The oh-so sought after NES Classic Edition (or NES Mini as everyone wants to incorrectly call it) apparently was a holiday item, and not planned to be produced for a long term. This information comes to me from a Nintendo representative, and may or may not be old news – I don’t go hunting for this info, I just report it when it finds its way to me.
Really Nintendo… Really? You’re going to do this to people? Well, it at least explains why the only made a limited number of them, but at that same rate if they were going to have it only for the holidays, they should have said such. That would have increased the demand even more, sure, but at the rate the console was available it doesn’t matter – the thing was still impossible to find even under normal circumstances.
It’s not like the NES Classic is anything too special – It’s nice, but you can snag an old Nintendo Wii for the same price and mod it quickly, and easily, if you know what you’re doing. An old original Xbox can also be made into a fine emulation machine, or even better, just use your PC or laptop – hook it up to a TV just as well as any other system would, but via HDMI, and enjoy those NES games, and more, on your HDTV much the same as the NES Classic would provide.
Still, the little box has a charm to it, in concept, and I for one am a fan of official items that create a nice, consolidated experience.
It’s a complex issue among gamers, but there is one good thing out of this: soon, as word spreads, I won’t have to hear people asking about them at work anymore. That was so damn annoying during the holiday season.
Don’t get mad at retailers, blame Nintendo.