Wii U Games Will Be Sold In Stores And Simultaneously As Digital Downloads

Nyandroid

Why am I not surprised?

Code

So I assume this means they’ve decided to give WiiU some internal storage >o>? Last I heard it was just going to use flash storage, which probably wouldn’t be optimal for disc releases.

Suicunesol

Maybe you’ll have to buy your own hard drive. :o People shouldn’t be too opposed to that since Sony has required people to buy (expensive) memory cards for some time now. Granted, there’s a big difference between the two, but at least the concept of buying additional storage is not a foreign idea.
- Nemesis_Dawn
  
  I don’t recall buying a memory card for my PS3. I chose to upgrade my HDD, but my slim had 160G in the first place. Not sure what you’re talking about.
  - Suicunesol
    
    I’m talking about the PS1, PS2, and most importantly Playstation Vita.
    - thebanditking
      
      I miss memory cards…..T _ T
- Code
  
  They could do it like the PS3, and many it support a swappable 2.5″ Sata HDD which would be the best route; but I really don’t think that’ll happen. The worst thing that could happen is no HDD support, or supporting thier own locked memory units like Sony did with the Vita. Even a built-in HDD or buying your own are far better options T3T;
- XypherCode
  
  It’s good that Nintendo didn’t really include a HDD on the Wii U instead consumers can buy/use their own external HDDs if needed. If they added a HDD like the other consoles it’ll be far more expensive.

http://twitter.com/mr_raccoon Jason

Hopefully this kind of news might lead to a confirmation of the Wii U getting hard drive or not

Nemesis_Dawn

Personally, I think even considering not having a hard drive is ridiculous, in this day and age. I would hope Nintendo would get catch up to the PS3 and 360 and realize it’s pretty much a requirement these days, unless they expect you to have to utilitize an external drive or something.
- thebanditking
  
  From whats been said I am betting 8 to 16GB on board Flash, with an SD expansion slot and if your lucky USB HDD support. Its also possible an external HDD may be proprietary, I would not be surprised if the Wii U has a specifically designed port for an external HDD made by Nintendo. While some may think thats a bad thing, it would actually be the opposite because for those buying full retail games trust me your going to want a higher speed port for the console to read the data from then USB 2.0. Some Vita titles (from what I have read) run worse off the memory card because the read time is not as fast as the game carts/port.

http://www.facebook.com/JaeWhy SasuleUchiha

It’s okay, just don’t make digital exclusive.

XypherCode

not good for people who can’t afford that extra storage…especially full retail games that are gigabytes in size :|

thebanditking

Games are going to only get bigger, Wii U discs have 25GB available on them and Blu-ray already has 50GB discs with 100GB and up in development, honestly how do companies expect the average user to deal with the massive spike in data sizes? Not to mention who can honestly download a 25GB game in less then 3 hours? I could go to the store 10 times in that time frame.
- XypherCode
  
  yeah and i don’t even have a decent Internet connection speed to download those big games. portables are another thing but i think i’ll stick to physical releases for console games.

Muffum

Wait, so every game for the Wii U will be like this? Every single one?

I think that’s a smart decision, honestly. It gives the consumer a choice with whatever game they want to play, so both those that prefer physical copies and those that prefer downloads will end up pleased.

In theory, at least. I’m hoping it ends up like that, but you never know.

thebanditking

I am willing to bet it will not be all of them. Sony said something similar with Vita and now we have games that only release digitally, I would bet Wii U will be the same.

RmanX1000

Im glad they’re doing this. The 360 ended up doing their Games on Demand thing. And without that, i never wouldve been able to obain Tales of Vesperia (damn near impossible to find), which ultimately became one of my favorite RPGs ever. Im glad Nintendo is ofering their own version of this. It will make getting games all that much more easy.

creid8

Let’s just hope the fridge is big enough this time.

http://twitter.com/E1511 E15

Super Smash Bros is currently my main and only reason for possibly getting a Wii U. But im definately gonna need a longer list of titles before i fork over the cash for the console.

http://twitter.com/VXLbeast VXLbeast

Promise of Super Smash Bros. + Pikmin 3 = I’m sold.
Really, all it took was Pikmin 3. : / I’m a sucker.

Kirbysuperstar2

Yeah, considering Nintendo’s track record for online services I think I’ll stick with retail, thanks.

James Beatty

The e-shop is pretty great.
- Kirbysuperstar2
  
  Yeah, it’s fantastic, not having an account at all so if your device breaks/gets lost you lose any software you had licenses for.
  - James Beatty
    
    Last i have heard they are working for a unified account for both the Wii U/3DS. They are thinking of using Club nintendo but they might use another alternative.

http://twitter.com/RefueledPants Jordan Slovsaki

So far buying digital copies of console games has been pointless. On both live and psn, the games almost always cost more, they take up plenty of space which older console models don’t have, and eat up bandwidth, among other problems. Its also always nice to have a physical copy, so I for one will be sticking with retail.

Code

Agreed, honestly Microsoft and Sony both need to realize people don’t wanna pay 10%-25% more for a downloadable version of a game they could buy at retail. I mean I understand why the pricing is higher… but they need to get it in their heads that digital has to pass on some of it’s savings to consumers. Consumers never wanna pay more for digital compared to a retail version. If Microsoft and Sony approached the pricing more akin to Steam, I think they’d see more success with it.
Zero_Destiny

Hhhhmmm I agree the same price is a bit too much. But it isn’t always the case, Aksys usually keeps their digital releases priced less for instance. The occasional sale is a nice thing too for digital games. Honestly though it isn’t anything brag worthy. I kinda wish we could get something like the amazing Steam Sales but I did manage to snag some titles from Atlus’ latest sale, and like half off too, that was pretty good.

I know Catherine’s download was about $10 or so less then the retail version which was a nice step in the right direction for Atlus. I don’t so much think it’s pointless I just think it takes time. Hopefully the process will work itself out better as we move on and the games will find a price range that we can settle on.
Nemesis_Dawn

I picked up Dante’s Inferno with all of its DLC and the Borderlands GOTY Bundle on the PSN for $15 each this year.

http://www.facebook.com/people/Fitzpatrick-Phillips/1786364591 Fitzpatrick Phillips

Thank gawwwwd.
This will make importing 3DS games much faster and hopefully cheaper.

http://twitter.com/VXLbeast VXLbeast

Is there a way to get on the JPN eshop?
- James Beatty
  
  No, or at least none that i know. I imagine he means that he will import a 3DS and download the games. I believe that even though the games aren’t going to be much cheaper he won’t have to pay for shipping so it should be more cost effective
  - http://www.facebook.com/valiusPIU Kevin Tan
    
    Seems like the presentation implies that there will still be a difference between the download and retail pricing due to the inventory costs (or lack thereof), so it would seem that even if retail and the eShop have the same price, it’s still lower priced than the boxed version.
- http://www.facebook.com/people/Fitzpatrick-Phillips/1786364591 Fitzpatrick Phillips
  
  I don’t believe so. I did import a 3DS though. Importing games takes a while is what I meant. Hopefully this will be a cheaper method.
  - http://twitter.com/VXLbeast VXLbeast
    
    Ah, gotcha. So, does your JPN 3DS dial out to the JPN eshop automatically? I suppose that would make sense.

Spirit Macardi

This sounds great to me! While I vastly prefer retail, every now and then there’s that one game I can’t seem to find anywhere no matter how hard I look. This will likely solve that, and it’s always nice to have options.

SetzerGabbiani

Will be good for Atlus games.

http://twitter.com/VXLbeast VXLbeast

Sure, but will they be day and date?

XYZ_JolteonZ980

If Nintendo can follow an updaye cycle that is unlike their competitors, updating once a week, then that would be good. Nintendo releases games on Sunday and Tuesday, so they need two cycles for day and date releases, I hope.
- http://twitter.com/VXLbeast VXLbeast
  
  That would be cool. I can’t imagine GameStop being happy about day and date downloads, though.

ShawnOtakuSomething

nothing feels better then buying a game at the story or having a hard copy of it <3

http://twitter.com/ZEROthe1st ZEROthefirst

Can’t wait to see that new Super Smah Bros. as well as other future releases for this console :)

http://twitter.com/vamp21 Paul Rodriguez

Not bad but I’d still rather own a physical copy rather than a digital one. Games that are digital only I am fine with.

puchinri

That works out for people like us who prefer physical copies. :’)
And for the people who prefer a digital.

ShadowWolf

having both in my opinion is a good thing, have to worry less about the amount of printed copies.

also, since its on the E-Shop, someone is more likely to notice the niche on accident and buy on a whim.

Zero_Destiny

That’s good, I am really looking forward to the digital release games on 3DS, hopefully the downloads will work out well. Glad to see this, I hope that it is a sign that Nintendo is being aggressive with their stance on “Wii U is a modern Gaming Console”.

One thing I would love to see it the ability to gift these full games. Something I liked on the Wii’s Virtual Console was how we could gift games to people. I still feel this feature is sorely missed on PSN, I mean even for PSOne classics we got nothing. I would of loved to of sent some games to some of my friends but sadly no dice. Being able to gift full games to other friends who live far away would definitely be something great in my book.

WizardoftheBlueOrder

Well, my understanding of how it works is that you can buy download codes in retail stores.

So for example, you could go to [Electronics chain] and buy a redemption code for a digital game, and then give that code to a friend, family member or random stranger.

…man I hope this doesn’t cause problems from less scrupulous individuals.
- Zero_Destiny
  
  From my understanding that is only an option for a select few games and not every single game in the PSOne classic section. The virtual console allowed it for all the games.
  - WizardoftheBlueOrder
    
    I’m sorry, you’ve lost me. I know that PSN and XBL are mostly lacking in this ability to gift, while the Wii’s VC allowed it for all titles.
    
    I’m wondering how this is going to work for the Wii U and 3DS…and I should probably buy a bigger memory card.
    - Zero_Destiny
      
      lol I’m kinda confused now too.
      
      You said that you can buy the code for a certain individual and then just give said individual the code so they can get the game, being some sort of middleman, right? From what I know it is true. I could go to Gamestop and like say buy a code meant just for say XenoGears on PSN. But I thought it is a case by case bases.
      
      Although I decided to check it out, and I just ran through the list of PSOne Classic DLC Gamestop dose have on their site and it is pretty long though so I ether may be wrong or the offering of the codes is really catching on now. Ether way that is pretty good news. But it’s still kinda a pain that I can’t just directly do it at the store but yes it seems like a much more minor complaint now actually so thanks for that (er motivation?) to make me look more into it. lol
      
      I’m hoping the Wii U will have a good amount of internal memory unlike the Wii did so that we won’t have to shove all this stuff on SD cards and the like but I wouldn’t be surprised if that dose end up being the case and everything. >__> For 3DS I mean it is nice to get the stuff on SD cards, they are easy enough to find on the cheap but I do think it could be a pain in the butt. I’m hoping that Nintendo and/or the publisher of the games find a way to at least compress the data to be smaller but we’ll see. I’m not really sure how big 3DS games are actually now that I think about it. I do remember that Metal Gear Demo takin’ up a good chuck of data at least about 1,000 blocks or something.
    - ThunderGod_Cid
      
      Last I’ve heard, the WiiU’s internal hard disk is small(8GB).
      But they’ll allow you to use external hard drive to store games, videos, etc.

http://www.facebook.com/klaudkil Alex Cattaneo

omg thats how its done nintendo veryy good job respect point earned.
BOTH retail and digital making EVERYONE happy both the digital only buyers as gamers that wants everything in boxed.

so Sony what your gonne do now?

Suicunesol

I know what some people are going to say about this–that having an option is the best choice. But to me this is the beginning of the end of retail. One day, maybe sooner than you think, you’re not going to have the option of a boxed copy anymore. You saw it happen with the music industry. People (at least in America) just don’t buy CDs anymore because they take up space and are impractical. Same goes with DVDs and Netflix.

Except, maybe Japan will still carry retail titles because the Japanese seem more partial to them…

Nyandroid

What are you talking about? Maybe people don’t buy cd’s anymore. Which is actually untrue. But you CAN still buy cd’s. Although youve said America (And Im assuming you mean US). And I don’t know about the US. But there are still cds and people do still buy them.
- Suicunesol
  
  Yes, there are still CDs and some people do still buy them. But nowhere near in the same volume as a decade ago. Your typical American teenager carries an Ipod now, not a CD player.
  - thebanditking
    
    Carrying around tons of CD’s is a little annoying and if your trying to preserve your physical collection its an easy way to damage one of them. I have tons of game OST’s on disc that are irreplaceable some that came out before I was old enough to own them and others whose print run was only a few hundred. For that I am glad for PMP devices. That said I still always buy my music on CD and rip it in FLAC on to my laptop and then convert it to my Walkman. Also have not bought a DVD in a long time, now Blu-rays I buy those all the time ;)
thebanditking

I know what you mean and honestly this not making me a happy camper either. I always buy physical products and always will so this news just seems like yet another easy cop out for companies like XSEED (or companies like them) to take advantage of, get ready for Last Story 2 digital only. I was really hoping Nintendo would back away from this business model (I was actually counting on their stubbornness this time) because PS4/720 worry me. I just don’t like the digital business model its not good for anyone as you loose control of your content over time (not up for debate) so now I am not only on the fence with PS4/720 but gaming as a whole. I have been playing for 23 years but it may be time to hang it up.
- Jirin
  
  Isn’t losing control of your content a good thing? If I pay for a game, but want to make it harder, shouldn’t I be able to hack the code and do so? Once I pay for something, I should be in control of the content.
  - Suicunesol
    
    You technically are in control, and you should be. You bought it. You can do what you want with it.
    
    …is what I’d say if the product in question was a physical item. But digital items are different. In every game’s (or any software’s) packaging, there’s a EULA (End-User License Agreement) that explains what you have, or are about to, purchase. This agreement usually says something like this: this contract is an agreement between the licensor and the purchasor, establishing the purchasor’s right to use the software. That is to say you are not purchasing the software or the content, ideas, and data of the software. You are purchasing the right to USE it the way the company intended it to be used.
    
    The EULA is there to protect the company itself. Say, for instance, you decide to hack SSBB to make Samus naked. There’s nothing wrong with that as long as no one finds out. But in the off chance your soccer mom walks in and sees her kids playing the modified game, and she decides to sue Nintendo for not making a kid-friendly game, obviously it would be very bad business for Nintendo. While you are obviously the one at fault here, chances are it would be Nintendo’s reputation that would be tarnished the most, not yours.
    
    Also, if you are capable of hacking a game, chances are you are also capable of illegally distributing it. No company wants that for obvious reasons.
    
    Ultimately, when you lose control of content, it becomes harder to enforce an EULA.
    - Jirin
      
      You have a point about the ‘right to distribute’ thing, but I don’t think your ‘Making Samus naked’ thing is a very good example. Nintendo’s only responsible for the content they distribute. There’s no good reason fan patches shouldn’t be possible.
      
      The whole EULA thing strikes me as a vain attempt to make video games into a service rather than a product. And as long as they are trying to do this, I will stick to physical media. I will never pay for a video game under any condition other than “I can play it forever without paying you a cent more”.
- Suicunesol
  
  Aww, that’s no reason to stop. If there will be any reason I’ll stop playing games, it’ll be because worthy games will stop being made.
  
  BTW, that image is win. XD
  - thebanditking
    
    Thanks I also thought it was a good one! Believe me I would prefer not to walk away but thats where this is headed and I’m just not sure I can follow. Massive Hard drives, multiple redundant backups, waiting hours to download content, and given the uncertain economic conditions the world over no company or its services are guranteed. Not to mention EOL (end of life) is a huge factor for a companies IT management when rolling out new services and determining how to maintaing Legacy applications and for how long. Basically there will come a point in time when your digital PS3/360 content will be a burden for MS/Sony and they will take it away and shut it down and there will be nothing you can do about it.
Code

I don’t see this as being that big of a deal, the ability to buy from your home over the internet is far more dangerous then being able to buy digital from a retail location. Honestly to me it says more about Nintendo’s concerns about going digital, for them to be trying to shoe horn digital sales into retail locations. If this was an announcement from retailers it’d be one thing, but this seems more on Nintendo’s end, similar to when Sony tried PSP downloadable tickets.
Jirin

I still buy CDs. I like having a hard copy that I can listen to forever. But, I have way higher standards for buying them now than I did before.

Yeah, this will push retail out of business, but it will also make video game manufacturing a lot more profitable, which will lead to greater diversity of games.

The market changes. Cars killed the horse industry. That’s not a bad thing.

Covnam

I wonder what this will mean for the Wii U regarding storage? Will it include a hard drive? Support external drives and flash memory cards to save on the cost? Hopefully we’ll know by the end of E3.

http://www.facebook.com/valiusPIU Kevin Tan

It supports SD and external hard drives via USB. That we know for sure.

SirRichard

I love that they’re giving people a choice between digital, retail or digital-at-retail, and people are still getting upset over the digital option existing.

Good lord, guys, it’s perfectly fine to prefer physical releases all the time, but getting antsy over a digital option just being there is silly.

Jirin

That’s pretty awesome.

I hope there’s a ‘Pay once, download forever’ system for the digital downloads like there is with iTunes. If I can only play it on the Wii I downloaded it on, I won’t be doing this.

I don’t know. Digital downloads are so much more convenient. Maybe I’m a luddite, I still think going to the store is fun. Downloading something doesn’t have the fun of walking out of a store with a cool new thing you’ve been waiting for.

http://www.facebook.com/people/Kendrick-Schwab/552899917 Kendrick Schwab

I hope the Wii U has a lot more memory capabilites than the Wii, because finding out a simple SD card has much more space that the system itself is kinda messed up.

Inez Kestens

Honestly I don’t care either way. I buy both digital as physical but I’m hoping digital releases will make it easier for niche games to find their way onto new markets.

That said however I am worried about nintendo’s policy. I used to be a big nintendo fan but lately they really rub me the wrong way. Okay there console and handheld are the cheapest on the market but that doesn’t change a thing about the expensive games + DLC and the region lock. I’m really hoping to see a chance with nintendo.

Darrel Daley

I’ll stick to amazon. Digital games are so expensive unless you buy them from steam sales.

Wii U Games Will Be Sold In Stores And Simultaneously As Digital Downloads

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