I'd also add that most of us re-bought a lot of physical games on VC. I mean, I own SMB on NES. I rebought it on VC. Nintendo is now reselling it on 3DS VC. Can I have an option, even if it costs more, to just buy SMB once and for all?
I think it gets a little more problematic when you look at the big picture. I have maybe 1500 games right now, across all platforms--and probably almost 1000 of them are digital. That ratio is going to keep getting more lopsided. So I'm extremely nervous about trends in digital content which require me to spend more to "maintain" the games I own.
I re-purchased a few things to, and you know, it really doesn't bother me. I still have the original systems the original games were on. I still got what I paid for there, and probably got much more than it's monetary value out of it.
Even if you think of the big picture... what is there to be scared of? The idea that 4 or 5 years down the line, you might have to re-buy a new license to play an old game on a new system?
One good thing to keep in mind with trends, is that some of the worse will weed themselves out, and won't be able to survive, due to poor implimentation.
The best will go stronger, and be copied by many until the cows come home.
The only thing that matters, with the WiiU case now, is if the value being paid out is worth it for the features being gained now.
Yeah Stump, it's come to the point where we shouldn't trust Nintendo's digital commerce policy. Sony offers much more value when you purchase old games from them, you can be confident that those purchases will stay with you across new consoles and Nintendo is giving us the middle finger in that regard.
Sony offers "more value"... at their second attempt attempt at backwards compatability with the system.
As a 360 owner for most of this gen (with a new Vita and PSGirll purchased last year), the fact that the more-expensive PS3 took AWAY it's backards compat, was probably one of the worse things to me. I still cherish my 360's always-available backward compat more, in some ways.
However, what Sony has now with Crossplay and 1-title purchase on 2 or 3 current systems is really nice/ Some of the best ideas currently out there... but who'se to say this'll carry on PS4? So far, I see Sony making some good decisions to support some secondary-to-Nintendo popularity handheld systems (such as the 1 title purchase for all plats stuff, and Crossbuy) and then some HORRIBLE ones (like the expense of Vita memory cards, and refusal to lower prices on them).
Looking at Vita Card prices for anything worthwhile, VS the prices I'll end up paying to convert a large amount of VC games (At least I can play those bit-by-bit!), I feel like I'm looking at the same money, just distributed in different ways. And I'm actually happier if Nintendo's method gives money to a variety of developers, than Sony just getting more money from their proprietary memory system.
Often times, companies that have ground to gain, will offer some solid deals... it's part of catching up. But I think it's kind of naive to think 1 good deal states "this is the way everyone will do it!"
Personally, for all you can speak of how positive Sony is by saving a few dollars with cross-platform functionality, I'd gladly play a few dollars per title, in order to see the online universe style implimentation of Miiverse adapted to the games I like.
It sucks that most small PSN releases are give out with little fanfare, and generate almost no community buzz. At least Nintendo's screenshots and conversation features are 1 step closer to leaderboards and an archive to collect your gameplay achievements! Vita can take screenshots, but... that's about it. No built-in ways to share them!
For 4 to 6 quaters, I get to have my Wii VC titles upgraded to Wii U ones. I'd spend more than that in 10 minutes on a hard arcade machine. For now, this "Upgrade" means I'll have these games on access, as full "TV" or "Gamepad" games, surely, for the next few years. I'll be posting screenshots from my game, engaging in a fresh community of players, old a new, who show interest... all for a few quaters.
That's more than worth the meager price of admission.
