What will the Wii do to the 2nd hand SNES market?

[figflair]

I was just wondering what the scenario will be come the Wii's launch as you will be able to download lots of old SNES games. Do you think people will stop buying carts or will it make them hanker more for the 'real' experience? I only ask coz I've got some to get rid of and wondered it it was worth hanging on to them, and my Super Plays!

[Mad Gear]

It's emulation at the end of the day. Emulation will never replace the real deal.
Look at the PC, you can download almost anything you want and it hasn't really harmed the retro market.

[kyo_244]

But its official emulation. Nintendo'll do a mighty good job of emulatin these games me reckons.

[zipper]

Emulation on the PC certianly hasn't harmed the value of games and I can't really see why the wii would be any different (except in legal terms of course).

I reckon games will go up in value due to the mainstream exposure. Maybe even quite a lot. But I'm not going to bet on it.

[zipper]

But its official emulation. Nintendo'll do a mighty good job of emulatin these games me reckons.

If high res copies of the original manuals, maps, item posters, box, mag ads etc. are all included, from every region, that would be great.

Again though - I just think this would make people want the original stuff in their hands even more. Bare in mind that the majority of boxed snes games are ~ ?5, and the last I heard the downloads are priced at a similar point.

[muse hunter]

the virtual console aspect of the Wii doesn't interest me in the slightest, i love the physical part of videogames, whether that is the packaging or playing on a snes pad, putting a cartridge into the console, or a shelve full of lovely games with beautiful artwork, emulation just doesn't do it for me.

Although looking at nintendo's past actions i wouldn't be suprised if they try to stop the selling of their retro consoles and games as they will probably believe it will get in the way of their virtual console's potential.

[Mad Gear]

But its official emulation. Nintendo'll do a mighty good job of emulatin these games me reckons.

Look at Super Mario 64 on the DS. Without the N64 pad it isn't the same game (for me anyway).

Also it's prolly only gonna be the more mainstream games. I doubt if quirky niche games will get a look in (i hope i'm wrong though).

[Sketcz]

If anything, it will increase the market I think.

People's interest in the machine (eg SNES) will pick up, and then, when they can't download that obscure or licensed game they're hankering after, they'll probably buy the original (or emulate it on a PC) in order to get their fix.

Also, I agree with Muse Hunter (weren't you a NTSC writer before, with orange name?), that they might try and stop the sale of second hand retro games. They tried it in Japan after all!

[Silanda]

I figure that it might reduce the prices of the more expensive games slightly, but I'm not convinced that it will do much more than that. Since emulation has been around for some time, and the only difference with this is that is won't be free, the prices should be fairly stable. Also it will be very easy for Nintendo to overprice the emulated games, and if they do then the Wii will have little impact on the used games market.

I really don't think Nintendo will try to shutdown the used games market. They would be antagonising the very people that they are trying to attract, and would they even have the ability to do so?

[MikeRox]

Alot of people don't bother with Emulation on PCs, infact most people still don't really know of it's true existance. On the Wii however, people will feel like they are buying the real deal (I'm not talking about collectors or more dedicated gamers here), it'll be Super Mario World, that'll be all they want.

I think it'll have a negative impact on more mainstream games as there will be less people bothered about picking up the cart only games an what have you, however it will also increase the value of the lesser known games particularly that are in good condition because there will be peopl who have only found out about the game via the Virtual Console that decide they want to own the game for real.

[Sketcz]

Thinking about it actually, when the casual unwashed masses suddenly see they can download SNES games et al for the Wii, they might decide to either cheaply sell, or simply bin the old machine of their kids' that they'd been leaving in the loft. Since why take up space, when everyone can download them for pennies now? Imagine that, thousands of SNES games all being thrown away. After the Wii launches, expect to see the collectors of the world roaming up and down the streets, raiding other people's bins in the hope of finding old games; like proverbial tramps after mittens.

[Klatrymadon]

That'd be ace, man. I'd love to spot R-Type 3 or something at the bottom of a bin at the same time as some other foraging geek, and then have a gentleman's battle to the death over who gets to keep it.

TURBO ****ING SPINNING PILEDRIVER

[S3M]

Thinking about it actually, when the casual unwashed masses suddenly see they can download SNES games et al for the Wii, they might decide to either cheaply sell, or simply bin the old machine of their kids' that they'd been leaving in the loft. Since why take up space, when everyone can download them for pennies now? Imagine that, thousands of SNES games all being thrown away. After the Wii launches, expect to see the collectors of the world roaming up and down the streets, raiding other people's bins in the hope of finding old games; like proverbial tramps after mittens.

Hopefully they'll take them down to there local second hand store instead, so we can reap the rewards.

[S3M]

Opp's double post, I could have sworn I only clicked on the post button once? Mod please delete.