Topic: Digital or Retail?

The same strange concept applies to the eShop. That's part of the sales. I've gotten games cheaper on the the eShop than retail numerous times You're right that it's usually cheaper to go retail, but when there are eShop sales, they are usually better than retail.

EDIT: I forgot that the Mario Kart 8 promo was retail, so I guess I'll just stick with the sales part.

Digital. I love the convenience of having all my games in one place, to switch from one to the next on a whim, and it saves on physical space which is a relief for me since I very rarely sell my games and If my Wii, ds, and 3ds (before digital) and other past games are any indication of what's to come, I would be labeled as a hoarder by now (at least by non-gamers).

Retail!

HDD are more easily damaged and have a finite life. If you are lugging your console all over town retail games are safer (although you can redownload all those GB of data I guess) If you buy all your content digitally who knows if you will even be able to access it in 20 years, the eshop will probably be down.

I guess that is just a collectors mentallity but especially with the uniqueness of the gamepad Wii U emulation will never be the same as having the actual console and games.

Alot of that is true, but not really for the better. It really depends on what type of HDD you have. I have one that could probably take countless falls before it breaks, but not everyone has that. Cartridges and discs can "die", too, soooo...

As for emulation, it's pretty subjective. I personally prefer the VC versions of games over the original console and games, because they made the games run well on HDTVs, and the sound quality is no longer on a cart, which is a good thing. I've never had a VC game freeze, either.

Yeah usually digital games are $60 no matter what, while with retail you pay less if you get it used or on sale but most of the time its just flat out cheaper. Not to mention you get the disc itself, case and manual.

Retail. They don't take up Hard Drive space, you can display the boxes, and you can sell them once you're done. Plus you can get special editions that come with extra goodies. I'll only go digital for a retail title if the discount is particularly steep, if I know it's something I'm never going to sell, and/or if I'm going to play it every day. The one exception is Pokemon Y, which I purchased digitally because I wanted it ASAP. I stayed up until midnight, downloaded it, and then woke up early to start playing it the next morning.

Logic.

I like seeing my game on the shelf, but I also like having it with me wherever I go. Tough call.

Yeah nintendo is the console that I go retail no matter what.

What are those obvious reasons that you only go retail on Nintendo?

Unless the game is digital only, I will always choose retail. I love having my games on shelves. The one thing I fear with going digital is that the all the data on the system would be erased & I'd have no way of getting those games back, especially years down the line when the online stores are no longer accessible. I'm sure there are ways around this problem but I'd rather not take any chances.

Backup hard drive addresses most of the concerns people have. Speaking of which it's time I ran a backup!

Digital all the way as I'm disabled and it's very awkward to get and change disks in a wheelchair. Digital makes launching of games a million times easier.

They do have a unified account. DRM is no worst than Xbox or Steam, not sure how/if PlayStation is different. Not a huge hassle anymore to recover digital games, may not be as easy as just sign in but they have made things easier. I am surprised by how many people think Nintendo doesn't have a unified account system.

Part of the problem is that Nintendo doesn't make a big deal about the small stuff like this. They make a big deal about their games, and that is about it.

You must live in a different region than I do. Here in Canada, the only digital sale on Wii U that has been cheaper than retail sale pricing was for Darksiders 2. Every other digital game sale has been either more expensive than retail sales or has matched the price but occurred much later. Granted, buying from eShop is more convenient since you never have to worry about games being out of stock.

If you are being cost conscious, going entirely retail is better than going entirely digital for Wii U games. As you point out with the Mario Kart promotion, being willing to accept a mix is really the best option though.

Caveat: I bought my Wii U something like 8 months after launch, so have no data from before that time.

Until you're able to log in to a new/replacement system with your NNID and download all prior purchases that were made on different hardware (e.g. a Wii U or 3DS that broke or was stolen), they don't have a unified account system. I'd take it one step further and also say that buying a VC game on a 3DS should give you the Wii U version for free and vice versa. If they allow all that, then they'd have a true unified account system.

I find it to be the complete opposite in the UK, I've seen retail games on eshop go on sale and they are still more expensive than buying a hardcopy. I've got ZombiU, Injustice, Batman Arkham City etc for £5 or less and the Eshop sales have never gone lower than £9.99, I also don't have to wait months for an eshop game to go on sale.

Those are not what make an account unified.