Are we only going to see Wii kiosks at one location come November? Also, what’s this about Commodore 64 games on Nintendo’s retro service?
GameStop Corp., the largest gaming specialty store in the United States, recently held their annual sales conference where, according to The Dallas Morning News, a rather peculiar statement was made by CEO Steve Morgan. According to him, Wii demo kiosks will only be available at GameStops at the console’s launch this November.
Since Nintendo’s aiming at a much broader audience, specifically those outside of the hardcore circle, this seems like an odd choice. PGC contacted Nintendo of America, who declined to comment on the rumor, but I’m thinking we should all take this with a large grain of salt.
The only reason Nintendo would go with such a narrow field of demo penetration would be if they wanted a very specific experience to accompany the kiosk, such as an employee walking the player through a level, or someone keeping an eye on the station to make sure Wii remotes aren’t stolen.
Even so, it would be a huge mistake to forego including such massive retail chains like Wal-Mart, Best Buy, and Target, who house the vast majority of the consumers Nintendo’s aiming for. Furthermore, if Nintendo truly wants to break the mold, they’ll have to get Wiis in the hands of as many people as possible, and if demo stations are limited to GameStops, that just isn’t going to happen at launch. I’d bet that this is a misunderstanding between two of the parties involved (Nintendo, GameStop, or the Dallas Morning News).
There are less than seven weeks left before Wii launches across North America, but we’re still in the dark concerning demo kiosks, pre-orders, and other retail details – keep your browser on Planet GameCube as more on this story is revealed.
In other Wii news, the Internet has been hissing about like Thundercats lately with the rumor that Commodore 64 titles are making their way to the Virtual Console. It all stems from the latest issue of Nintendo Power, which states that C64 software like Impossible Mission and California Games are coming to the DS, with Wii versions also in the works. The writer also makes the offhand comment that they’d possibly be coming to the Virtual Console as well, and that’s where the rumor stems from.
Epyx, the developer of the games that publisher System 3 is now releasing onto the DS and Wii in the future, was not directly linked to CBM (Commodore Business Machines), and as such, games released from said developer on Virtual Console, while proving that C64 emulation would exist on the VC, wouldn’t necessarily equate to the kind of support Sega and Hudson are providing.
At the end of the day, what appeared in Nintendo Power was speculation, and whether or not it’s based on inside information or a mere guess will be revealed as more on the Virtual Console is made public.