from the up,-up,-down,-down,-left,-right,-left,-right,-b,-a,-start dept.
Submitted via IRC for TheMightyBuzzard
In yet another example that nostalgia is one hell of a drug, the newly released $60 dollar Famicom Classic Mini (the Japanese version of the NES Classic) has managed to sell like hot cakes in Nintendo's native country of Japan.
According to a report by MCV based on sales figures provided by Japanese games website Famitsu, the tiny NES Classic Mini has sold over 263k units in its first 4 days on store shelves. The little machine has a host of classic NES games installed on its hard drive and is sure to be a blast from the past for everyone who grew up in the early-to-mid-90s.
[...] The NES Classic Mini launched in Western territories on November 11 and has since gone on to sell out in many stores thanks to Nintendo's limited supply, which has led to third party sellers increasing the price of the device as the consumer demand for the console remains higher than the current supply.
Source: TechRaptor
Related Stories
Ars Technica reports that Nintendo, citing "high demand," has decided to cease production of its NES Classic Edition game console, also known as the NES Classic Mini. According to the story,
Nintendo has announced that it will cease production of the 30-game NES Classic Edition plug-and-play system by the end of the month, even though retailers have been unable to keep the system on store shelves for pretty much the entirety of its six-month run on the market so far. In a statement provided to IGN, a Nintendo representative said:
Throughout April, NOA territories will receive the last shipments of Nintendo Entertainment System: NES Classic Edition systems for this year. We encourage anyone interested in obtaining this system to check with retail outlets regarding availability. We understand that it has been difficult for many consumers to find a system, and for that we apologize. We have paid close attention to consumer feedback, and we greatly appreciate the incredible level of consumer interest and support for this product.
[...] The fact that the miniature unit could be hacked to run any number of NES ROMs (or even to run Linux) may have had something to do with that surge of interest.
Also at The Verge.
Previously: Famicom Classic Mini Console Sold 263k Units in Japan
Nintendo to Bring $60 "Retro" Video Gaming Console to U.S. Market
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 20 2016, @02:21AM
The NES Classic has an ARM CPU (Allwinner R16), and plays a fixed library of 30 classic Nintendo games by emulation, with no provision to load additional games. (A different 30 games depending on whether it's the Japanese Famicom version or the NES version in the rest of the world.)
It comes with replica NES controllers (lacking a home button, like the originals) with 2½ foot cables, but uses Wii nunchuck connectors, and thus also works with Wii hardware such as the Classic Controller. While it's tempting to add a nunchuck extension cable, you'll still need to reach the console for the reset/home button -- unless you just set the fake NES controllers to the side, and use Wii controllers that have the home button. (Which is really a great plan, providing you have those controllers already; you probably do if you're seriously considering the NES Classic.)
The emulated display is better-looking than Wii Virtual Console games, and on par with PC emulators. I hear the emulation itself, in particularly sound accuracy, is no better than PC emulation, and worse than the best PC emulators. Maybe if you don't have a PC, or are unaware that PC emulators for classic gaming consoles are even a thing, this could be a bargain. As it is, it seems you're either buying this for convenience, or because you're afraid to pirate the ROM dumps. (Or I suppose, as TFS says, because nostalgia is one hell of a drug...)
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 20 2016, @02:25AM
No wireless. Less space than an Xbox. Lame.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 20 2016, @04:27AM
It is just a nostalgia grab. Hell I considered getting one. But then came to my senses and could just go get my old NES out and play THAT. The games I would care about would be sitting in the same box with the NES.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 20 2016, @05:37AM
In a weird way it comes down to relaunching classic consoles... with the main attraction being an... HDMI port.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 20 2016, @06:33AM
Pretty much. The TV I own has HDMI AND RCA. For this TV HDMI introduces about 20 frames of latency. Just enough to mess me up on most twitchy games. I know this because I bought a decent NUC to play emulated games. Can not play them on the screen. Get out the old NES and the RCA cable? No probs. Play on my laptop with the same emu? No probs. Turned off as much post processing on the TV to get it 'ok'. But still slightly off. So as long as I own this TV I will not be buying something like this.
I give it a month before someone figures out to dump the roms and put in their own. Then a couple more months before you can swap with a USB or SD card if you have a bit of soldering skills. Then you will be able to buy them from china with all 1500 games already prepackaged or a built in USB port.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 20 2016, @05:37PM
Already happened. Here is the public progress, but they are even farther behind the scenes in some places, including access to the file systems and controlling it through the USB port: https://www.reddit.com/r/nintendo/comments/5cgbkm/linux_on_nes_classic_mini_current_progress_and/ [reddit.com]
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 20 2016, @03:25AM
https://www.debian.org/security/2016/dsa-3713 [debian.org]
Debian Security Advisory
DSA-3713-1 gst-plugins-bad0.10 -- security update
Date Reported:
15 Nov 2016
Affected Packages:
gst-plugins-bad0.10
Vulnerable:
Yes
Security database references:
No other external database security references currently available.
More information:
Chris Evans discovered that the GStreamer 0.10 plugin to decode NES Sound Format files allowed the execution of arbitrary code.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by charon on Sunday November 20 2016, @04:17AM
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 20 2016, @07:04AM
Also, it would look better under the Christmas tree than a box full of open circuit boards and hot-glue.
That depends on the person :) For me, a box full of open circuit boards looks awesome. But then again, for a while I had on my key-chain a circuit board from an old (SD, I think?) memory card, with edges smoothed off so it doesn't cut. Which reminds me, I should look around for another card to appropriate, I don't know what happened to the old one but there should be plenty of old cards lying around...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 20 2016, @07:08AM
I submitted a story [soylentnews.org] before the Classic Mini NES became available in the shops. At least one commenter remarked favourably on Nintendo's choice of games for the other console. Reports since its release have mentioned the shortness of the cable to the controller; I suppose that could be partially ameliorated by getting a longer HDMI cable than the one that's included.
Due to the scarcity of Nintendo's offering, a Sydney Morning Herald article recommends "the RetroN series from Hyperkin", modern-day consoles that are compatible with cartridges from the 1980s.
http://www.smh.com.au/technology/games/thousands-spurned-as-nintendos-classic-mini-nes-is-sold-out-everywhere-20161115-gsq6f0.html [smh.com.au]
(Score: 2) by Aiwendil on Sunday November 20 2016, @11:52AM
On that note - do anyone know of any good rf-to-hdmi (or rf-demodulators, I can deal with it from RCA) converters or schematics?
I have a bunch of stuff (c64, nes, snes, atari2600, one-game-units) that feed via RF/coax and I don't intend to open any of them up. I fear the day my vcr dies and renders me unable to play all those units.