Topic: Digital or Retail?

Well, saying that your games are lost under certain conditions isn't entirely true, either. The only case where it would be pretty hard to get your games back, is if you lost it before NNIDs existed on 3DS, and that only applies to 3DS, as well as not having the serial number or a Club Nintendo account.

I'm not a Nintenbot. (Really?) They are by no means perfect, but should we really be complaining about something that isn't an issue? The process is relatively painless. So you have to call Nintendo, big deal. I agree that Nintendo is behind, but they are taking steps forward.

Saddling customers with an outdated system that almost every other company has moved on from =/= security.

I am just making sure people understand what they are talking about. I am all for Digital or Retail whichever you prefer. Just don't try to say you only do Nintendo Retail because you can't recover digital when you can.

No but making it so that having my username and password doesn't give people full access to my account == more secure.

By the time Nintendo takes a step forward in online, Sony and MS have already taken 10. This is something that should have been solved in the Wii era.

Not really. There's no doubt that Microsoft and Sony had their accounts systems up and running in 2005 and 2006, respectively, but they haven't really changed much since then. If we really want to be literal, they took like 5 steps, then 1, and now Nintendo is taking all the same steps at a later date.

There weren't even account systems on consoles until 2005, so the "this isn't 2001" bit is trying a bit hard, unless you were on PC, I guess. I don't even know if there were account systems on PC in 2001. All I remember was that most games were on disc anyway.

EDIT: Also, Sony technically took a steps backwards with their account system, because they got rid of other OS(refusing to do so made your account on that system pointless, anyway), restricted how many consoles could be on said account, got hacked on a massive scale, and started charging like Microsoft.

Here's the deal: I don't care!

This doesn't apply to me, and that's what matters to me. I don't buy something or not buy something because of how it'll benefit other people. I do it because it benefits me. I know this sound selfish, but that's how everyone operates.

From my perspective, I have an account with my games and if my console dies or something happens, I call Nintendo and get the situation resolved. That's it, and that's all that matters to me. Could it be simpler? Yes, of course. Does it kill me to go through this process, of course not. The chances of running into an issue like this are little.

Oh, and that $400 story that keeps being brought up? That was because the guy's Wii bricked. And that was several years ago. You said so yourself, this is 2014. Nintendo has clearly made progress from that point.

Ahh yes, this explains it all. You believe that everything happens at a push of the button. I'm glad you think that upgrading a database that has thousands of tables with millions of customers that are most likely keyed off something that does not include the NNID, is an easy fix as to just make it happen. You do realize that a lot of these system that now have this in place were built like that to begin with. Much easier to implement a system that was setup for what it was meant to do.

But really just keep thinking that everything works like a push of a button, sadly I live in the real world and understand that this button just does not exist.

Edit: I go all digital on my 3DS and Wii U. Also have spoken to support a couple times for odds and ends helpful hint treat them with respect and you will get respect back. All these internet people that have lost hundreds? I also heard from internet people that big foot exists with pictures to prove it.

I don't care if Nintendo's Account systems are as up to date as others. I am not arguing that the other accounts systems don't have some features that are better, I am only saying what Nintendo's Accounts have. To all those claiming you can't recover your downloaded games, you can so stop complaining about it. Feel free to complain about the process that you have to go through, just don't lie to try to make a point.

Ya, but that's part of the problem. PC isn't a console that gets released every 4-7 years. Accounts on consoles weren't even a thing until 2005, unless you want to say that PS2 and Xbox should have had accounts systems in 2003. Nintendo HAS taken steps forward. My Wii U could literally be melted to the cement tomorrow, for whatever bizarre reason, and I could call Nintendo to tell them what happened and that I want my NNID on another system.

Fine, it looks like the numerous success stories have no impact.

The only way to settle this discussion is with you taking a sledgehammer to your Wii U and then attempting to transfer your games to a different Wii U.

Then come back and tell us your success story.

@Hernandez
It's not even about bias. If your Wii U was melted to the cement right now, and you went to go get a another one, it would be pretty easy to get your NNID onto another console.

Again things do not happen with a push of a button, every update that has been for the NNID is a point in the direction for the system you want. But it does not happen overnight, most database upgrades/restructuring could take 2-4 years. This is a best case scenario where the company is putting millions into to make it happen.

So... Yeah. I prefer Digital.

But when I visit the US I get retail, because it's considerably cheaper.

Ye shud know better than to criticize Nintendo 'round here! We all know they don't make mistakes. Now we're upping the price for yer "rare downloads"

Retail - CD's/DVD's/Cartridges seem to last forever when taken care of. A hard drive with games is just disks/platters that are higher capacity and difficult if not impossible to switch out. You would need to always have a backup Hard Drive or be sure you can get them from the source 10-20+ years later. Some of the NES carts I have are pushing 30 years old and fine. Take my Commodore 64 Hard drive from the early to mid-eighties that used 5 1/4" floppy disks, my C=64 Elite disk is long unusable (Quit in the early 90's), but my PAL Nintendo Elite Cartridge has no issues and plays great on the Retron5. My experience with even new hard drives is failure rates of 3-5 years, whether constant on or not. I like having the source files on a medium that has proven to last decades. SD cards, and SSD drives have write lives but they should last for many decades under personal use.

Digital almost every time.

Retail for me always, unless it's an awesome sale, or it's GOG.com.

Yeah on ocasion the eshop and other systems for that matter have great digital sales.