The Nintendo Screwjob.

I like most of you here have been a long time Nintendo fan. I have owned pretty much every home console and handheld. I currently own a Wii U and a 3DS. I was happy until I got completely screwed over by Nintendo.

When Nintendo announced that the Wii U will have a Virtual Console, I was glad and happy to see classic titles appear on the console. I felt pretty much the same when I owned a Wii and downloaded virtual console games on there, but when I found out that I can't download those games again on the Wii U and you have to purchase them again...? I soon emailed Nintendo about this issue and their reply will simply put unhelpful. Yes, I no longer own the Nintendo Wii in which I downloaded those Virtual Console games but those games are tied in with my Nintendo Club Account, clearly shows the games I have purchased and not they are telling me I have to buy them again? 

Okay I would understand that if I have previously owned a game on CD or cartridge then sold it and wanted it back, I would have to purchase that game again. This is a different situation here, Nintendo are offering a service in which you can DOWNLOAD classic games on one console linked to one account meaning you shouldn't have to purchase these games again. It's like Steam, you buy the games and they are yours forever and can install on any pc you like. Simple and everyone is cool with it. On the PS3, purchase a game, download it, delete and download it again without having to purchase it again why? cause it is tied in with your PSN account. Nintendo have been using the Nintendo Club account for many years, you buy a game and you get code to enter on the website and it gives you star points which later if you have enough points you can redeem them and get something awesome, fantastic, but when it comes to downloading the game you already bought, no sorry you must buy it again. It's not like your buying a different or altered game, its the same game and now for a game like Super Mario World for the Wii U VC costs £5.49.... £5.49! FIVE POUNDS FOURTY-NINE!!

Some people might not have a problem with this, but the fact that other services like STEAM and PSN don't give you this issue especially when you have purchased games that cost more than £5.49 makes you wonder what planet Nintendo is living on? Wind Waker being re-released in HD and will be a full priced game and rightfully so but for some games that have not changed in the past 25 years still costing more than what they are worth. Trust me this isn't about how cheap the games should be, it should be priced comparatively to other games on the market.

I feel like I have been screwed over by Nintendo and it may be just be me I don't know. As much as I love Nintendo, I really do not like what they do right now, it's a joke.


( Edited 27.04.2013 16:27 by irfy )

I feel like I have been screwed over by Nintendo and it may be just be me I don't know.

Simple solution right now is to just not buy digitally from Nintendo. Ever. Not until they sort this mess out.

This is being changes, they will be unifying accounts and will let you move hardware and keep you old stuff.
So in the futer you will have one unified account across all your Nintendo hardware, but at the moment you need to do a system transfer.

You needed to follow this guide.
http://www.nintendo.com/consumer/systems/wiiu/en_na/system_system_transfer.jsp?menu=how_to&submenu=wup-transfer-ht-content

if you had done that you would have been able to get your old stuff.

Now when the Nintendo Network unification happens you may be lucky and be able to download your old games.

( Edited 27.04.2013 19:36 by Spazturtle )

Your missing the point here Spazturtle. I longer have my Nintendo Wii with my VC games, so I can't do any of the system transfer stuff. I'd rather much, have a account where all downloads, save datas etc are stored in one place, just like on the PSN Plus account. 

They've recently been lauding the success of their digital content on 3DS... I've personally reached a point where I have enough content on mine, that I am now hesitant about taking my 3DS out with me during the day!. One of the handhelds design aims go straight out the window because of some shambolic approach to securing digital content.

I bet you the vast majority of parents and users are not aware of this, it's the only way their digital service could be so successful in light of this...

… I was wondering, should I lose or have my 3DS stolen, is there any way to retrieve the games that I've purchased on the eshop? I am curious about your policy on this, and especially when so many young kids play 3DS and could potentially lose them. I know on the iphone and PSP, you are tied to an account to which you can retrieve your games. How does it work for Nintendo? Should I be worried about buying my little nephew eshop points?

Nintendo of America customer service representative: Thank you for writing. I'll be happy to answer your questions regarding virtual content on the Nintendo 3DS. All virtual content downloaded on the Nintendo 3DS is tied to the system itself. As our warranty doesn't cover lost or stolen game cards and systems, if this were to happen regardless of your games being virtual or you owning the physical copies, they would not be covered for replacement. …

( Edited 28.04.2013 18:57 by Azuardo )

There are rumours and strong suggestions that the Nintendo ID will be totally unified sometime in the near-ish future, part of Nintendo's restructuring. It may not work with Wii Shop games because they used an old system.. but maybe cross downloads with 3DS and WiiU, that's what Emily Rogers suggests, Iwata has also implied it in the past.
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=544719

She's a relatively trusted industry insider, so I hope she's right.

But yeah, the current VC system is kind of a joke. It's a shame because in the end, the Wii's VC was an impressively extensive collection, having that all somewhere that's going to be hopefully timeless and updatable (i.e. the eShop) would be great, but the Wii's VC was instantly outdated.

I think Nintendo are aware their VC service is a little lacking, it's lacking even compared to their past services. I would wager they'll do things about it this year.

I've been lucky so far, although my Wii is in a poor shape right now because my little cousins broke it a while ago, it was still working right enough (it's just the disk drive that's dead, and i can still play my games from my HDD, thanks to homebrew) to transfer all my stuff to my WiiU and as soon as the account unifying happens, all will be secured.

But I understand your problem perfectly, and to be honest, all I can do for now is cross my fingers that my 3DS doesn't get stolen or lost, or that my wii U doesn't get a problem which wouldn't be covered by warranty, in which case my digital content would be lost...

... which is why I'll be sticking to physical copies for as long as they exist, and when they do disappear, that will most certainly be the day when i simply stop buying games, because part of my love for them comes from the satisfaction of seeing all my copies neatly lined up on my shelves.

" or that my wii U doesn't get a problem which wouldn't be covered by warranty, in which case my digital content would be lost..."

If a Wii or Wii U breaks you can contact nintendo with the serial number of both the old and new units and they can transfer the account.

My launch-day Wii was no longer covered by warranty and was totally unable to read discs up until just under a year ago? I deleted the Homebrew from it, sent it to Nintendo, they send it back fully fixed and all my VC games were still on there.

They didn't even charge us, I think they were supposed to maybe they just forgot or maybe they didn't want to.
But yep, if your Wii or WiiU breaks you can keep your console's account stuff 9/10 times. I've heard some horror stories of that not being the case and obviously the case of stolen consoles is very dodgy indeed, but most of the time Nintendo will do what they can to let you keep your account.

It's not very clear. See LS's above quote from Nintendo America customer service, outright admitting that no matter how much content you have, it is not covered. However, there have been many cases where, if you file a police report for having had a 3DS stolen, they will recover your data. Regardless, it's a very iffy situation, in which many people don't get lucky. A proper account system not tied down by hardware would remove this faffing about with Nintendo and keep everyone happy.

I do think that, given enough feedback from people, Nintendo will eventually see the light of day in this scenario. But, we said this during the Wii era, when we expected them to have full-on accounts not tied by hardware for the upcoming Wii U. But that's exactly what we have, and it's far too messy. Baby steps, Nintendo. Baby steps. They surely cannot let this go on for another entire generation.

That's a big problem Nintendo have with that kind of customer service; absolution and solidity. Their website reeks of falling apart at the joints and not really knowing what it's doing.

Like I said before though, I think a wider encompassing account system is implied for the near future. They're certainly aware of the flaws in this system, it's covered in FAQs and such. Luckily the difference between the WiiU and 3DS to the Wii and DS is that their systems can be fundamentally altered with firmware updates and that lets Nintendo make active efforts to improve the experience rather than.. when they feel like it or when demand was deafening (like the storage issues for the Wii)

EDIT: I take it back; if Emily Rogers is right at all then she's probably right about all this too.
I hate to be negative but when it comes to VC I can't help it, even if Nintendo do have a good reason to take a while with WiiU VC, when it's so much worse than the original Wii VC from over 5 years ago, how can anyone feel positive about it? Very disheartening.

( Edited 29.04.2013 11:30 by SuperLink )