anleja

Has anyone seen these things? They are all over the internet, and I've seen them sold at a stand in the mall. It is a controller you plug into your TV, and has like 70+ old 8-bit Nintendo games stored onto it, like Super Mario Brothers, Tetris, Duck Hunt, Super Contra, etc.

I was curious and searched the internet for a manufacturer, but found nothing, only distributors. Is it possible they have covered their tracks so well that Nintendo can't find the maufacturer to sue?

I know Nintendo did a lot of stuff to keep the emulators off the internet, but someone is actually making a profit from these...

JStrider

ive seen them at a kiosk in the mall...

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anleja

I tried a little harder and found the answer to my own question:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6384534
Losses in sales to be in the MILLIONS? Um, okay.

Wow, I really surprised they are selling these right in the open still. Pretty ballsy. Or stupid.

mikeylips

I've seen controller type games that plug into your tv like that all over the place. I even see them at those little stands in the middle of the mall. They have displays where you can try them out and buy them and stuff.

mikeylips

Oh and, loss of sales...is Nintendo still manufacturing the original NES? I don't think so. They're putting the old games on the newer things like the gameboy for more money. I'd rather play the original versions, not just because of the money, because I like them better. If Nintendo starts selling original NES and marketing again I'll side with them. On the other hand I guess these companies shouldn't just take what doesn't belong to them. Alright fine I don't know whose side I'm on.

Tracybrian

I bought one like six months ago at a flea market for $20. super cheap manufacturing. Very delicate. It did not have zelda, kun-fu, smb2. Most of the games on mine where crappy games I never heard of from asia. I want to buy a original and start a new collection of old classics. This thing is just cheap junk that makes you want the real thing. you get what you pay for. I just thought they came from some the asian black market, some factory somewhere just pumping them out then middle man then to us market.

skinnymofo

ive seen the sega genesis one at best buy and was tempted to buy it, it had a pretty good selection of games i used to play. for 20bucks too

Cynthetiq

and that's how they can document them losing money.. if you buy that product you'll not but the new and improved Gameboy/Gameboy Advance/Gameboy DS versions.... and all the other future versions.

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TexanAvenger

Yesterday, when I went to do some holiday shopping at two different malls in the area, there were, and I counted, 7 different vendors at one mall with these things and 9 at the other. You'd think if Nintendo was actually worried about these things, they'd try harder to clean them up.

Church

Don't get this confused with the counterfeit copies. Sega and Atari are among other gaming companies to actually release plug and play 'console' controllers. These things are fully licensed and actually legal to sell.

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Karby

yeah. you can pretty much find them being sold anywhere down here.


yeah...if nintendo was really that worried about their older games going on sale without them getting a profit, why don't they just try releasing their own version of those plug and play thingies? i got one of those things for my lil bro. we don't let him play games like gta and the like and he's not really into those long complicated storylined games and such, so this thing suits him fine. plus it's the only kind of video game my sisters will even touch. i used to see pacman ripoff games on sale in the malls, but since those 'plug & play' things came out, they're not around anymore.

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K-Wise

Those things are a good deal for how many games you get for like 20 or 30 bucks. I imagine the quality might not be too good but still I'd try it.

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neekap

This sounds a lot like the big stink when NES emulators saw their peak of popularity on the PC, like NESticle. There are quite a few games that I'd love to play but my NES has long since died. If Nintendo really wanted to make a buck, they'd license a "plug and play" console device and/or develop a NES emulator for the PC and sell packages of ROM's.

Cynthetiq

not that simple as each ROM has a company that gives out licenses. therein is where problem is, and why you only see so many retro games.. many of the original companies went bust long long ago.

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hulk

And for the record, Nintendo have an N64 version of these types o' things, in China, the iQue. Created for the sole purpose of being un-piratable. Nintendo don't like other people using their shit, they never have.

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neekap

I don't keep up on copyright law or anything, but if the company went bust long ago, why would you not be allowed to have the rom? I mean, there's nobody to really go TO so you can purchase the game legally if you want. That's my biggest beef with the death of the NES. There were plenty of games that were just purely entertaining and fun to play. Nowadays you need to memorize what 30 different buttons on the controller do, study a plot, and get drawn into long, drawn out games. Give me my "pick it up, play for 20 minutes, and go about your day" game like PacMan or Tetris.