But that was just the moderately well-publicized start.
The "Game Archives" section of the Japanese PlayStation Store, which was already stocked with dozens of PlayStation bargains, gained two of its best titles yet: Xenogears and Rakugaki Showtime. The first, Xenogears, is remarkable because it's such a fine game and, at 600 yen ($6 U.S.), provides an implausibly good amount of game for Japanese PSN users' yen. (It was originally a two-disc release; this downloadable version weighs in at 755MB.) Considering that 8-bit Famicom games cost 500 yen to download via Nintendo's Virtual Console, Squaresoft's offering here shows how far ahead of the curve the PS3's "Game Archives" have the potential to be.
Rakugaki Showtime, though: I had to read the katakana twice just to check that my eyes weren't deceiving me. I'm guessing that Square Enix sanctioned the PlayStation Store appearance of this Treasure-developed rarity (Enix having published the game in Japan back in 1999), but still... Overnight, a game which sells in Japan for a bare minimum of 15,000 yen ($150 U.S.) because of its scarcity -- see Yahoo! Auctions listings -- has become available at just 600 yen ($6 U.S.), which is something like 4% of the going asking price. Of course the original PlayStation pressing still has some exclusive cachet simply for the fact that it's the original and is a physical product, but there's no longer any need for anyone to pay silly money for Rakugaki Showtime (unless they really want to). And there's now every chance that more gamers will be able to see why Treasure wholly deserves its status as one of the most talented developers on the planet.
Looking at things in a broader sense, it's clear that owners of original products are the big losers when such rarities are reissued. Suddenly the notion of investing in scarce Japanese videogames looks like a shaky idea. You can draw a parallel between the worlds of games and music, but the difference is, when a rare vinyl album (or even a hard-to-find CD) appears on iTunes, not only does the packaging get cut from the equation, there's also a significant drop in sound quality imposed by the shortcomings of the MP3 format. With games, though -- whether on the Virtual Console or PlayStation Store -- there's scope for improving the quality of the game. The cheap-as-chips 600 yen version of Rakugaki Showtime I downloaded last week is also playable on my PSP. Plus, it benefits from the clarity of the HDMI cable connecting my PS3 to my Bravia. Beyond that, it also gets a level-up from the PS3's upscaling options. Who needs the original, packaged version now?
I think some gamers are perhaps taking what Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo are giving via their respective PSN, XBLA and Virtual Console services without due appreciation. Think about it: Ten years ago, would you have envisaged the PS3 as a jukebox capable not only of playing the latest mega-productions, but also storing and running (in an improved state) countless original PlayStation games without even the need for game discs? It doesn't matter what sort of games you're into: Now, and even more so over the next few years, brilliant examples of gaming from the '80s and '90s are becoming cheaper, more accessible and, crucially, are being preserved. If you divide your playing time between new and reissued gems, such as Rakugaki Showtime and Xenogears, there should be no cause for any complaints. The past lives in the future.
