Topic: Buying a Download vs Buying a Cartrige

What stops people from immediately putting the cartridge on ebay? That is the problem with what you just suggested.

I guess your right. Maybe i'm too honest for my own good haha I didn't even think of that.

I like your idea as I would have my games on the system all the time while still having a physical collection but a lot of people would exploit this to make money, I think Nintendo could do something similar like offering a bundle of Smash 4 that includes a physical Wii U and DL 3DS copy of the game and tie it to an NNID like Sony does with cross buy.

well I can think of an efficient solution... but it has flaws too(it'd need to have internet on the system so if someone simply never used the wifi again it would be bypassed....)

This completely. Plus, if you fancy an impulse buy - like I did with Pokemon Y - you can get it (and play it) instantly.

I was going to suggest that actually, since that's what Sony does with the PS4 and Microsoft with the Xbox One. You keep the physical copy but the game downloads directly to the system. You can sell the game if you'd like but once you have to delete space your kind of out of luck since you don't have the copy anymore.

So I ended up buying the digital download for Bravely Default since I plan on playing it all the time (can back up/restore progress and redownload it if needed etc.)
And, although there is 3 files, I also purchased the cartridge for my two sons to share since I don't want to be passing around my 3DS between the three of us.

In either case I was pretty happy when I saw this item...

@AcornHead
now play through the entire game wearing that hat !

you don't have to ask me twice...

I do wish I would have purchased Mario Kart 7 as a digital download, I may sell the cartridge and get the digital version instead.

I dunno what the solution is but for certain I would get more downloads if I had less risk involved if something happened to the system.

Something like if you have the cart you can load it on to the system and then there is some sort of check which if it gets failed then it is wiped I might be ok with.

I keep all my game boxes and stuff in a box room that i never go in because I just don't like clutter lying around. (Not very well organised or anything).

I have the Club Nintendo - Game Card Case - Full of Games (I think its 24) and that is the only thing I keep around with my 3DS. (If it is not in there the chance of me playing it in the near future is basically zero). I have more games but I only swap them when I have finished with one or whatever.

Mostly I play the one game in the cartridge slot and my downloads.

I just don't like the risk involved with downloads and streaming services because if something happens to that company, or as the years go by and they no longer maintain the service or repair the hardware then once that machine busts and you no longer have an account with the company those games are gone to the ages. I can always track down more discs or cartridges, and repair systems at home to keep playing games years for now. That's why I only download indies that will never see a physical release. Forget streaming, I'd never buy a console with no physical media, just a console and an account service.

Nice to know I am not the only 38 year old Nintendo gamer with kids!

I like the convinience of digital downloads, but I still prefer physical. For one thing, I don't have to worry about space running out on my storage with physical downloads, so I don't need to buy new SD cards/harddrives unless I'd already bought lots of digital downloads or made lots of extra data... Yeah, I only download games digitally if they don't have a physical release. Also, I don't have to wait for my game to download. I can go to a store, pick it up, and from then on when I have it I can play it. I know it takes time to go to the store to buy a game so it might sound hypocritical but I like going to the store better than waiting for a download because I'm actually walking around and I can get some fresh air instead of just sitting and waiting for my download to finish or occupying myself with something else(which I don't like doing because then I'll probably lose interest in actually playing the game from all the waiting, and getting more immersed in whatever I distracted myself with ). I also like having physical copies and cases in general, for reasons others have said.

This doesn't just apply to my 3DS but my home consoles as well, for the exact same reasons. Even on the consoles which force you to download the games from discs- just because I like having physical cases. The exception is PC just because it's so heavily digital anyway, but I rarely use the PC nowadays.

I prefer to get my games with the box and manual simply because that kind of thing interest me but if I have to get it digital I will, I got BD the moment it came on the eShop but and also got code of princess because I cant find it in stores, but I do plan on getting the collectors edition of Bravely Default the moment I'm able to.

I won't buy digital games at all until Nintendo connects purchases to our user accounts like every other digital software distributor. Even if/when I do, it'll only be for titles that I know I would keep forever, like Legend of Zelda or Super Mario titles. Others that I'm unsure about, I would prefer to have the game card so I can sell it or trade it if I don't like it that much. But for any of that to happen, I would need to have rights to install my purchased games on my system, and my daughter's system. She should be under my account anyway because she is a minor. I think they're working on this, however. That might be why we have Club Nintendo Family Accounts now... think about it.

Everything seems to be slowly falling into place for Nintendo to catch up to Sony, Microsoft, Apple, Steam, GOG, Origin, etc. Right now Club Nintendo is just a rewards program, but I can imagine Nintendo combining Nintendo Network IDs and Club Nintendo into a single service, or eliminating NNID all together and migrating everything to Club Nintendo. It already keeps track of your hardware and software purchases, and automatically adds purchases to your list if you do it digitally and have linked your Club Nintendo account to your system. It wouldn't kill them to let their customers at least install purchased games on one device at a time without requiring a system transfer. They've already (or should I say "finally") made it possible to share the same ID across Wii U and 3DS. I think they're going to implement a much better system in the near future. I think that's what their whole unified architecture thing is going to facilitate.

They're almost there already. For instance, if you write down your device's serial number and stash it somewhere, if your device is lost, stolen, breaks, or if you sell it to buy something else (say... you sell your 3DS for a 3DS XL) then you can at least call Nintendo (before even powering the new one on) to request a data transfer. If you can tell them the serial number of your old device, supposedly they can transfer the purchases. This will allow you to get your games. This is all what I was told over the phone when I called Nintendo customer service. I'm still not sure if this also allows you to use the same Nintendo Network ID, but I do know that doing a system restore will unlink it from the device, so maybe it's possible. Why would unlinking even be an option is you couldn't link it to another console?

Short answer: Presently, eShop purchases for anything more than a $5 Virtual Console game are not an option for me.

I'm exactly the same, the only downloadable titles I buy are download-only, and I love having my shelves full of games. I also prefer physical because there's a lot more freedom in prices from shopping around, and while the eShop is getting better with sales you can still generally find games cheaper elsewhere online - especially if you're happy with going second-hand.

I used to love buying games digitally for convenience, but lately I much prefer physical copies. A lot of it is just because it looks nice on a shelf.

After buying my 3DS XL, I buy everything digitally. My only problem is that if my system is stolen, waterlogged, etc. I loose everything. That being said, I am very protective over my system. Now having my system for almost a year, the treatment of my XL comes second nature.

Edit: Now that I think about it, I started downloading games when I had absolutely enough of GameStop.

If I have the choice, I'll go digital. SD card memory is cheap enough to hold 50+ retail games, and alot of VC or eShop games. Any gamer that picks and chooses what they buy could have their entire library on there, without carrying around cartridges. Since VC exists, this goes back through the history of video games originally being on physical media.

While I agree that Nintendo should be finding a way to make digital purchases more beneficial for consumers, digital is more efficient and convenient for everyone. I miss physical cartridges and discs to an extent, but I do truly think that digital is the right way to go when I buy my games.