Turbo CD games have been announced for release on the Wii’s Virtual Console service in all regions, despite the games having been available previously on disc-based media. On the Virtual Console, they’ll have to fit on the Wii’s minuscule 512MB internal memory, with other Wii applications and files taken into consideration. Hudson’s making it happen, and playing the games might even be a better experience this time around. Hudson Entertainment’s Vice President of Sales and Marketing, John Lee, explains.
Nintendo World Report: Are the CD games being compressed somehow for the Virtual Console? If not, how are you dealing with the large file sizes and very limited internal storage on Wii?
John Lee: We have worked hard to make sure that a CD based game will fit on Wii’s built-in memory. Yes, we are using some compression technology since CDs can hold several hundred megs of memory, far bigger than the traditional Hucards could hold. For instance, the sound has been compressed, however gamers should not really notice any audible difference.
NWR: Can we expect the CD load times to be eliminated?
JL: Yes, load times will be greatly reduced since the games will be played off of the Wii’s internal memory, and not the CD. In fact, it feels like a brand new experience playing these classic Turbo CD games again.
Hudson did it, so lets see some compression on Sonic CD and NiGHTS: into Dreams, Sega! You can read the rest of NWR’s interview with John Lee at the link below.
