger demographic, but even so. I doubt Rare is happy in the hands of MS making games that will (pardon the pun) rarely be seen in the spotlight again.

[Blue Legend]

Actually, Nintendo owned 49% of Rare, while Rare's founder's owned 51%. They sold their 51% to Microsoft (god only knows why) Then, Nintendo, not wanting to fight Microsoft over licences, copyrights and exclusive titles, decided to just sell their remaining shares to Microsoft too, retaining any copyrights they had.

This put a halt to some projects they had going on at the time, as they included characters that Nintendo now had exclusive rights to. It hurt Rare pretty bad.

[SaiyanFury]

Oh, crap I was wrong in my interpretation? Well thank you for setting me straight, Blue Legend. I do appreciate it. I was never completely clear on the numbers. I am more than happy to give credit where it's due. I thank you very much for the education. I did not know that Nintendo owned less than 50% shares. Kudos to you. Mayhaps in my admittance someone will credit my admittance with a bubble. Either way, I thank you for the education.

[princejb134]

yea they need chrono trigger
but virtual console died?
not sure but when was it really born

[SpartanGR]

@cloudkillerffvii

wii outsells other consoles because people are like sheep . Someone plays the flute and sheeps follow. That's why humanity haven't progressed much since the industrial revolution.

[marcellizot]

*pulls on fanboy strength magic sarcasm cape*

Yes you are right, people buying the Wii is a perfect allegory for humanity's lack of progress as a species. Oh and double yes, humanity has gone nowhere since the industrial revolution.

*takes off cape*

Now go and crawl back under you stone, you insipid, brainless, joyless fool!

The Wii is a great console, a cultural high water mark almost as strong as the iPod or the Gameboy. It may not be for you, but that does not mean that the people buying it are somehow idiotic for doing so. Everyone I know who owns a Wii gets more than enough enjoyment out of it to justify its place in the living room and there's nothing wrong with that.

These people may not play it as rigorously as others play their PS3 or 360, but then many Wii owners aren't interested in gaming as a full time hobby, just as an occasional fancy. If it gets more people acquainted with the medium, then great.

As for the remark about the industrial revolution, how about the power of flight, space travel, the dawn of the information age, the internet etc.

[marcellizot]

Also, I agree all this stuff about consoles and services apparently dying right left and center is getting hard to put up with.

Let's be more ruthless with those reports people, hyperbole has no place in serious journalism (though it seems that fewer and fewer serious journalists have a place in gaming sadly).

[razorbladelight]

it's not meant to have games like GTAIV and Haze and any other generic fps of the sort, but it still makes money without them for a reason. People being sheep is a queer point of view. I bought my Wii and though the lack of games on it now are apparent, in 2006 that didn't seem so. I am by no means a casual gamer, but I don't consider myself a sociopath, locked in my room 24/7 in dark gamer either (or as many people on this site like to refer to themselves as 'hardcore' gamer).
As for the issue of quality VC games, yeah that was apparent from the start. I dunno why someone would write an article on this about a year and a half after the realease of the VC for the wii. just more useless whining from a useless journalist.