15 replies to this topic

[Ze_ro]

Check this out, looks like Nintendo will be releasing a new system in China called "iQue". The idea is that the system will be so cheap that they'll undercut all the pirates by selling games for about $6 each (They download onto flash cards), and the system itself for about $60. The system is supposedly capable of running SNES and N64 games, and a Chinese language version of one of the Mario games will be amung the launch titles (Although no original titles have been mentioned).

Sounds like a cool idea to me... wouldn't mind seeing something like this in North America.

--Zero

[joeybastard]

Ze_ro said:

Check this out, looks like Nintendo will be releasing a new system in China called "iQue". The idea is that the system will be so cheap that they'll undercut all the pirates by selling games for about $6 each (They download onto flash cards), and the system itself for about $60. The system is supposedly capable of running SNES and N64 games, and a Chinese language version of one of the Mario games will be amung the launch titles (Although no original titles have been mentioned).

Sounds like a cool idea to me... wouldn't mind seeing something like this in North America.

--Zero

I'd like to see this too but then I'm sure people would bitch that it only rehashes N64 and SNES games and doesn't have newly developed games.

[JB]

How much you wanna bet the pirates pirate it?

[Ze_ro]

joeybastard said:

I'd like to see this too but then I'm sure people would bitch that it only rehashes N64 and SNES games and doesn't have newly developed games.

Not to mention the fact that it would cut into Nintendo's ability to re-release the games at full price for the Gamecube and GBA

--Zero

[MegaManFan]

I think this is just their excuse to prove ROMs have value so they can add ammo to their arsenal of shutting down file trading services and downloading websites.

[JB]

MegaManFan said:

I think this is just their excuse to prove ROMs have value so they can add ammo to their arsenal of shutting down file trading services and downloading websites.

They don't need to prove anything.

Legally speaking, if the ROM image sites don't have permission to distribute the copyrighted materials, they're dead. Regardless of whether or not the game is in distribution.
Value never enters the equation.

Even if it did, they have to pay their lawyers anyways, so they don't particularly care if the take the route of Sony VS Bleem and drop bullshit lawsuit after bullshit lawsuit on people untill they force them into bankruptcy.


Developing and supporting a new system would be a rather wasteful way to shut down ROM image sites. They can do it cheaper without ammo.

[MegaManFan]

JB said:

Developing and supporting a new system would be a rather wasteful way to shut down ROM image sites. They can do it cheaper..

Yup and it's called e-Reader cards.

[JB]

MegaManFan said:

JB said:

Developing and supporting a new system would be a rather wasteful way to shut down ROM image sites. They can do it cheaper..

Yup and it's called e-Reader cards.

It's a shame you can't make e-Reader cards on a standard PC printer(I've been told the data strip's too high resolution).
It'd be a neat way to make and distribute homebrew games.

[Ze_ro]

JB said:

MegaManFan said:

I think this is just their excuse to prove ROMs have value

They don't need to prove anything.

Legally, no... but the average Joe usually considers downloading ROMs to be acceptable since the games are not commercially viable any more. Stealing 2600 ROMs is still stealing, but since no one is really financially harmed by it, it's considered okay. With games still being sold, the fact that you're stealing is more noticable.

Regardless, I don't think this move has anything to do with shutting down ROM downloads... I think the main reason is to try and get some headway into the Chinese market so that eventually they can make profit on a "normal" console. There's so much piracy going on in China that it's almost pointless to try and market a system like the Gamecube.

--Zero

[MegaManFan]

Ze_ro said:

Legally, no... but the average Joe usually considers downloading ROMs to be acceptable since the games are not commercially viable any more. Stealing 2600 ROMs is still stealing, but since no one is really financially harmed by it, it's considered okay. With games still being sold, the fact that you're stealing is more noticable.

Count on my fellow Irregular Maverick Hunter to articulate my point far more clearly and logically than I did. Thanks for playing the "why file traders feel no shame" game.

[JB]

But the average Joe ALSO doesn't care about some fancy-schmancy new toy in China.

Legally is all they NEED to concern themselves with.
And even that's not needed sometimes(see Nintendo VS Lik-Sang).

[Ze_ro]

Consider the number of average Joe's with modded PSX's, there's probably not much motivation to stop pirating at all... especially when we're talking about companies like Sony and Microsoft.

Oh well... after a few more years of rampant piracy, maybe we'll be getting our own version of the iQue

On the plus side, my brother (who pirates PSX games constantly... most of his "collection" has never even been played) doesn't mind spending $5 or $6 on a game, so maybe the iQue will work after all.

--Zero

[Jasoco]

Hmm...

Will be a nice eBay item one day.

[Ze_ro]

Speaking of which, what standards do they use in China? NTSC? 120V, 60Hz power? Would it be easy to get an iQue to work in North America without tons of adaptors?

--Zero

[Raijin Z]

There are a lot of games that could never fit in the GBA's memory, though. Fuck, I think Kirby would have taken a regulation-sized deck of cards. Good thing (?!) Nintendo re-released it. I will admit the new version is beautiful, and has a billion frames of animation, but a NEW game would have been better! I mean, once you have the engine, mapping is a snap!

[King Atari]

Wow, that new system would be really cool to import, almost one-of-a-kind here.