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Topic: more free or "LITE" dsiware games?

Posts 1 to 17 of 17

lemonhead

how come the ipod touch has lite or free apps and the dsi doesn't? =(

lemonhead

AlexSays

They're two completely different platforms.

AlexSays

Birdman

Because developers simply don't want to make them. You're alreday paying $10 max for a game, which is super cheap, and a lot of them would never see the light if they were made into a retail game.

Exactly.
My Birdloggery

3DS Friend Code: 2105-8643-6062

Nintendoftw

Because the developers are actually good quality unlike the ipod..

Nintendoftw

AlexSays

Huh?

The iPhone and iTouch easily have as many quality games as DSiWare, some of which completely free and most of which much cheaper.

Edited on by AlexSays

AlexSays

Adam

If I had to guess, I'd say that because iStuff are not primarily gaming platforms, this is a way to get people interested in games. If you buy a DSi, you are already planning to buy games.

Come on, friends,
To the bear arcades again.

hulklol123456789

lite applications are like... fart. idk they are really bad, some free games won't be bad, but almost all of them are soo god (ok there is always a trash) that most of them don't cost nothing, anyways it will be cool more like offer, like they do for photo dojo, or lets say a game that cost 500 for 1 month and then it cost 800 again, that will be cool.

Man's worst enemy is laziness.

AlexSays

Unfortunately DSiWare also has tons of poor games. And much less of them are free.

Apple even has full retail games like GTA: Chinatown Wars and Plants vs Zombies. With better technology the iTouch can take retail games and port them over, while DSiWare is vastly limited by a size limit and relatively poor tech.

This isn't an Apple vs. Nintendo thread though. It takes a good deal of money to develop a game for Nintendo's downloadable service, and then they have to turn a profit.

It's fairly easy to make an app available for the iPhone. Not sure about the financial aspect but developers certainly don't have the same possibility of losing money with the app store, and quickly making a game and putting it out there for free has to be great publicity.

AlexSays

jdarrell

I think it's also so the DS can sell more retail games at full price. I doubt many people would pay $40 or whatever for Ipod games. The main competition for DS retail games is DSiWare imo, so they can't give a ton of DSiWare away for free.

Edited on by jdarrell

jdarrell

hulklol123456789

A lite game doesn't fit for nintendo, but a trailer for the game for 30 mins or until you turn your ds offf of some games won't be bad.

Man's worst enemy is laziness.

ASDFGHJKL

Because Nintendo is very hesitant with demos, and they have much more control on their platforms. Apple is more laid back so developers can pretty much do whatever they want as long as it works well.

ASDFGHJKL

SpentAllMyTokens

See, it's stuff like being able to download the full version of Chinatown Wars on iTouch for $10, where it had to sell (and not all that well) in retail form for $30 on DS that makes people speculate about the iTouch/iPhone taking over the handheld games market. Unless Nintendo decides it ONLY wants to market to kids, they're going to have to do something about their pricing structure as iPhone gets more and more better games on it, sells them at a better price than Nintendo, and offers far more non gaming functionality all for about the same initial hardware cost.

On the other hand, I KNEW about Chinatown Wars on DS, and I had no idea it was on the app store until now. I think I might just save some beans and buy the app store version now, unless anyone feels dual screen/buttons were absolutely crucial to game mechanics.

Edited on by SpentAllMyTokens

I am way too lazy to think of something clever.
My Backloggery

fatality

cuz u can have more apps on the ipod, so they cater to that.

"Video games are bad for you? That's what they said about Rock n' Roll." ~ Shigeru Miyamoto

jdarrell

I never understand the Chinatown Wars price comparison. It's been $10 online for the DS for a long time.

jdarrell

KrazyKain

AlexSays wrote:

Unfortunately DSiWare also has tons of poor games. And much less of them are free.

Apple even has full retail games like GTA: Chinatown Wars and Plants vs Zombies. With better technology the iTouch can take retail games and port them over, while DSiWare is vastly limited by a size limit and relatively poor tech.

This isn't an Apple vs. Nintendo thread though. It takes a good deal of money to develop a game for Nintendo's downloadable service, and then they have to turn a profit.

It's fairly easy to make an app available for the iPhone. Not sure about the financial aspect but developers certainly don't have the same possibility of losing money with the app store, and quickly making a game and putting it out there for free has to be great publicity.

actually THIS is the reason why.
I've done some research into getting a nintendo Dev Kit and they are VERY expensive and require you to go trough some draconian screening process before you are allowed to have one (well, one would think it cant be THAT draconian considering the amount of on the platform...) anyway, the Iphone on the other hand is MUCH easier to develop for, i can get a license to a 3d engine I already use, to use it on the iphone for about a thousand euro, (i believe the nintendo one was about 4k)

Edited on by theblackdragon

0044-3683-8188 3ds

SpentAllMyTokens

jdarrell wrote:

I never understand the Chinatown Wars price comparison. It's been $10 online for the DS for a long time.

Because the game started out at $30 whereas on the iPhone it started at $10. They're probably not making much, if any money, off $10 sales of a physical cart. When games can release at $20 cheaper on one platform then they do on another, that's an issue, because consumers will generally choose the cheaper platform. It's also a lot cheaper for devs to make a game as a download than produce X number of physical carts which may or may not sell. THAT'S why the price comparison is relevant. It's also relevant because it shows the iPhone library can compete not just with DSiWare but can compete against the DS retail library as well.

The dev kit issue is probably a very huge factor in all of this. It's not really financially feasible to develop a game for DSiWare first if you're a little guy. No sense in taking a risk unless you've already made enough money on your iphone release to front the Dev. Kit. Then there's minimal effort/risk in porting a game. If it fails...well, at least you haven't lost money. There needs to be some sort of happy medium between accessibility and quality control. It seems like nobody's figured it out yet though.

Edited on by SpentAllMyTokens

I am way too lazy to think of something clever.
My Backloggery

rosemo

Another example:

Sushi Go Round for DS = $20 on a cartridge
Sushi Go Round on iPhone = $0.99 for the download

Not that I am jumping ship but I am well aware that content for DSiWare is generally more expensive than any other downloadable platform.

rosemo

3DS Friend Code: 2449-5643-2899 | Nintendo Network ID: rosemo | Twitter:

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