How will we get WiiWare games in the future?

[Opa Opa]

Let's say in about 10-15 years that you walk into a game shop and see a Wii for sale on the counter. You decide to purchase it and you take it home, plug it up, and pop in a game. You are having fun and decide to play another game. You go back to the Wii's Home Menu and notice a thing called the "Wii Shop Channel". You select it and it doesn't connect to the internet. You are disappointed because you've heard about many great titles that were available for download at one point and are no longer able to get.

The question is: How will we acquire WiiWare titles that are not already installed on a Wii in the future?
(This is assuming that the title you want has not been made available on Nintendo's future consoles.)

Besides modding a console, will we have to buy a Wii based on if it has a specific game or not? And would this increase a Wii's value if it had specific titles on it? Or do you think that titles that will never be put on future consoles will eventually become freeware?

[supericeboy]

I assume that we will have to hack our Wiis and download the WiiWare "roms"

I think what will be more valuable in the future are the versions of the Wiis that are easily hackable. We see this now with consoles like the Saturn. The version that is easier to install the mod chip is much more desirable.

[MidnightRider]

Perhaps they would be on the server of whatever Nintendo console or handheld were out at the time.

[Ziggy]

By the time the Wii Shop Channel no longer exists, I think it will be dead simple to mod the console, and even simpler to download VC or WiiWare games. As easy and careless as downloading 16-bit ROMs is now.

But you raise a good point. You're not suppose to mod a console, so I wonder if Nintendo will re-release the WiiWare titles. Maybe make a compilation disc toward the end of the Wiii's lifespan? And of course, for the people that don't browse the Internet as much as we do, and no nothing of modding console, they might be willing to pay more for a Wii console with lots of downloads on it. I can see the eBay auction now. "Has xx many Wii Ware titles, that's $200 worth of games!"

[JordanPlayer]

All I have to say is at least there is the ability to create "rom" dumps of these online-only games now... this wasn't the case with many of the titles issued on things such as Sega Channel; who knows what we missed out on (maybe nothing though LOL)

[Opa Opa]

I can see the eBay auction now. "Has xx many Wii Ware titles, that's $200 worth of games!"

"Wii with entire Bit.Trip series: $699 + shipping."
...Sold!...
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While I am joking it will probably come to that...

[Ziggy]

this wasn't the case with many of the titles issued on things such as Sega Channel; who knows what we missed out on (maybe nothing though LOL)

I'm not sure if there were any exclusives to the Sega Channel, but I do know that some of the more popular games were released in other territories. Take Mega Man The Wily Wars for example. It was released in Japan and PAL regions. You could import a copy and play it with a Game Genie (or modified console, I guess). It's also a popular game for "reproduction" carts. But my point is, I don't think we missed out on anything. Hell, we even have ROMs for SNES Satellaview games. Though they have to be massively hacked before we can play them as normal games.

[Josh]

I would love for them to release a compilation disc of all of the WiiWare stuff. Virtual Console I'm kind of on the fence about. I can see it, what with Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection, so I can see Nintendo pulling off a similar stunt with Virtual Console games. Do I think it will happen? No. If it did happen, would I buy it? You bet.

As for WiiWare, I can see them either being ported as a compilation, or released as DS/3DS carts, which would be cool. I suppose the same could apply to XBLA and PSN.

[Inazuma]

This is why I don't buy WiiWare or Virtual Console games. I do not want to support this bullshit.

[CRTGAMER]

A problem that many gamers don't realize.

A lot of great download games that will be lost in the current generation consoles as support goes away to newer systems.