{"id":338677,"date":"2017-04-19T03:46:08","date_gmt":"2017-04-18T19:46:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/techcrunch.com\/?p=1478249"},"modified":"2017-04-19T03:46:08","modified_gmt":"2017-04-18T19:46:08","slug":"game-over-man-the-nes-classic-is-discontinued-planet-wide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/game-over-man-the-nes-classic-is-discontinued-planet-wide\/","title":{"rendered":"Game over, man! The NES Classic is discontinued planet-wide"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com\/2016\/11\/pb070221.jpg?w=738\" class=\"\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Well, it was fun while it lasted. <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/2016\/11\/07\/review-the-nes-classic-edition-and-all-30-games-on-it\/\">The NES Classic Edition<\/a> (it went by several names, but you know what I mean) was the must-have item of the holidays and pretty much ever since, owing to short supply of the compact retro gaming console. And Nintendo just confirmed that it was indeed ending production of the device in Europe, the last region they were still officially available.<\/p>\n<p>A Nintendo representative <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/articles\/2017-04-18-nes-mini-discontinued-in-europe-too\">told Eurogamer<\/a> that the company is \u201cno longer manufacturing the Nintendo Classic Mini.\u201d This was previously confirmed for the US and Japan, but there was a glimmer of hope that it might, for some strange reason, live on in Europe. It was not to be.<\/p>\n<p> If you\u2019re anything like the other 7 billion people on this planet, you\u2019re probably wondering why Nintendo would voluntarily stop printing money. This thing, after all, was a cheap Linux box running games that came out 30 years ago, and people were paying multiples of the reasonable $60 retail price.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s kind of hard to say \u2014 Nintendo has done some very strange things in its time, and has made some very questionable decisions, so there\u2019s no guarantee this one is any different. But if you think about it, they got everything they wanted out of this and more.<\/p>\n<p>The NES Classic was arguably always meant to be nothing more than a snack. Nintendo couldn\u2019t push the launch of the Switch to before the holidays (even March was a stretch given the lack of games and features), but the idea of having the walking-dead Wii U as its only offering for this major buying season was unthinkable.<\/p>\n<p>So to bridge the gap \u2014 and keep people excited about Mario, Link, and everyone else \u2014 Nintendo put out the Classic. It would tide people over until the Switch launch, and whet their appetite for the NES titles that would be offered later on the inevitable Virtual Console.<\/p>\n<p>They seem to not have predicted two things: the popularity of the device and the speed at which it would be hacked. The latter, it must be said, largely depended on the former.<\/p>\n<p>But the NES Classic was good \u2014 very good \u2014 and it struck a chord with consumers. You couldn\u2019t find one for love or money, unless you wanted to pay five times the sticker price. Hackers also soon found it was also relatively easy to add games to, making it a target not just for nostalgia-seekers but also serious retro gamers.<\/p>\n<p>Nintendo likely didn\u2019t plan on this level of demand, but in the end, perhaps wisely, decided to \u201cleave them wanting more,\u201d as the saying goes. They could have made and sold five or ten million of the things, but decided not to. They proved that people still love Nintendo and want to buy Nintendo products, and that was enough.<\/p>\n<p>Not only that, but the ball is still in their court. Could we see another version of the Classic appear later this year packed with sports games or RPGs? Or perhaps, as many earnestly hope, an SNES classic? It\u2019s up to Nintendo, and they are, as always, infuriatingly uncommunicative.<\/p>\n<p>We may have to be satisfied with the fact that the NES Classic happened at all. Nintendo has us wrapped around its finger \u2014 again \u2014 and that\u2019s just where it wants us.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"680\" height=\"453\" src=\"https:\/\/tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com\/2016\/11\/pb070221.jpg?w=680\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com\/2016\/11\/pb070221.jpg?w=680 680w, https:\/\/tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com\/2016\/11\/pb070221.jpg?w=1360 1360w, https:\/\/tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com\/2016\/11\/pb070221.jpg?w=150 150w, https:\/\/tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com\/2016\/11\/pb070221.jpg?w=300 300w, https:\/\/tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com\/2016\/11\/pb070221.jpg?w=768 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 680px) 100vw, 680px\" \/>&nbsp;Well, it was fun while it lasted. The NES Classic Edition (it went by several names, but you know what I mean) was the must-have item of the holidays and pretty much ever since, owing to short supply of the compact retro gaming console. And Nintendo just confirmed that it was indeed ending production of the device in Europe, the last region they were still officially available. <a href=\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/2017\/04\/18\/game-over-man-the-nes-classic-is-discontinued-planet-wide\/?ncid=rss\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"feedflare\">\n<a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/Techcrunch?a=6NfuEqt8lT0:P_zAbC6kFvc:2mJPEYqXBVI\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/Techcrunch?d=2mJPEYqXBVI\" border=\"0\"><\/img><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/Techcrunch?a=6NfuEqt8lT0:P_zAbC6kFvc:7Q72WNTAKBA\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/Techcrunch?d=7Q72WNTAKBA\" border=\"0\"><\/img><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/Techcrunch?a=6NfuEqt8lT0:P_zAbC6kFvc:yIl2AUoC8zA\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/Techcrunch?d=yIl2AUoC8zA\" border=\"0\"><\/img><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/Techcrunch?a=6NfuEqt8lT0:P_zAbC6kFvc:-BTjWOF_DHI\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/Techcrunch?i=6NfuEqt8lT0:P_zAbC6kFvc:-BTjWOF_DHI\" border=\"0\"><\/img><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/Techcrunch?a=6NfuEqt8lT0:P_zAbC6kFvc:D7DqB2pKExk\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/Techcrunch?i=6NfuEqt8lT0:P_zAbC6kFvc:D7DqB2pKExk\" border=\"0\"><\/img><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/Techcrunch?a=6NfuEqt8lT0:P_zAbC6kFvc:qj6IDK7rITs\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/Techcrunch?d=qj6IDK7rITs\" border=\"0\"><\/img><\/a>\n<\/div>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~r\/Techcrunch\/~4\/6NfuEqt8lT0\" height=\"1\" width=\"1\" alt=\"\"\/> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5817,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[59,66,26],"class_list":["post-338677","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-technology","tag-media","tag-techcrunch","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338677","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5817"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=338677"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338677\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=338677"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=338677"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=338677"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}