[shifuimam]

I've gotta wonder about this.

Boyfriend and I just picked up a couple 3DSes, mostly on impulse. We considered a Wii U, but there are virtually no compelling titles for it yet. Maybe that'll change?

Here's the thing. With the 3DS, Nintendo axed the old Nintendo Points and switched to a new store. Big negative IMO - the money you've spent on Wii/DSi points is worthless on the 3DS and Wii U. I don't see much of a reason to do this other than forced obsolescence, which isn't something Nintendo's really been known for in the past decade or so (I realize the NES and SNES weren't compatible, but the Wii can play GameCube games, the DS/DSL could play GBA games, the GBA could play GB games, etc. etc.)

What's bothering me even more, though, is that the newest Nintendo releases for the 3DS are decidedly anti-customer. I looked at all the titles on display at Target, and the new Donkey Kong and Super Mario Bros. 2 releases are decidedly different in their lack of download play. The 3DS-only releases of Mario Kart, Mario Party, and even Mario Tennis all have download play, so you only need one game cartridge to play with multiple players locally.

I've always been a huge fan of Nintendo as a company - they stand behind their products, their customer service has always stayed domestic, their warranties are very good, and they've generally been pretty pro-customer. It seems like maybe that's changing with the newest consoles.

I'm not seeing a reason to not include download play with a two-player game like Donkey Kong aside from just another way to get more money out of the customer.

[subego]

I'm a little out of the Nintendo loop at the moment. I don't understand the model you're describing.

Who is getting what and who is not getting what?

[ibook_steve]

Yeah, I'm not really seeing your point either. Of all the things to complain about Nintendo, I don't think lack of download play should be high on your list. Yes, there's been a huge drought of Wii U games and people still think Wii U is a new controller for Wii (my local Best Buy has a sign up for the Wii U games that specifically says they are for Wii U, not Wii).

I liked what I saw today in the announcements of first-party games for both Wii U and 3DS (Super Mario 3D World and a new Yoshi's Adventure? Yes please!). It's the 3rd party that's the problem. Last year and the year before at E3, it was explicitly stated that there would be fantastic 3rd party support on the Wii U, something that didn't happen on the Wii (buckets of crapware; Carnival Games anybody?). Unfortunately, the same pattern may be happening again though now instead of crapware, we get invisibleware, i.e. no games at all. This is disturbing. I adore Nintendo and have every console (even an old Virtual Boy hidden away!!; don't judge, got it cheap when they were discontinued), but without the 3rd party support to fill in the gaps between 1st party releases, there may be trouble on the horizon.

Steve

[angelmb]

It is my considered opinion that Nintendo users are the most loyal bunch, we're not under threat of beheading like other folks who are jumping shift now and then cause there is almost nothing captivating, constructive or even the least bit attractive about their current gaming system that might prevent them from switching should the need arise. For every Forza, there is a Gran Turismo and for every Gears of War there is a God of War. If we were left to stray, which is the most unlikely scenario due to Nintendo massive IPs, I think we would just dust off our older systems and call it a day. By not to mention that in such a scenario both, SONY and MS would kill to get Nintendo IPs running on their systems. MS would have some punch in Japan, whereas SONY would kill the XBOX all at once.

[P]

Nintendo is in trouble because they are losing the casual sales for their mobile consoles. That is what they have been living on for years. Remember, before the Wii, the last Nintendo non-mobile console to win their generation was the Super Nintendo - two decades ago. The Wii won partially because of the way the others stumbled - Nintendo can't count on that happening again. They need to get that revenue from mobile again, and $50 for a game looks like a lot from someone who is used to $1 games on iPads and iPhones.

So they're milking their fans while waiting for a new idea. Meanwhile, EA et al are seeing the same low console sales and is well aware of the traditionally low attach rate on Nintendo consoles, so they're halting development. A vicious circle.

[shifuimam]

I forgot to add that I'm also pretty annoyed that Nintendo is sunsetting ALL the networked features of the Wii - the news channel, everybody votes channel, and weather channels are all getting axed.

My original point is that it seems like Nintendo is moving away from some of the core things they've stuck to for at least the past 13 years. Moving the downloadable content channel to something new just alienates people who already have a cachet of Wii/DSi points - those are worthless on a new console.

The lack of download play is terrible for kids and people like me who don't have the money to buy two game cartridges just to enjoy a game with a friend or partner. At $40 a game MSRP, that adds up fast. One of the cooler things about even the original DS, IMO, was the download play - I remember years ago, my coworker brought in his kids' DSLs and their copy of Mario Kart, and I had a little Mario Kart tournament the day before Christmas vacation with all my middle-aged coworkers. It was awesome.

It just seems like some of the +1s for Nintendo are falling away. The forced obsolescence of the Wii by discontinuing all of its non-game features doesn't do much for the end-user, does it?