Of all the gaming industry's biggest companies, Nintendo's back catalogue of software is, arguably, the finest. Since the release of the original Entertainment System in 1983, the Japanese developer has successfully churned out hit after hit for over two decades. Now, thanks to the Nintendo and its service, players both old and new alike have been given the opportunity to download and play the classics of yesteryear across a number of retro formats. Along with the NES, Super Nintendo Entertainment System and Nintendo 64 from Nintendo, Wii owners are able to take a trip down memory lane (or experience for the first time) classic titles from some of the world's most prolific developers on the Mega Drive, Turbografx-16 engine and soon, the Neo Geo in a perfect emulation of their original forms.

Nevertheless, Nintendo has faced mocking and criticism from various camps over its execution of the Virtual Console, much focused on the expensiveness of its titles and the total omission of play despite the obvious potential. This article discusses this pair of critical in an attempt to deduce whether Nintendo is heading for a fall in the wake of Live and the PlayStation Network, or whether the company's tactics are in fact very cleverly calculated.

A Pricing Predicament

In comparison to what's available for download on the Xbox 360's Live and Sony's PlayStation Network, the prices for games on Nintendo's Virtual Console are the most expensive. While the cheapest titles cost just 1.99 GBP and 3.40 GBP on the PlayStation Network and Arcade respectively, the lowest priced Virtual Console games (typically NES titles) work out at around 3.75 GBP a pop. Similarly, the most costly downloadable content belongs to the Virtual Console; with N64 classics costing about 7.50 GBP compared to the 6.80 GBP and 6.99 GBP upper limits of Microsoft and Sony's corresponding offerings.

Despite Nintendo being the priciest party, any doubt that players would not warm to paying such prices for Virtual Console games (interestingly, many of which are available to buy more cheaply in their original forms) were quashed in January this year at the release of Nintendo's last quarterly figures for 2006. They showed that the likes of Super Mario, The Legend of and the Hedgehog had contributed to a total of 1.5 million Virtual Console downloads since the Wii's November and December worldwide release at the tail end of 2006.

Here's the clever bit: So far Nintendo have released over sixty Virtual Console titles, though only a handful of those can unquestionably be dubbed as 'must-have' titles. As long as Nintendo release one decent retro goodie a week, it really doesn't matter what guff arrives with it. Kart 64 or Soldier Blade? Zelda: Ocarina of Time or the relatively unknown Kid Icarus? Hmm. While thousands of Wii owners enjoy the thrill of filling up the channel windows on the Wii menu with famously recognisable franchises, the other poor titles fulfil the important role of making up the numbers - a tally that already exceeds Xbox Live Arcade's total and will continue to pull away as the weeks and months tick by.

Naturally, then, gamers will be attracted by the illusion of choice and the obvious beacons of brilliance that pepper Nintendo and its partners' extensive back catalogue and kept on tenterhooks as they wait for the weekly trickle of new Virtual Console additions. All the while, Nintendo and their partners can kick back and relax in the knowledge that with next to no distribution costs, they are raking in pure profit on every emulated aged game release.

Net-based Nothingness

It certainly took a while, but without question Microsoft's Xbox Live is now the standard for console-based online gaming. Once connected, gamers can effortlessly partake in shenanigans, whether that play is co-operatively or against one another. Xbox Live's subscriber base exceeded six million users earlier this month, so naturally Nintendo would only be wise to attempt to replicate the same framework and experience on Wii via the Virtual Console; adding a fresh twist to retro games oozing with online potential... right? Wrong.

Contrary to its more recent efforts, Nintendo has not been shy with regard to offering online services. As far back as the 1980s, Japanese gamers could buy a modem that enabled them to download news reports, weather information and game tips. Similarly, SNES owners in could purchase the snappily named Satellaview-X that allowed them to chat to other players, download titles and enter competitions. And while online support for the N64 and was all but non-existent, the has exhibited Nintendo's tentative and limited steps into the realms of competitive online play.

Wireless connectivity to the internet is made as straightforward as possible on both the DS and Wii, but all of Nintendo's statements thus far point to the Virtual Console acting only as a platform for reliving the gaming gems of past in a carbon copy of their original forms - slower speeds and black borders included for PAL gamers. With that pledge in mind, it seems unlikely that Virtual Console games will ever see console-to-console connectivity, in the foreseeable future at the very least.

Once more, the reason for this decision may just be down to financial matters. Nintendo could easily have included or later add online functionality to Virtual Console titles, but when all but a minority of hardcore gamers appear contented with the service's offerings being made available in just the way they remember (and, again, are prepared to pay for the privilege) then it makes no business sense this early in the life of the Virtual Console for Nintendo to present anything different.

Money, money, money!

Although Nintendo are often regarded as the good guys of the videogames industry, boasting what must be amongst of the world's most loyal fan bases and often seen to give the fans what they want (case in point: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess), they are first and foremost a company whose sole purpose for existing in the first place is to make oodles of cold, hard cash. In a world of rising costs and an intensely competitive next-generation gaming market, as a pure source of revenue the Virtual Console is an unquestionable asset to the massively popular developer and publisher.

For now at least, it seems that in spite of higher price points and a complete lack of online options in comparison to its rivals, the buzz of a formidable history of software and the novelty of the service mean Nintendo will continue to rake in the fortunes that the Virtual Console provides without too much concern.

By Andrew Macarthy