Last week's News.com story about the resurging interest in an old game via a service called Gametap shouldn't surprise anyone in their twenties and thirties. After all, a generation of adults is coming of age who grew up playing Atari and Nintendo.
However, the News.com story overlooked a pending flood of classic games that Nintendo will unleash next month with the release of its latest video game console, the Wii. Nintendo realizes that not all gamers either have the time or inclination to keep pace with the latest games that easily take more than six hours to beat. Plus, some of today's shiny new games may seem intimidating not just because of the time commitment but also the difficulty — especially when you go online and get smoked by a kid half your age, who calls himself a professional gamer.
Interestingly, of the three video-game console makers, Nintendo was the last to embrace online gaming — its prior console, Gamecube, technically had an online option, but only one game used the feature.
Now, Nintendo is fully embracing the online realm and cribbing from online leader Microsoft's strategy guide. Last year, when Microsoft launched Xbox 360, it introduced Xbox Live Arcade, an online service that sells simple games for download. Some of the titles include classics such as Frogger, Joust, Pac-Man and Street Fighter II. However, Microsoft's goal wasn't just classic games. The service is intended primarily to expand the popularity of the Xbox 360 not just among hardcore gamers, but their girlfriends and spouses by offering them simple games. Of course, if Microsoft had the intellectual property rights to more classics, then they would advertise the service differently.
That's the key, Nintendo has over 20 years of intellectual property in its back catalog. After all, Mario of Super Mario Bros. fame first ran across screens in Donkey Kong in 1981, the same year Microsoft was making headway selling its first operating system MS-DOS.
Interestingly, Nintendo is tiering the pricing of its games based on their age. For example, a game that originally appeared on its NES, in other words games 15 to 20 years old, are the cheapest with games less than 10 years old being the most expensive — aside from new games specifically developed for the Wii, which are not downloadable but sold on discs.
Of course, more intrepid gamers can simply play these old Nintendo games on PCs through questionably legal software. However, the only way to legally play old Nintendo classics will be through the Wii or the original consoles, so those interested should plan to hit Best Buy, Wal-Mart or other retailers on Nov. 19 to pick one up. —Matthew Wurtzel
See story from News.com
See related story from The Seattle Times
See related story about professional gamer from The Palm Beach Post
See related item about emulation from Engadget's Download Squad
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