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[The Abominable Snowman]

According to the most recent wave of Phoenix Marketing International’s recently released market research study entitled Consumer Buying Intentions, four out five households play video games. Although the majority are playing via a home PC, PlayStation 2, Xbox or Game Boy, the original PlayStation, Nintendo 64, and Super Nintendo are cited as the systems played most often by one-third of gamers. In addition, seventeen percent of survey participants planning to purchase an electronic gaming system this holiday season will be buying older systems.

“Whether playing on a computer, console (e.g., PlayStation 2, Xbox, or GameCube), or handheld system (e.g., Game Boy, Nokia N-Gage, Tapwave Zodiac), the majority of US households are gaming” according to David Pluchino, Senior Research Manager at PMI. “Interestingly, more than a third of gamers are holding onto older systems and actively using them”, added Pluchino.

A large proportion of gamers are also playing video games via a handheld device, specifically, variations of Nintendo’s Game Boy system. When asked about future purchases, one out of ten households indicated they would be picking up a new handheld system this holiday season. This is not surprising stated Pluchino, “with the increase in leisure travel, parents are looking for ways to entertain their kids during long drives or airplane trips.”

So basically, this bodes kind of bad for Microsoft thinking that Backwards compatibility is a must. 1/10 households will be buying a GBA or DS this holiday as well. That's good news for ninty!

 

[GDJustin]

I hope nintendo sees this shit.

Nintendo! release a "Retro Box" that can download NES games for $1-4. Snes Titles for $3-10. Get 3rd parties to allow their titles for DL as well. Better yet, maybe allow people to dev their own homebrew NES or SNES titles and release the best ones as a free download monthly.

 

[The Abominable Snowman]

I hope nintendo sees this shit.

Nintendo! release a "Retro Box" that can download NES games for $1-4. Snes Titles for $3-10. Get 3rd parties to allow their titles for DL as well. Better yet, maybe allow people to dev their own homebrew NES or SNES titles and release the best ones as a free download monthly.

Oh.
Hell.
No.

That's a bad idea. Especially when you could just get an emulator.

 

[Kon Tiki]

I hope nintendo sees this shit.

Nintendo! release a "Retro Box" that can download NES games for $1-4. Snes Titles for $3-10. Get 3rd parties to allow their titles for DL as well. Better yet, maybe allow people to dev their own homebrew NES or SNES titles and release the best ones as a free download monthly.

Or an XBL Arcade clone. Nintendo would have an outstanding arcade.

 

[belgurdo]

I hope nintendo sees this shit.

Nintendo! release a "Retro Box" that can download NES games for $1-4. Snes Titles for $3-10. Get 3rd parties to allow their titles for DL as well. Better yet, maybe allow people to dev their own homebrew NES or SNES titles and release the best ones as a free download monthly.

Why would people waste time driving to their local EB to download Nintendo games in the future when they can do that now on the PC?

 

[Miguel]

SELL YOUR PS3, XENON, AND REVOLUTIONS IT'S ALL OVER

 

[djtiesto]

Oh.
Hell.
No.

That's a bad idea. Especially when you could just get an emulator.

Then how do you explain all the people who pay .99 per song on ITunes, when they can just as easily load up SoulSeek or Kazaa? I've been such a proponent of this idea, it's not even funny...

 

[madara]

I love my SNES.

14years later and it still system that keeps on giving. Everytime new translation comes out I get more excited then I have in ages.

 

[Ranger X]

SNES rules.

 

[GDJustin]

Why would people waste time driving to their local EB to download Nintendo games in the future when they can do that now on the PC?

Because this would be legal. I've emulated the old SNES/NES games I haven't been able to find, but I'd buy a legit copy if I could could.

 

[Fatghost]

So basically, this bodes kind of bad for Microsoft thinking that Backwards compatibility is a must. 1/10 households will be buying a GBA or DS this holiday as well. That's good news for ninty!

I think the opposite. This shows that many gamers still play older games and so backwards compatibility would be viewed as a very positive feature to include in newer consoles.

 

[The Abominable Snowman]

Then how do you explain all the people who pay .99 per song on ITunes, when they can just as easily load up SoulSeek or Kazaa? I've been such a proponent of this idea, it's not even funny...

Because you don't have to purchase the players to play the songs on. The players for the songs are plentiful and free, or can be purchased in portable form.

 

[The Abominable Snowman]

I think the opposite. This shows that many gamers still play older games and so backwards compatibility would be viewed as a very positive feature to include in newer consoles.

I hope so. As long as Microsoft does not go for the "Consumers who want Xbox games will keep their Xboxes around" dick stick and piss off their fans. They're known for doing stuff like that as well.

 

[heidern]

Yeah, it would actually be a license to print money beyond even the NES classics line. What they should do is release an accessory that takes in rewritable cards and either the hardware or emulation software. Then people can download games to it themselves. Perhaps they could do it so you download 90% of the game, with the rest being held on the server to allow it to play. A persistent connection could be a great way to cut that piracy.

As for people emulating, well as we all know, the PC emulation experience on Monitors with pc pads is inferior to the real thing. Not only that, but they could add bits and pieces. How about Mario World with extra levels? Or LTTP with extra dungeons? Or how about Secret of Mana, the complete game? They could even release brand new games for it. It would be a veritable goldmine. $5 gets you 5-10 gigabytes of bandwidth for a site, thats enough for over a thousand games. In other words, the cost to distribute a game would be $0.005. It would literally be pure profit. In fact they could very easily sell games for $15-20. Even if they only got 2M out worldwide, they could add a nice chunk to their yearly profits.

 

[human5892]

Oh.
Hell.
No.

That's a bad idea. Especially when you could just get an emulator.

Yeah -- people would never buy rereleases of titles like Metroid, The Legend of Zelda, Super Mario Bros., etc., when they could just emulate them!

 

[AniHawk]

Oh.
Hell.
No.

That's a bad idea. Especially when you could just get an emulator.

Sitting down on a couch/armchair/sofa, playing games on the TV screen >>>> sitting down in a chair, playing games on a monitor.

^Fact.

 

[DDayton]

Perhaps we'll get an iQue-like device over here soon, with the ability to download NES/SNES/N64 titles. Nintendo came up with a somewhat secure flash memory storage system for it, and the online connection kit supposedly allows one to download games to the system via the internet.

 

[Hournda]

I have a modded Xbox with every NES, SNES, Genesis game and a lot of arcade games on it. I play these more than actual Xbox games!

 

[explodet]

Because you don't have to purchase the players to play the songs on.

I had to buy my computer, I had to buy my CD player.
I know the point you're trying to make, though (I'm not anti-emulation).

 

[JoshuaJSlone]

I think the opposite. This shows that many gamers still play older games and so backwards compatibility would be viewed as a very positive feature to include in newer consoles.

I still don't think this research shows it as a necessity, though. Obviously we can see through the sales numbers that even though people may keep and use their old games for a long time, they don't tend to spend much on older systems once they've got the newer ones. That being the case, if they've already got, say, an original Xbox and a library of games, I doubt the fact that the hypothetical Xbox 2 doesn't play them will be a reason for them not to buy it; it's not like they can pick a competing console that will be backwards compatible with their Xbox games.

 

[FightyF]

Although the majority are playing via a home PC, PlayStation 2, Xbox or Game Boy, the original PlayStation, Nintendo 64, and Super Nintendo are cited as the systems played most often by one-third of gamers. In addition, seventeen percent of survey participants planning to purchase an electronic gaming system this holiday season will be buying older systems.

They must be GC owners. Seriously that console is not enough to satiate a gamer's desires.

 

[puck1337]

Or an XBL Arcade clone. Nintendo would have an outstanding arcade.

IAWTP.