Topic: How Many VC Games are Left until the Service Runs out?

I highly doubt the VC will run out of games any time soon. We only have a couple hundred games so far and there are thousands of games that could be added. Plus, when the next generation consoles comes out, they may be able to add Gamecube games to the VC.
About the mention of Gamecube games on the VC, wouldn't that be awesome .

Yep! We have 333 VC games right now as of December 5th!

What will happen first, ultimate heat death of the universe due to proton decay, or Nintendo releasing the final Virtual Console game?

It's a 1,000,000 to 1 chance that ultimate heat death of the universe due to proton decay won't happen first.

I bet by 2030, we'll have downloadable Wii, PS3, and 360 games! Hell, we'll even have consoles yet to come like the Wii 2, PS4, and 720 that will be downloadable by then. I mean in 1987 people would never believe that NES games would be downloadable by 2007!

It'll never happen. Just think: they could easily add in Game Boy Advance or even Game Boy Color games (in addition to all the hundreds of games that the VC is currently lacking) if they get desperate, and as someone has already said they can add GC games for download next gen. I wouldn't worry about the service ending.

I'm glad we'll never run out of classic and retro games to release, it sure beats using PC emulators and Roms which are illegal.

You're assuming they would get desperate. They may well not want to go out of their way. WiiWare is really kicking into full swing. They may well prefer to focus solely on WiiWare if the currently supported virtual consoles run dry. You just need to look at the DSi to realize VC is not something we can assume Nintendo is gung ho about. I can hear the meeting at HQ right now: "Who's going to buy clocks when you can buy entire Game Boy games?" Sure, they could keep VC going indefinitely if they wanted to, but who knows if they do.

it was done 40% by Nintendo and was unplayable. A guy named d4s, known for making the one and only SNES all versions model and other Games like Mario Kart R or the Starfox Championship game, finished it and made it playable. U can get the rom somewhere on the net.

this is the ultimate SNES: [url]http://ultra16.dforce3000.de/faq.htm] it's sold out though...

Anyways back on topic... I think we won't get more than 1000 VC Games during Wii's life circle, maybe less with the time nintendo takes to release a new one...

Such depends if Nintendo is willing to make arrangements for Nipponese games to be translated and released in Virtual Console (even though such is currently cost-prohibitive).

I did once suggest that some companies edit out licensed characters from their old games and release them as WiiWare games.

For example, lets say Nintendo replaced all references to Popeye in the NES game of the same name with Mario characters (while still keeping the 8-bit appearance) and sold it on the WiiWare for 500 points. Sure it will no longer be the Popeye game people remember but they can still enjoy the gameplay.

Why can't the next console just run GameCube games like the Wii does instead of needing a Virtual Console for them?

Cause I said so.

Same reason that the DSi doesn't support GBA games

I'm thinking North Americans and Europeans will get around 500 games by the Wii's life cycle ends. However, it will probably continue to expand on the next generation. If Nintendo does choose to abandon the service entirely next generation, I'll drop Nintendo until they bring it back and support Sony instead.

@Bass X0: I wish the public domain rule would apply to licensed video games.

@Bass X0: Oh, you mean sort of like Oscar in Toyland. But...better, I guess.

@SSBF: The public domain rules DO apply to video games...but Popeye isn't public domain in America yet. Our copyright laws run longer than Europe's, as I understand it.

Our copyright laws are much, much too easily extended. As I understand it (and really, who does understand American copyright law?), there are ways to keep things copyrighted essentially forever now. It's ridiculous.

I think it SHOULD be okay to keep things copyrighted forever, provided you continue to make use of the property. I do fully understand Disney's fear of Mickey Mouse going public domain, as they still use him today. And what would happen decades down the road if Nintendo's copyright on Mario ran out? I shudder to think of it.

On the other hand, dead franchises should go public domain LONG before they do under current law (like with Popeye in America...nobody's doing anything with him far as I know, so why do those laws still matter?). There are too many classic games held up from coming to VC due to questionable ownership, and that's not even including licensed games (y'know, stuff lost to time because companies went out of business and whatnot)! The copyright system needs a SERIOUS reboot, IMO.

I don't believe in copyright to begin with, and eternal copyright is especially scary... but that's an entirely different discussion.

But we are certainly in agreement that our particular system is pretty screwy.

1 game is left. Custer's Revenge.