Majesco Adds Konami TV Games To Diverse Line-Up

Thanks to Yahoo for reprinting the press release noting Majesco are getting into the 'TV game' business by signing a deal with Konami to "publish five plug-and-play video game systems. The first two systems will contain classic versions of Konami's popular Frogger and Konami Arcade Classics video games and be available at retail this fall." Majesco was recently featured on Slashdot Games for its GBA video/messaging/link products, but also holds an intriguing game portfolio for a smaller publisher, from Bookworm for the Game Boy Advance ("immensely popular [PopCap-developed] web-game [converted to GBA]") to Guilty Gear X2 #Reload for the Xbox ("popular fighting franchise makes its debut on Xbox with head-to-head Xbox Live support.")

Re:Guilt Gear x2 for xbox

[Allison Geode]

summer 2004 is what their site says. I've played it on my friend's ps2, and it is indeed a crazy game. I can't wait for it to come out! its cheap, AND it has Live support. mmmm. finally something other than Capcom Vs. SNK (which I like, but am not very good at. for some reason, I'm better at just straight-up King of Fighters, or Straight-up capcom games.)

Coming soon...

[RoderickMcDougall]

To a bargain bin near you. (There seriously should be a department for this type of thing).

I think I'll wait

[Anonymous Coward]

for the all-in-one GameBoy Advance controller. But instead of sticking only 5 games on it, maybe they could somehow implement some sort of interchangeable media format instead. Or even a screen! OMG, drool!

Hm. Patent pending, patent pending, patent pending. *evil eye*

Plug & Nightmare

[KDR_11k]

Five of those devices at once? Let's see, the average TV has one or two SCART connectors. Those are usually on the backside of the device. That means, if you are tired of one of those PnP games and want to play another one (yes, I'm aware they're collections, but let's assume you want to play a game on another device), you'd have to pull the plug from the back of your TV and insert a new one. The difficulty of this depends on the position of your TV, but usually the back of the TV is facing a wall. Often you need to move the TV around to get to the connectors. That's a LOT of hassle for changing one game, not to mention that, if each of these devices brings its own cables, you're going to have quite a lot of cables wherever you store those things.

Interchangeaable game media exist for a reason, if you just want to throw out one device that contains pretty much your whole backlog that's okay, but splitting it up into five devices just screams greed. These devices cause major inconvenience if you have too many of them so don't expect people to buy more than one or two, splitting the games into five machines just makes everyone have less games but likely won't cause that many people to buy all five.

Re:Plug & Nightmare

[Blakey Rat]

Actually, the vast majority of televisions sold now have ports in the front under a little flip-down panel specifically for plugging in game systems. I know for my 27" HDTV, I can just plug it in the front and not have to move my entire entertainment center to get at it.

You must have an older TV, in which case you're kind of out of luck... maybe someone makes an extension cable for that you could just wrap around and lay on the floor for easy plugging.

A suggestion.

[Trejkaz]

Maybe you should get a TV with plugs on the front, like the rest of us. :-)

Great idea... in theory.

[ChibiLZ]

I think these little TV Games are a great idea on paper. Some of the are even great in practice. For those who choose not to MAME, it's certainly easier (and cheaper) to run to the toy store and buy this TV Game for $20 than it is to track down an old Atari and a few games for it. Of course, the choice in this latest round is weak. Why don't we see Nintendo making this type of device, pack on 20 or so classics, call it SUPER FUN JOY 1 MILLION IN 1, and sell it for $49.99? I know I would buy it.

Re:Great idea... in theory.

[jackbird]

Come to New York and go down to 14th or Canal Streets - There are many, many variants of every-NES-game-ever-in-a-box for sale in the same stores that sell fake luggage.

Some look like N64 controllers with an RCA cable sticking out, others are branded and styled to look like XBoxes.

I think they're a bit less than $50, too - more like $25.

Re:Great idea... in theory.

[ChibiLZ]

I've seen the third party knockoffs, that's why I alluded to the million-in-one name... I just think that Nintendo themselves could pull it off better, and mass market it. Of course, made by Nintendo, it would HAVE to cost more.