According to Wikipedia and people posting on gbatemp.net, yes it was release on June 24. People are surprise that no one has (buy and) dumped the game yet and perhaps inject the US/English rom.

Virtual Console (US) for 8-11-08:

Break In (TG16) - 700 points
Star Parodier (TG16) - 900 points

So still no Ys? Oh well, at least there's StrongBad's Cool Game For Attractive People coming out soon on WiiWare.

Actually, that came out today on WiiWare.

I thought it was supposed to, but I haven't had access to my Wii all day so I couldn't confirm.

You know, even Strong Bad is a bit of a rip-off on Wii, if I understand the pricing structure. There are/will be 5 episodes. On PC, each episode is $9, or you can get a subscription for all 5 for $35. On Wii, they're $10 apiece, and there's no subscription.

Bionic Commando is 10 bucks on Live and PSN, but 15 on Steam.

Since you can buy units of points in even intervals, they probably thought it's not too bad to just round off, here. A free buck most people won't even notice. And look at the price of other Wiiware stuff, it's in line with it all. Episodic or not.

The dollar I wouldn't fret about ($5 total), but not being able to get a subscription, thus saving $10-15, is a steep increase.

Again, considering the console it's on, the delivery method, and so forth, it's not entirely difficult to believe they thought they wouldn't have to deal with subscriptions and could make a tiny bit more money with this model.

While I'm not entirely certain of Wiiware sales models and trends, it does make sense that the different demographic present here compared to the PC would be unwilling to jump into the more expensive (in terms initial cost) subscription model, and as such they could get a few more sales this way.

Hell, for all we know, a subscription and auto download option for Wiiware might not feasable with the current store setup. There could be a whole whackload of reasons, actually. I'm not certain of any of them, and am just throwing out ideas as for why.

Digital distro pricing is all over the map everywhere, with no standards of value. It's really just people experimenting to see what they can get away with. Hopefully in a few years, the market establishes itself enough so that there's some sense of equal value around.

I wish I knew that before buying the game on Wii. Oh well. It's still fun and worth the price.

Then again...I'll probably buy the rest of the season through TTG's website if the demo runs well enough on my dilapidated computer.

See, I'm one of the people who will download it for the Wii regardless because I know it will run correctly no matter what. My computer (laptop) overheats all the time and makes game playing pretty much impossible, and I'll gladly pay $10-15 more total to enjoy the game, instead of spending $2000 on a new computer just to run it.

Virtual Console (US) for 8-18-08:

Mega Man(NES) - 500 Wii Points
Neo Turf Masters(Neo Geo) - 900 Wii Points

I know Mega Man is already available in a collection, but I'm still surprised it took them this long to add it. I have no idea what the other game is. Some golf game apparently.

And incredibly good arcade golf game.

The PC Version has more features than the console release. I believe there are a few extra levels and such.

Both of these are problems with commercial digital distribution throughout the software industry (shareware folks figured this shit out 10 years ago). The market is still pretty new and and a lot people don't have experience with it, so built-in price expectations are fuzzier.

My hope is that prices will stabilize a bit lower than current prices for physical media -- I rarely feel inclined to buy games at a $50 or $60 price point. Personally, when a game is available used for $30 or less is about where I start to be interested in taking a chance on a title.

And of course since there's no concept of a "used" game with digital dist, any price cuts are going to come from the manufacturer, and I'm pretty skeptical about that. So we'll see. Pricing something too low makes it seem rinkydink, but without any overhead (both on the supplier end or mentally for the consumer) for packaging, distribution and fulfillment, I'm optimistic that prices will come down.

Yeah, but lacks other features like leaderboards. Plus, the extra challenge rooms have yet to be patched in.

Also, I was wrong. It's everywhere BUT Steam. It's at Gamersgate, Capcom's online store, etc.

A little-known shitty RPG that nobody likes is up on the PAL VC today. Super Mario RPG or something, I dunno.

Well that's nice. Does it feature a cast of unusual characters? :)

I guess this is another time when Nintendo felt sorry for EU/PAL and release Super Mario RPG before North America.

Oh well, I can wait. I mean, I already downloaded the Japanese version and might do the same for the "European" version. :tpg:

[Related to VC (and WiiWare!)] Funny that this nice homebrew called Any Region Changer came out on the same day as SMRPG. Now you can (ie) use your US Wii Points and shop on the Japanese Wii Shop Channel!

Ys Book I & II (TG-16 CD, 800 points) and Samurai Shodown II (NeoGeo, 900 points) are today's games, officially making it the best VC update since River City Ransom.

Funny thing is these will probably be the first games I've considered downloading since River City Ransom. I've just had Wii points sitting there who knows how long. Not that I'm in a particular hurry to spend them with the number of games I've gotten piled up I need to play.

Don't forget about the Samurai Showdown Anthology coming out later this year. At VC prices, the anthology will undoubtedly be much cheaper... I remember being pretty excited about VC before I got my Wii, now I'm like "meh."

SUPER MARIO RPG TODAY, BITCHES!!
Oh, and Clu Clu Land. Who cares?

Yes~ Buy buy buy for sure, finally a reason to turn on the Wii again! Sure it'll be the 5th+ time through, but it would be the first time I actually owned a copy :P People had better buy this and pump up some more VC revenue. This totally excuses next week's releases if they turn out to be boring as usual.

As for Clu Clu Land, that was one weird gme with the controls and turning :s

Amen, brotha. I was hoping to be the first to announce this wonder, but oh well. Less than one hour to go till release...

Welcome to Nintendo of America's Media Site

For those that might doubt.