Master Malstrom,
Just a brief e-mail to say I understand your frustration with your VC expectations.
However, you should never cite Sega as an example of good IP stewardship. The only reason Sonic has any relevance right now is the Olympic crossover games.
Even Sonic Colors, which was considered a step in the right direction, couldn’t make a dent in sales due to the damage that had been done over the years.
Also, the Dingoo? Really? 1 Million sales in 3 1/2 years?
Again, I understand why Nintendo’s VC policies are a failure for you.
However, after years of reading your blog, I have come to expect better reasoning than this.
I’d say Dingoo sales are interesting considering it has no marketing and no exclusive games made for it as well as the competition from massive growth of smartphone gaming. It shows that there are people out there willing to purchase a product specifically to play ‘old games’.
I’m not citing Sega for IP stewardship. I’m citing Sega because they are willing to offer their back catalog for sale beyond the ‘game collection on disc’. Sega is monetizing these old games by allowing us to buy them (ALL at once, not a trickle at a time over half a decade). Nintendo isn’t. Nintendo is deliberately leaving money on the table. Even without a console, Sega does what Nintendon’t. (And that gives me the excuse to post the following video:)
I was mostly satisfied with the VC on the Wii. However, that was last generation. This generation, we have the 3DS and Wii U. The 3DS VC support is AWFUL. No one is pleased with it. Where are the GBA games? And there is no virtual console support for the Wii U at all. Nothing has been said about the Virtual Console for the Wii U. And where is the account based system that every other service has?
The online shop for the Wii wasn’t that great, but it is WAY BETTER than what is the 3DS shop and the non-existent Wii U Virtual Console. I can’t see how anyone can say the VC support is good from Nintendo in the Eighth Generation. The 3DS shop is a joke and the Wii U shop doesn’t exist.