Racketboy

As I mentioned at the system’s reveal, the Nintendo Revolution is shaping up to be the ultimate (legal) retrogaming system. However, a lot of this is depending on how Nintendo manages their game distribution system and “competes” with people being accustomed to downloading ROMs online for free.

I mention Apple and iTunes a lot when discussing Nintendo and their back-catelog plans, but this is similar to Apple’s challenge and apparent success convincing at least a good chunk of the general public to pay for music downloads instead of pirating them for “free”.

So anyway, will Nintendo do as good (or better) than Apple?
Well, here’s a snippit from a recent GameSpot interview with Nintendo VP George Harrison:

GS: Do you plan on having like a per-download pricing model along the lines of the microtransactions that will be used in the next-gen Xbox marketplace?

GH: Well, we can use it in a variety of ways. We’ve used some of the older games already as little bonuses, either as bonus gifts or hidden in levels of games. Certainly for the first-party titles we’ll be making some of those available. We haven’t really talked about whether we would sell them. The third parties can make their own decision whether they want to sell them, or maybe they will add it on as sort of a free benefit when you buy a current version of the game.

Don’t confuse this statement though — Nintendo is not saying that all Nintendo classics will be free — mostly likely it will start out with a select few.

For those of you that have played Animal Crossing much, you know that there are ways you can collect and play certain NES games within the gaming environment. I’m sure it will be similar to that structure only on a grander scale.

Now that Nintendo is getting into online gaming, I envision an atmosphere similar to XBox Live where matches and tournements are held, and winners receive a game “shopping spree”.

With this shopping spree, gamers can browse through a setup like the iTunes Music Store and decide what games they would like to add to their collection.

Not only would this be a great game distribution mechanism, but it would also add the element of collecting — something that Nintendo knows well with it’s Pokemon franchise (”Gotta Catch Em All!”).

Nintendo hasn’t announced in any official way whether or not there will be a charge associated with this service. However, pretty much every Nintendo exec has been saying:

• Games from Nintendo’s home console back catalog will be downloadable and playable on the Revolution
• Not all titles will be available at launch
• The specific titles that will be available at launch have not been chosen.
• When titles will be available has not been determined
• How much the different titles will cost has not been determined

I’ll be sure to share more info when I find it.
This topic is definately on the top of my list!