Wave o' Babies~
Actually, prices are higher than that. I read IGN's article, and it said that NES games would cost about $5 in Wii points, SNES around $7, and N64 around $10 (all from memory, if I'm wrong then don't go all "you're wrong"), and likely to go up. Sandwhich Genesis, TurboGrafix, and MSX where they belong between those generations and that's your price guide. Nintendo is marketing Virtual Console the wrong way. Most people are going to think something along the lines of "why pay $5 for a NES game when I can download the entire library of the NES in a few minutes for free" . Not that this would have been averted if titles were decently priced but the higher than expected price tag sure doesn't help. What Nintendo should do to redeem themselves is gurantee a certain ammount of Wii Points for every game bought; if people are on the fence between getting a game or passing on it, throwing in another title or two could be a factor in the decision.
Or Nintendo could, instead of treating this as they should, do something dumb like requiring downloaded features from WiiConnect24 be bought with Wiipoints. I mean, this is supposed to be targeted towards families and casual players. If they see "lol100wiipoints yes/no" every time they turn it on, it will scare them away.
Either way, because the lineup is both small and pricey, Virtual Console is one of the things I'm not too excited about...though my fear of what will become of wiiconnect24 is completely unrelated.
Semi-unrelated:in the event that it doesn't charge you for each update, wiiconnect24 is the best idea ever in gaming, or at least the best one for Nintendo, excluding every other time I've said something is "the best". Wii games can be altered after their release to, say, add online play for a game that would benefit from it but is lacking in that department for no real reason (coughwariowareandbannanablitzcough). The same with Gamecube games and the "wiimakes". This could also spread to DS and GBA games, which opens up endless possibilities. I mean, SM64DS online? Yeah, everyone would love that. Sonic Rush netplay? Something people would actually like. And so on. I mean, DS/Wii communication. Man.
Speaking of which, it's also possible that the DS/Wii functionality is used to make DS games go online by emulating local wireless. But that's just wishful thinking. As is most of this. But wiiconnect24 is pro because it is all possible in theory.
In other words, wiiconnect24>virtual console