There was a thread that someone made a while back, where he linked to an article where they added up the price of every game on the VC and the same games if you were to buy a used cartridge of them. VC was roughly $1300, cartridges were $2500 (plus the cost of a console if you don't have one). The only thing that was more expensive was NES games, by about $15. Your prices seem to be 50% higher, so VC games are probably about $1850 in total for you, am I right?

And yes, Sin and Punishment is awesome

There are a handful that could go the other way, too (Europe -> NA). Alien Soldier was released here not long ago, which was never previously available in this region. Maybe we could even see Terranigma, who knows?

@tombi123

I applaud your stand on principles. You have a well developed sense of worth. You are quite correct in that Nintendo is taking advantage of the situation. They are using dated code that requires little or no additional development to take a extra large second dip at the honey pot. They are in the most basic sense making money for nothing. While gladly charging excessive fees. Frankly I am not shocked by the fact that Nintendo is doing this. Remember this is the same company that stuck it out with their own proprietary format so they could fleece third party developers twice. First for licensing, and second for the physical media.

Have no doubts this is part of the reason that third party developers readily abandoned Nintendo during the 64 era. They were tired of having to cough up so much up front, and thanks to the expensive media they had little room for price positioning. Thats why you could find a three year old Playstation game for under ten dollars, and would have no hope of finding such a title for under twenty dollars for the 64.

Anyway the answer to your question is this. Nintendo is taking consumers to the cleaners for every cent they think they can get away with. The reason they think they can get away with it is, because consumers are tolerating the pricing. Were the sales to plummet to a tenth of their current levels tomorrow. Nintendo would slash their prices two months later. To a far more reasonable price.

Before anyone jumps on top of me I don't think that Nintendo is the only guilty party. I picked up Fable on my 360 not too long ago, and I felt it was somewhat overpriced. While it was only one generation old, and comparable to more recent games. I was disappointed with the lack or recoding. I would like to have played the game in full screen, and it would have been helpful if there was a guide to reference seeing as a physical one was unavailable. Finally I would have like some form of achievement. Nothing complex just something to indicate that I finished the game.

@Dodece:

Isn't Fable a full-screen only game?

can't speak for people in britain who's paying in pounds... but VC games for $5, $8, $10 seem about as reasonable as it gets in America.

@ Dodece

thanks for the compliments :)

@everyone else

I could tolerate $10 (£5) for a N64 game, but that is the limit. I am not paying £7.50 though. I will just wait for Mario Kart Wii, I already have SMG, I didn't really like LoZ:TP so I can go without another Zelda.

@GooseGaws

The game will only run in 480p. Which is frustrating to say the least with a high definition television. Massive black borders eating almost half the screen. Which I understand is a problem with all the xbox original games. That said I think a little upscaling effort on the part of Microsoft would have been a major improvement.

@Dodece:

Oh, really? The BC games are upscaled, I thought the Xbox Originals were basically the equivalent. You may be confusing the fact that the game doesn't have a widescreen mode with not being upscaled; they're not the same thing.

Ummmm. Between 5 and 10 dollars isn't expensive

@GooseGaws

You are correct its an issue with not supporting wide screen displays.

Xbox Original titles that are designed for 4:3 (non-widescreen) displays will show black boxes on either side of the screen when played at 720p or higher resolution, in order to avoid distorting the original game images.

That said the answer then would be releasing the game with a widescreen option. I suppose that would require some additional reworking of the game code itself, but it would probably be worth the effort. Frankly the screen size is a major factor in my not picking up other original titles. Even playing in 720p would be less distressing.

Can you tell I haven't had much cause to play any original Xbox games on my system yet. I hope they don't have the same effect if they do I might as well sell them now.