Hardware covers the technology of game playing, whether PC, consoles or figurines on a board.
News of the fact that Nintendo's 3DS will feature a Virtual Console (Handheld?) that will feature Game Boy and Game Boy Color games hit the headlines at the end of September, but I wasn't plugged in well enough at the time to notice it. However, finding out about it now, I'm glad to see that Nintendo might finally be doing something that I was hoping for.
As a largely retro-oriented gamer, I was quite pleased with the Wii's Virtual Console at first, although there are many problems that makes Nintendo's online implementation absolutely abysmal when compared to Sony and Microsoft. Still, despite Nintendo's generally poor implementation of its online service, I was still more than pleased to be able to play old classics on my Wii without having to dust off my ancient NES and somehow get it plugged into my new-tech setup. And yes, I was plenty willing to pay the premium (and essentially buy a number of games again) to enjoy some of these games.
However, as the life of the Wii's Virtual Console continued forth, and even though the number of supported systems expanded, the support for the Virtual Console started dropping away until now, where we get one game every month, if we're lucky. And a number of much hoped for games still have not shown up (Yoshi's Island and Earthbound, I'm looking at you!).
And then, when the DSi was announced and that it supported downloadable software as well, I got excited again, only briefly, because I thought that it meant that I might be able to get my hands on some old Game Boy and Game Boy Advance games on it and finally get to retire my old Game Boy Advance SP. Of course, when it turned out that there would be no Virtual Handheld (and that the DSi was also stuck with Nintendo's awful online implementation) I realized I had no reason whatsoever to purchase the DSi. My DS Lite handles the DS games and my GBA takes care of my older library. DSi dedicated games were few and far between and hardly interesting enough for me to cough up any more cash.
The announcement of the 3DS again brought up my hope and finally, with the news of the Virtual Handheld, sustained it. Should all my hoped for classic games make their way to the 3DS, then I will be able to retire my GBA and live with my DS Lite and 3DS, and, should GBA games also be supported, perhaps move on from the DS Lite as well. I still am wary of Nintendo's overall lack of sense when it comes to the online component, such as locking games to systems and not to accounts and the obtuse number system needed to play with people you know, but for a chance to play the late stage Game Boy Color games, The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Season/Ages, I might be able to overlook Nintendo's many flaws.
I'm cautiously looking forward to the 3DS. I hope it doesn't disappoint.