N-Sider reader Cameron has written in with his thoughts regarding the recent news story "Wi-Fi USB Connector now available in-store" and reader Zak has sent a response to "Video games and the current retailer?".
Cameron says: "Hi, just in response to your story about the Wifi Connector being available in Best Buy, it's also currently in EB Games stores where I live at least. Sorry I can't confirm this to be nation wide, but it has been in virtually since the service launched. I expect this will be the case with previously internet only available games such as Electroplankton, but it would indeed help if Nintendo actually announced this strategy instead of leaving it up to consumers to find out."
Glen's Response: I hear ya. However, from your email address I get the impression that you're from Canada. In which case, the USB Connector has been known to be available to you since the launch of the service. Regardless though, that's still a valid concern and I don't have an answer for you. Nintendo, where are your official announcements?

What's perhaps even more concerning is how a company as large as Nintendo is encountering barriers when trying to distribute its software and/or peripherals. What does this say about the current retail environment? Fortunately retailers are taking notice, of course after the fact that the Nintendo DS is successful. The unit has already acquired 10 million hardware sales worldwide and 550,000 unique users of the Wi-Fi Connection. Even Electroplankton, previously only scheduled to be sold online, has been chosen to be stocked on shelves at retailers such as Target (It turns out that this info is false. The Electroplankton Target page was created by Gamespot and indicates a game that may or may not be carried in the future. Sorry for the error.) Hopefully Nintendo can keep its momentum so that we can keep having convenient access to its products.
Zak says: "Happy New Year guys! I've got to say that this lack of available old games is a real inconvenience. I took me an extremely long time to find Final Fantasy IX, I nearly gave up. The store that I usually go to told me that they don't sell games after six months of its release, they didn't even have Pikmin! This is an independent retailer I'm writing about. The prices of older games are even more ridiculous. At a local Gamestop, Perfect Dark (not Zero, the N64 original) cost about $5, that's a fair price. But when some edutaitional, used Elmo 64 game costs $16, that's plain retarded. I don't know what boob would buy that game for $16 or even for $5 for that matter. Going back to old game availability, despite its current state, I believe programs such as Game Tap and Nintendo's Revolution will alleviate the problem (like you guys said). Looking ahead, I think that as videogames gain more acceptance by the genereal public, older games (today's current games in the future) will be much easier to find, but I doubt it'll be easy to find an original Super Mario NES cartridge."
Glen's Response: Happy new year to you as well. I'm in the same boat with you. A game like Chrono Trigger for the Super Nintendo will ask upwards of $60 on eBay. Insanity for a game almost 10 years old. In other industries -- music or video -- as new formats emerge, the older titles are often re-released with better sound, better color, etc. Admittedly, we've seen this process occur more this generation with Midway, Sega, Capcom and several companies re-releasing their older arcade, NES and Genesis titles. But then again, we're already moving into the next-generation with a brand new format. It appears to me that this has been the biggest barrier to video games -- the fact that we're changing formats every five years compared to the 10 or so in the other industries. What will change this? I've been saying this for a while now, that entertainment's future is online. As a result of the way the current retailer is set-up, with very limited shelf space, it will never be able to accommodate games from multiple generations and multiple formats. Online distribution can and will. I also feel that consumers will begin to put their support behind it as broadband and services such as Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection and GameTap become more widespread.

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