Topic: Digital Preservation Legacy for the Wii/Wii U/3DS/DS

I have actually been thinking about this a lot lately. Why doesn't Nintendo allow us to download games anymore, given that the only current method is unofficial and illegal, which is frustrating? It seems they were not losing money on the WSC/DSI/eShops for Wii U and 3DS. So why not keep them open? And I think it would be really cool if Nintendo made a Nintendo Legacy Online subscription so we can keep playing our Wii Us and 3DSes online in 2026 and charge like 10 dollars a month? I would much rather have that than the alternative unofficial method, which is quite a bug to set up! Also making Miiverse read-only too would be awesome!

Just saying the shutdowns made no sense, and with the "stop killing games" movement and petition in effect, I hope Nintendo does release something like this officially and a firmware patch for the Wii/Wii U/3DS/DSi that adds this in the near future! And for any 3rd party games, I hope they can take advantage of the DNS menu thing and make an official fan server method work!

Because Nintendo really likes the vault. After all, why offer your old stuff for a reasonable price when you can just dripfeed lazy rereleases for a premium price which sell anyway?

The main problem that they'd have is that it the requirements for taking online payments are quite exacting and it's just no longer viable to maintain that infrastructure on platforms that are out of date and have had their system software cracked wide open.

What they can do is offer redownloading of already owned games pretty much indefinitely. It's just new purchases that are off the table.

@SMARTBOYYYY

"Why doesn't Nintendo allow us to download games anymore"

At least as of right now, you can still download games and game content you have already purchased, even on the Wii. The same feature still exists on 3DS and Wii U. Though I do agree that game preservation does need to be talked about more.

@Nep-Nep-Freak
I’m worried that at some point they will discontinue the ability to redownload purchased software as well. I know it’s most likely inevitable but I’m hoping it’s sometime in the far off future.

The problem is it sounds simple enough but honestly it isnt. The biggest thing being cost effective. People dont realize how much money it costs to maintain the servers then of course you have licensing fees and such. In the end it just probably isnt cost effective.

In the end people need to realize that Nintendo is a business and that their end goal is to stay out of the red., they do that by cutting stuff that isnt making them money.

This is a really bad idea. Why should I pay money every month just to have access to games I already paid for? Plus, online multiplayer was free on Wii U and 3DS, again, why should I pay for something that was previously free?

Sorry if I sound negative, but that alone is a bad idea.

Also, the Stop Killing Games movement has more to do with live service games (been following it for awhile). To ensure they remain playable after servers are shut down, whether it's allowing players to host servers, or making an offline patch. The Crew is at the center of it, because of its online only nature. I have a Wii U, while I can't buy new games or play online, I can still play the games I have downloaded and backed up to my Wii U's hard drive.

I'm going to say it again, it all goes back to DRM. I have PC games from GOG that are DRM-free, and I can back them up and play them without Internet. GOG could shut down, and I could still play those games as long as I have backed up their offline installers.

I wonder if Nintendo will ever add a purchase option to their retro games offered under the subscription. At some point their offerings will run dry (Retro game systems under the basic subscription are already showing signs of it happening) and they might add the option to generate more revenue. I don’t understand why they can’t do it the same way Sony handles the retro games with a subscription or purchase option.

@Don
They might, that's actually a pretty good idea. But I wouldn't expect it until at least the Switch 3 generation, possibly Switch 4 (since Switch 3 will still be able to add 3DS and potentially another Sega console like Saturn or Dreamcast).

But I imagine they'd limit purchases to only those with an active subscription. So if you're an NSO member, you can optionally purchase any game to own permanently. But the apps would have to be modified so that it can still open without an active sub, but would only show purchased games to play.

Eventually when they run out of systems to add I could see that happening, but we're probably 10-15 years away from seeing such a change.