Iwata gave a quick glimpse of the 3DS shopping channel at the investor briefing and it already sounds like a good step forward.
http://www.andriasang.com/e/blog/2010/10/29/3ds_shopping_chan...

Mainly stuff we already knew about like it being the shopping channel and Nintendo channel mixed but demos being confirmed is a good thing and it seems a lot more seamless which is always good.

Does anyone know whether we'll be able to gift games to other 3DS systems like on the Wii?

i have no idea, but that would be so killer. i've gifted a lot of WiiWare/VC stuff, traded with friends and the like, and the 3DS seems to be so focused on connecting with other people... it'd be a great feature IMO.

I've never gifted anyone, so it wouldn't be a big deal for me.

Demos? That's awesome. I would like some new WiiWare demos too, btw.

Welcome to NLife, deegan!

Anyway, I think what the 3DS Shopping Channel needs is good advertising. Despite what many people think, there are a lot of gems on both WiiWare and DSiWare, but you have to be good at finding them (or just read NL's reviews ) because Nintendo don't exactly present these games to you. You're left to search and scan the Shop Channels for yourself using a crappy interface. In fact, there are actually quite a lot of Wii owners who don't know about WiiWare because The Big N simply haven't been taking it seriously enough. It looks like Nintendo's starting to get the idea with the 3DS, after saying that they'll be 'pushing' content to gamers instead of leaving the gamers to find things out for themselves, and Iwata has already said the menus and interface will be far better than that of the DSiWare Shop.

Oh, and to add to that there should be demos and gifting like others said, and also DLC like Mii accessories (if they're free) as well as Games on Demand and Indie Games.

"...and Iwata has already said the menus and interface will be far better than that of the DSiWare Shop." - LuWiiGi

@LuWiiGi it better be! The DSiWare Shop was slow and was hard tonavigate. You could barely tell what you were buying!

@deegan Yeah, if I wanted a 500-point game that began with a letter near the end of the alphabet it would mean spending five minutes slowly scrolling through page after page of shovelware to find it. Plus, the looding times were unbearable! I'm glad Iwata recognises these problems.

That's what the Nintendo channel is for though and it does have a lot of content. Some games don't get anything on the Nintendo channel but the big ones do. In fact on the Wiiware pages of the Nintendo channel there's even a button that takes you to the game on the shop channel. A lot of what Nintendo is doing is already kind of there... it just gets ignored by most people.

@Oregano Well I don't have a Wii, so I wouldn't know. I still think the WiiWare advertising is pretty awful compared to other platforms though.

Is that a new Panel de Pon/Puzzle League game I see in that video!? (the game shown right after Dr Mario DSi Ware)

Seems like a DSi Ware game from the video (it has a picture of a DSi next to it)

Can someone who reads Japanese confirm if it is or not?

Naw, instead of scrolling forward you can just scroll back and start at the end and work your way backwards (I guess not many people know about that,wonder why). Now finding a game that starts with a letter in the middle of the alphabet is a chour for sure.

@cheapogamer4life What? So all this time - grr...

Well cheapo, once again you saved me from more frustration!

The main thing they need to do with the Wii is just post the weekly update on the messageboard and possibly a few screens with them. That'd probably help a lot but yeah... the Nintendo channel has nearly all the info you need. I don't get why people neglect it.

Nintendo Wii's online system is a lost cause, it should be abandoned buried, forgotten, the buried spot nuked 10 times and then leave the planet and never mention it again.

Their next system, which will more than likely be announce next year, should be their come back to finally come into the online era.
And I say next year because all previous years were good years to announce a new system, but next year they would be REALLY REALLY stupid not to. With Move, Kinect being able to do pretty much what Wii does and those systems prices getting lower and lower, the Wii has nowhere to go...That and most people already have it. lol

I'm pessimistic about the 3DS still because of other unanswered questions like browser ability, video chat options, social networking blah blah. But this is a good start, now if they'll just explain how DSiWare purchases are transferred over, unless that was an empty promise like Sony with the Go.

I really like the new interface for the 3DS Shopping Channel. It's a lot better than the current interface on the DSiShop although I've always been able to find good in the DSiShop because I google and check out reviews and discuss the games on forums and twitter with others.

Still, the new interface for the 3DS Shopping Channel is absolutely SMASHING! It's gorgeous to say the very lest. I know I'll be making use of that Demo system!

http://www.andriasang.com/blog/2010/10/29/3ds_shopping_channe... this is what it looks like.