yep thats what i been rooting for. A VC Channel. Or if they want to make it simpler for noobs. Have a Channel for each VC ie NES SNES N64 etc.... and under each one have that systems games. Also i been wanitng VC game play back of SD cards. Hard Drive playback be nice. but i'd settle for VC game play back of SD cards directly too.

I like having all vc channels on my machine for three reasons. 1. Eventually (probably not for 6 years) Nintendo will pull the plug on VC games. As such, whatever you have downloaded will be what you have. No more downloads for new games or already bought games. 2. The VC is slow. It takes me something like two minutes to download something as trivial as Super Mario Bros. The big thing for the VC is it's fast, boot up my wii and click on the channel. No hooking up the NES, changing the cart etc. 3. I love the saved game states. I use one on pretty much evey game that I have. I would have to somehow back up these save states if I deleted the game to redownload later. Those in addition to the fact that new downloads are coming which will be allowed to be at least N64 size are coming. So you'll have enough space on your wii for up to 10 N64/original wiiware games. That's why more space is needed. Now why Nintendo is going to screw us and force us to buy a hard drive. 1. I think they are some how bitter that they released the wii at $250 since it is still sold out most places. They realize that they probably could have released it at $300 without materially affecting sales. Then they'd have $50 x 8.9 M = $ 445 M more dollars. 2. I think we see their bitterness in the releases of their recent games. No Nintendo Wii game has looked better than Gamecube quality. It's one thing to say that graphics don't matter, and then get the best out the hardware (which they did with the gamecube). It's another thing to say graphics don't matter and not try to have good graphics. Which is what they are doing. 3. I think you'd be hard pressed to say that most of Nintendo's releases should be $50, despite the fact that they are selling all of their games at $50. Excite Truck, a good game, but pitiful multiplayer. Should be less than $50 or have better multiplayer. Wario Ware, same game that they've released on the GBA and DS at a significantly lower price. Should be less than $50. Pokeman Revolution, never played it, but most say it's an extension of the DS game which is $15 cheaper. Big Brain Academy, another DS port with extended multiplayer. The DS game was $20. Mario Party 8, we'll skip past this bore fest which is the same game as the past iterations. But my point is that they haven't pushed the system or given it any real system sellers so far. Instead they are pushing crap on us, knowing we'll buy it because we are game starved and because they have a good track record. That is why they won't let us use our SD cards. I have two SD cards, a 1 gig and a 2 gig for my digital camera. Even the one gig (at twice the internal memory) would probably give me enough space to be happy for the rest of the Wii's life span. So if they make SD cards "playable" Nintendo receives $0 from me. So what they'll do is make a USB hardrive that you can only use the Nintendo brand. Then they'll charge you either $50 or $100, and give you something pitiful like 5 gigs of storage (since even the most hardcore downloaders would be hard pressed to use 5 gigs).

I'm not sure I agree with the OP on a single point.

Nintendo is not forcing us to buy anything and if there was a HDD released it would be purely supplemental and external. Any complaints with the virtual console are trivial and childish, if you can't be bothered to wait two minutes on anything then its a miracle how you waited long enough in line to get a Wii in the first place. Any speculation that the Virtual Console won't be around in several years is just fool hearty as it is doing quite well.

A HDD would be an excellent addition and a convenience to be sure but I don't see this as Nintendo backtracking on anything or cheating the customer.

If someone has a different point of view then you they are childish and trivial?  Great point.  Now I see things your way.  The VC is perfect.  How could I want more games, cheaper games, a bigger harddrive, to not actually have to connect to the internet, to not have psp type load times for nes games?

A HDD is a necessary addition.  My concern is that my 1, 2 gig SD cards and my 200 gig usb harddrive won't be supported because Nintendo wants to pocket additional money when the tools are there to accept my external medium.

Yes, it was a minor point, the VC will probalbly be around at least 8 more years.  But my SNES is no 17 years old and still works.  I'd like to get that longevity out of the VC games since they aren't a cheap investment.  As such, clearly Nintendo is not going to support the VC for that long.  And at the time they pull the plug, I want to have all the games that I bought.

It's not a matter of differing veiw point, it's a matter of poor reasoning and nit-picky whining.

- VC is releasing more and more games every week. Sorry its not as many as you want, guess life will just have to slow down for a while.

- Price is an issue, spending anything as oppossed to downloading a ROM for free is always going to look expensive no matter how you slice it.

- Wii doesn't have a harddrive, it has an internal flash memory. Also if you can't afford SD cards then simply delete the game and you'll be able to download it again anytime you want. There is no reason to think the Virtual Console will dissapear anytime in the future so please don't use wide eyed speculation as grounds for tangible discussion.

- Sorry the lack of internet depency worries you, but there is always PC gaming if it bothers you that much.

- PSP load times? Explain.

Yes, because Nintendo is so greedy in actually selling their console at a profit and making it within reach of the comon consumer. It's a crime that any company should earn a direct profit these days, they should all just lose money as a testiment to their love of the consumer. Propriotary hardware is necessary to prevent unforseen incompatibilities, issues and piracy. This is fairly common and typical of gaming, don't act like its something new.

It will probably be carried over onto the next console as well. Why you assume Nintendo will ever pull the plug is beyond me but you're certainly entitled to your unfounded skepticism.

Cleveland, if Nintendo didn't want you to use SD cards, they wouldn't have included an SD card reader.