The first argument I would make against the NSO is that if you are out on the road, and you wanted to play an NES or a SNES game in the back of the car/bus, you can't since you need a solid internet connection to do it with. Second, I say the premium for the N64 and Genesis games is INSANE, and I rather pay 20 bucks for an actual N64 cartridge than pay 20 dollars more for a small library of N64 games. Third, this is by far the least consumer-friendly practice that I've seen Nintendo do. To explain myself, all the titles are online, right? You need the internet to play these tiles, right? What if something were to happen and Nintendo removes a game for whatever reason, YOU CAN NEVER PLAY THAT GAME AGAIN UNTIL IT COMES BACK UP. It's the same argument I would make with streaming services, where they can pull something down at any moment, and all reason to own it is gone (since the current experience for streaming services is that there is only one good thing to watch on each of them). This is why piracy is a thing, and why it's going to remain here to stay... See, Nintendo will lose a battle against piracy, due to the current lack of accessibility of these titles. You cant play them without paying 20 dollars (40 for N64 and Genesis) and no internet. Another argument I keep seeing in the comments is how Nintendo can't run two different services. I can easily shoot this down with the argument saying, "why couldn't they make the two services, one?" To elaborate, the NES, SNES, N64, and Genesis are all downloadable service apps, right? Why not make those apps a browser for Virtual Console services? Then of course, if you don't have NSO you can still purchase the game outright and download it onto your Switch, and with NSO you get a discount and a free trial. Not to mention, you can also have online multiplayer and other features like that added to the VC service if you do have NSO. This is a system model where EVERYONE WINS. Nintendo rakes in the money from the people who pay for NSO and buy the VC games. Players are happy since they can have games to play on the go (which was the primary reason why people got the switch in the first place) without having to be connected to the internet. But currently, I think what Nintendo is doing right now is incredibly stupid, especially with them doubling down on NSO like it's hot stuff when even the competition has better offers. I got NSO about two years ago, and I've barely used it since there isn't much reason to use it. Right now, all it's just a way of playing games online and has the key to the NES games, but I really don't think that's worth investing in. While the trail idea is good, why does it only has to be ONE game? It wouldn't hurt to have it so you can access all games give it a shot for a certain amount of time and then make the decision on if you like to purchase the game or not. You know what else would be nice, something like Miiverse where you can communicate with other players, share your screenshots/videos, make new friends, ETC. I would really enjoy paying 20 dollars a year then, the service would have more reason to justify its existence.
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Re: Soapbox: Why Can't Nintendo Offer Both Virtual Console And Switch Online?
The first argument I would make against the NSO is that if you are out on the road, and you wanted to play an NES or a SNES game in the back of the car/bus, you can't since you need a solid internet connection to do it with. Second, I say the premium for the N64 and Genesis games is INSANE, and I rather pay 20 bucks for an actual N64 cartridge than pay 20 dollars more for a small library of N64 games. Third, this is by far the least consumer-friendly practice that I've seen Nintendo do. To explain myself, all the titles are online, right? You need the internet to play these tiles, right? What if something were to happen and Nintendo removes a game for whatever reason, YOU CAN NEVER PLAY THAT GAME AGAIN UNTIL IT COMES BACK UP. It's the same argument I would make with streaming services, where they can pull something down at any moment, and all reason to own it is gone (since the current experience for streaming services is that there is only one good thing to watch on each of them). This is why piracy is a thing, and why it's going to remain here to stay...
See, Nintendo will lose a battle against piracy, due to the current lack of accessibility of these titles. You cant play them without paying 20 dollars (40 for N64 and Genesis) and no internet. Another argument I keep seeing in the comments is how Nintendo can't run two different services. I can easily shoot this down with the argument saying, "why couldn't they make the two services, one?" To elaborate, the NES, SNES, N64, and Genesis are all downloadable service apps, right? Why not make those apps a browser for Virtual Console services? Then of course, if you don't have NSO you can still purchase the game outright and download it onto your Switch, and with NSO you get a discount and a free trial. Not to mention, you can also have online multiplayer and other features like that added to the VC service if you do have NSO. This is a system model where EVERYONE WINS. Nintendo rakes in the money from the people who pay for NSO and buy the VC games. Players are happy since they can have games to play on the go (which was the primary reason why people got the switch in the first place) without having to be connected to the internet.
But currently, I think what Nintendo is doing right now is incredibly stupid, especially with them doubling down on NSO like it's hot stuff when even the competition has better offers. I got NSO about two years ago, and I've barely used it since there isn't much reason to use it. Right now, all it's just a way of playing games online and has the key to the NES games, but I really don't think that's worth investing in. While the trail idea is good, why does it only has to be ONE game? It wouldn't hurt to have it so you can access all games give it a shot for a certain amount of time and then make the decision on if you like to purchase the game or not. You know what else would be nice, something like Miiverse where you can communicate with other players, share your screenshots/videos, make new friends, ETC. I would really enjoy paying 20 dollars a year then, the service would have more reason to justify its existence.