If you want to purchase downloadable games on the current generation of consoles, only one company has made it counter-intuitive. It’s not Sony – they charge actual $US money for games. Neither is it Nintendo, which uses and one-to-one, point-to-penny system.

Why the hell, then, does Microsoft bother with a non-equal point system? I have two guesses: misdirection and laziness.

For those of you who fear math, click through and check out a few online and downloadable Microsoft Point converters…

Nintendo’s Virtual console gets another bona fide classic this week in the form of vegetable-chucking Super Mario Brothers 2, along with Genesis favorite Ecco: The Tides of Time, and TurboGrafx16 shooter Dragon Spirit. All games will be made available today (July 2, 2007) at 9 a.m. PST on the Wii shop channel.

Click through for descriptions of each game…

New this week: F-Zero X, Street Fighter II Turbo: Hyper Fighting and China Warrior.

This week’s three additions brings the total count to 109 games available for download through Nintendo’s Wii Shop Channel and playable only on the Wii. New Wii virtual Console (aka Virtual Arcade) games go live each Monday at 9 a.m. (Pacific Time).

Click through for descriptions of the newly added games …

New this week: NES Open Tournament Golf, World Sports Competition and Bloody Wolf .

This week’s three additions brings the total count to 106 games available for download through Nintendo’s Wii Shop Channel and playable only on the Wii. New Wii virtual Console (aka Virtual Arcade) games go live each Monday at 9 a.m. (Pacific Time).

Wii Points can be purchased at the Wii Shop Channel or at various retail stores at a rate of US$1 for 100 points. Retail cards are typically available in $20 (2,000 points) increments in the US.

Here are full descriptions of the newly added games …

As if someone was reading my mind, I was forwarded a post regarding the Wii’s limited capacity for downloaded Virtual Console games.

I had contacted Nintendo a while back about the Virtual Console since I, too, was concerned about the diminishing space available on the system. Since there is only 512MB of flash memory for storage purposes and I have downloaded the Opera web browser and a few games, will I lose my Wii Points once I exceed my storage capacity? What happens to those games I paid for when I need to make room for new games or applications?

Here is Nintendo’s PR rep’s response:

“As for the approximate number of games that can be downloaded to the Virtual Console, it really depends on which games you download. N64 games take up a lot more memory than NES games, for instance. If you max out…

New this week: Load Runner, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and Golden Axe II.

This week’s three additions brings the total count to 103 games available for download through Nintendo’s Wii Shop Channel and playable only on the Wii. New Wii virtual Console (aka Virtual Arcade) games go live each Monday at 9 a.m. (Pacific Time).

Wii Points can be purchased at the Wii Shop Channel or at various retail stores at a rate of US$1 for 100 points. Retail cards are typically available in $20 (2,000 points) increments in the US.

Continue for descriptions of the newly added games from Nintendo’s press release…

This week’s three additions brings the total count to 100 games available for download through Nintendo’s Wii Shop Channel and playable only on the Wii. New Wii virtual Console (aka Virtual Arcade) games go live each Monday at 9 a.m. (Pacific Time). Wii Points can be purchased at the Wii Shop Channel or at various more »

This week’s three additions brings the total count to 96 games available for download through Nintendo’s Wii Shop Channel and playable only on the Wii. New Wii virtual Console (aka Virtual Arcade) games go live each Monday at 9 a.m. (Pacific Time). Wii Points can be purchased at the Wii Shop Channel or at various more »