3DS and Wii U retail games to be downloadable, beginning with New Super Mario Bros. 2
As expected, Nintendo plans on selling retail games digitally through the Nintendo Network. The first first-party game to be available at both retail and on the eShop will be New Super Mario Bros. 2.
As expected, Nintendo plans on selling retail games digitally through the Nintendo Network. The first first-party game to be available at both retail and on the eShop will be New Super Mario Bros. 2, scheduled for release in August. And that will be just the beginning. "Starting from this software, the company will offer the software titles that Nintendo itself publishes in both packaged and digital download formats so that our consumers can choose the way to purchase them," the company announced at its most recent investors' meeting.
The digital release of NSMB2 is part of Nintendo's growing commitment to digital. "It is imperative for us to expand the exposure of the digital download products to potential consumers," the company admitted.
Representative of Nintendo's growing investment in digital is the fact that Wii U will launch with this functionality on day one. "Our consumers can choose either the packaged version or the digital download version of the same software from day one of the Wii U’s launch."
However, not willing to alienate retail, the company promises that digital games will be available for purchase at retail as well, through the use of prepaid cards. "Our consumers can visit retail outlets or the retailers’ online shopping sites, look for products of interest, make a purchase decision and actually pay for the product there. The retailers then can issue the 16-digit software exchange code."
Interestingly, retailers will be able to set their own prices for digital games sold in-store, much as they would with physical copies of games. "By taking this approach, there will not be a situation like 'there is no markdown for the digital products while markdowns are the norm for the packaged software.'"
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replyAndrew Yoon posted a new article, 3DS and Wii U retail games to be downloadable, beginning with New Super Mario Bros. 2.
As expected, Nintendo plans on selling retail games digitally through the Nintendo Network. The first first-party game to be available at both retail and on the eShop will be New Super Mario Bros. 2.-
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Straight Flush
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Well, I see it as inevitable for Nintendo. It's a huge convenience and more and more consumers are going to prefer digital, especially after they've had a few years to warm up to it on their smart phone.
I just fear for the retro market. If you buy a used WiiU in 2022, will you be able to get any games for it?-
What I'm most concerned about is that Nintendo does not seem to "Get" e commerce as well as the competition. The unimaginative eShop, it's troublesome purchase system, clumsy payment systems, lack of great sales... the eShop seemed tacked on to me instead of being a system that could have been a steam for the 3DS.
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-lack of great sales
Hell, I'd be happen with any sort of discount PERIOD. I haven't bought anything from the wiishop since 2010 and having a sale (at least on new original software) would go a long way to getting people to spend money in their store. I'm going out on a limb here and predicting that retail game prices on the eshop will work like Microsoft's games on demand service. For games that sell for years like a NSMB2, that's fine but nobody will be wanting to pay 39.99 for the 3DS version of the new raving rabbids games a year after it comes out when it hits the clearance bin at retail for 9.99.
A good move by Nintendo but as always, they're just playing catch-up to the competition in the digital space.
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I have no idea what you are talking about. I'd prefer it to be like Sony's system and use real money, but MS uses points - so whats the big deal? Purchase system is smooth. And there are tons of freebies.
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I dunno, the 3DS store is actually pretty good. There's not a ton of 3DS specific content yet, but the organization, videos, etc. are all nicely done and they do a good job highlighting different games and game genres. It seems like a night and day difference compared to the shitty DS/Wii stores of the past.
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A 1 TB external hard drive is going to be my new best friend.
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I think they're going to skimp on internal storage on Wii U to save on the per unit cost but the good news is that they did say they would allow USB external HDD to be used. Now that was info from last year's e3 so it might have changed but I would bet that it will be that.
3DS also doesn't have much in the way of internal storage but every one comes with a 2GB sd card so upgrading that card from a 2GB to a 16 or 32GB would be relatively simple and cost effective unlike the VIta.-
Yeah, IIRC something like 16GB internal flash was thrown around a lot but the external drive is the big thing.
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No surprise here. We knew this would happen. Tsk Tsk Tsk ... and you won't listen won't you.
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That and Paper Mario 3DS are the 2 announced 3DS games that I'm the most excited about. Every time I see the LM2 3D videos on my 3DS, I get super pumped because of how awesome it looks in 3D.
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I think it was a limited time only deal.
They had a batch of videos right after E3 last year that you could download and another batch sometime last fall. I pluged luigi's mansion 2 into the eshop search engine and came up empty so I don't think they're still hosting them.
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"Interestingly, retailers will be able to set their own prices for digital games sold in-store, much as they would with physical copies of games. "By taking this approach, there will not be a situation like 'there is no markdown for the digital products while markdowns are the norm for the packaged software.'"
-quote from article
that's funny, cuz i don't remember nintendo EVER lowering the price of their games after the initial release . e.g., i bought a USED copy of mariocart DS for 24 bucks from gamestop.-
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yup, they even have a reissued line with new box art for their flagship titles once they've gone out of print and drop in price
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Used game at Gamestop are supply & demand. Try picking up a used PS2 persona game for under $20. Games that continue to have high demand like Mario and Pokemon tend to cost more.
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still tied to hardware. What a joke.
http://mobile.theverge.com/gaming/2012/4/27/2980431/nintendos-digital-sales-available-through-eshop-but-tied-to-hardware -
Still tied to the hardware, what a joke.
http://mobile.theverge.com/gaming/2012/4/27/2980431/nintendos-digital-sales-available-through-eshop-but-tied-to-hardware-
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I don't know if forcing people to do that is a good idea. Make it easy and fast (it already is), and recommend it like they do, yes, but why force someone? And if you don't keep any of the stuff that came with your console and have no way to ID it, I don't see how that's anyone's fault but yours.
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It is just going to lead to issues for people down the road. Every other digital distro platform requires an account. And I have never seen a recommendation to create an account. I have one, but not because it told me to when I bought a game. Nintendo is so far behind in online they don't need something like users loosing access to games they bought to give people something to trash them about.
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People would lose their shit if Steam did that. Is account security that much harder on a console?
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