Alright I am a major Nintendo and Microsoft fan however I decided in the run up to Christmas that I would buy some of those good old games that I loved on the prior consoles. Upon going to the online stores I started downloading, to date I have spent hundreds on the various console classic's services!

This got me thinking, I wonder sales wise and attach rate wise, how are the virtual platform's holding up against one another? I know my uncle has spent hundreds on his X-Box Arcade and I'm sure gamers from all walks of life have invested in the timeless classics availible to each platform.

My bet is

1st. Nintendo's Virtual Console

2nd. Sony's PSstore

3rd.X-Box Arcade

Why did I choose this order?

Nintendo's Virtual Console

Nintendo launched the Wii with a huge assortment of classic titles from its older game consoles. This launch encompassed some of Nintendo's biggest titles. Pretty soon all major Nintendo franchises were represented Mario , Donkey Kong , Zelda, Starfox, Metroid...etc....etc... But before long Nintendo started releasing all the big franchises from its past competition. Bonk, Sonic , GoldenAxe and plenty of other notable titles started rolling off the service. With almost every major past platform represented Nintendo's virtual console quickly became a success.

Microsoft's Arcade

Unlike Sony's service and Nintendo's service, X-Box Live Arcade lacks any full past console support. It has seen some Genesis titles hit and a number of past arcade titles (Duh) but no full blown platform support. Classic titles that they do have are horribly over priced. For example Banjo Kazooie sells for 1200 points, that's almost 20$ for a game I can find at the flee market or local thrift store for about 10-15$. Then their's the few X-Box classic's like Halo which sells for 1200 points as well. How is it an N64 game sells for the same price as a X-Box game? Where Nintendo has hundreds of classic's Microsoft only has a couple dozen.

Sony's PS Classics

Sony may not have as many consoles represented on its download service as Nintendo, but Sony has all the big AAA+ titles to have graced the PSOne. I already bought all the Spyro's Crash's and Twisted Metal. Their are plenty of PlayStation classics to go around and the prices are fair. I know if I look for Spyro on PSOne I will pay about 5.99$ for the disk, so Sony priced the classic's at 5.99$. Recent word has also spread that Sony will soon see DreamCast support alongside PS2 support. If indeed these rumours are true then Sony's service will actually start to rival Nintendo's virtual console.

So which virtual platform is your favorite, which one have you spent the most money and time on and if anyone has official sales figures I would love to see which virtual platform is actually in the lead!

i would have to go with the virtual console,nothing can top the classic the vc has,Super metroid,super mario bros 3,Legend of zelda OoT,and so many more titles.

I'd go with WiiWare, because:

1) You completely forgot to mention it
2) The other services don't have Cubello

For me, it's:

1. Xbox Live Arcade:

•  Hundreds of games!!! So many exclusives
•  EVERY game has a free demo
•  Achievements for EVERY game
•  80% of games has online multiplayer modes
•  All the big blockbuster games from Xbox1

2. PSN Store

What I don't like:

•  Very FEW demos (not acceptable)
•  Not a big list of games
•  There is still games without trophies

(I don't own a Wii so I won't judge VC)