
So now we know the North American 3DS eShop launch games, it's time to find out a little more about the shop itself. Wired.com got a guided tour of the store from Nintendo's David Wharton, director of eShop operations, a Nintendo group set up in April to handle digital sales.
Wharton states the lowest price any 3DS software will sell for is $1.99, just like the DSiWare 200 Point limit, with Virtual Console games available at a range of prices: Super Mario Land will retail for $3.99, whereas Alleyway and Radar Mission will sell for $2.99. These Game Boy games are simply ROM dumps, without any new additions or tweaks, other than the ability to choose between the classic grey and green or stark black and white colour schemes.
Wharton also revealed you'll be able to add smaller amounts to your eShop eWallet: $5, $10, $15 and $20 amounts can all be added, hopefully avoiding the leftover points syndrome that plagues Nintendo's other systems.
If you plan on adding funds via credit card, however, be aware that you'll need to enter your card details every single time: Nintendo does not save your details. It might be inconvenient, but in the light of the recent PlayStation Network difficulties, it may prove a wise decision.
Nintendo will announce eShop releases on Monday, but these games will not go on sale until Thursday, providing a very small window of promotion for small game developers normally hamstrung by Nintendo's secretive release schedule.
What do you make of what you know about the eShop so far?
[source wired.com]
Comments 43
That's not bad. I'm good with that. Now do the same for the Wii Shop! =P
Wii shop is a lost cause. It's just not programmed to do what the 3DS shop will do.
I'm glad they give at least 4 days to promote games. That was my BIGGEST issue with DsiWare and WiiWare. Companies just didn't know when their stuff was getting released and couldn't really hype it up. MAYBE the Sunday. Now companies can at least buy a few web ads on Monday to hype up their game for 4-5 days.
Also consumers had no clue, aside from people like us, no one probably knew the shop even existed, let alone the weekly updates.
I would prefer a whole week in advance, but it's better then nothing.
Too Expensive
you can make $3.00 by walking with ur 3ds..: ) honestly thats a good price!! lol just as long as ur not lazy and u dont want to get up and walk around..:!
$1.99? Ok thats pretty low. I think I can live with that, though 0.99 would have been preferred. Any news on these values in other currencies? (I.e., british pounds )
Also, varied prices for GB games based on quality is brilliant news. Glad nintendos realized that a one price for all model doesn't really fit, hopefully these carry over to all vc games on the service.
Uhhh... @4 Playcoins are not the same thing as the 3DS ewallet o_0
$3.99 at current conversion rate = £2.50 ish
If I have to spend £3.99 for Super Mario Land, annoyance willl ensue.
I actually expected this. I was hoping that Game Boy gray games would all be $2 though.
@6 Yes, but that doesn't guarantee nintendo would do a straight conversion like that.
Pretty good prices, but they will probably change the dollar for a euro sign in the Netherlands. I do wonder how GB games with multiplayer work. In the past it was with a link cable. Hopefully it still can work but only trough local WiFi or something.
$4 a game is fine by me. Everybody stop whining about the damn pricing! You complaining about paying $4 for Mario Land? I can imagine how bad the whining will be when GBC prices are announced and if God for bid if GBA games are released. Either commit to the VC or wait until your carts die!
$4 would be fine with me, but it'll probably be €4, which is quite expensive.
Can almost guarantee that that means UK prices will be £1.99 upwards, despite £1.99 being considerably more than $1.99.
£4 for a GB game seems steep, but it's not like we're not used to Nintendo prices.
£2.50 for GB games, and £3.50 for GBC games would be fair.
I Expected It Aswell. Doesn't Change The Fact That It Is Too Expensive In The Current (Gaming Industry) Economy
And Also... You Might Have To Pay 4$ But WE Have To Pay 4 Euros Which Works Out Of About 2$ More
This is all good--not great, but good--except for the lack of demos.
Hopefully 4 $ won´t be 4 € here. I would pay 1-3 euros for a decade old black and white game. The only games I´d pay for more are Link´s Awakening and DK Land Trilogy.
I really don't understand why they do this. If they truly want to compete with the App store, shouldn't the starting price be $0.99?
It's still in the early stages so...
Whatever.
Just ROM dumps ? I thought i heard something about some 3D upgrades (which wouldn be that hard, just give some graphic layers depth, but im not a programmer)
OK
It all sound great for me cant wait!
The price is not too bad. That's nice that less popular titles will get a discount to help compete with the big guns like Mario. Hopefully more flexibility on sales will come too for companies that want to pursue that. I think when we see GBC games hit the shop, they'll be $4.99. GBA $7.99 or so.
I'd rather have a couple extra $$ in points left over though, then a $.99 pricing model where you have to buy "money" in increments of $5.00. I know I'll spend an extra $ or two eventually, and I'll be even. You'd have to buy 100 titles to completely empty your account with this system. Totally annoying.
Meh, still in early stages, good pricing actually. I seriously support anything Nintendo does, unless they go too far.
Once again, many of the games cost less than the minimum price you are able to spend.
The prices seem fair to me. Just a reminder for those too young to remember. Gameboy games used to cost about 30/35 dollars.
I'd say 3.99 is a good deal. Same complaining went on about the Wii VC pricing. Those cartridges were over 50 bucks.
Don't be like this guy.
[youtube:pbpLk240OAs]
Read all of this on IGN I am a little confused but now I get it. I think
That is better than PSN, Actual I don't have any problem with this system.
Ok, so for me, the best pricing would be : GB : 3/4 Euros, GBC : 5/6 Euros, GBA : 7/8 Euros. This would be the best, though I have a bit of doubts for the GBA pricing... I want Golden Sun 1 and 2 quick !
I hope the eShop gets filled with mostly GOOD games, unlike some of the Dsiware games...
Ugh i am not a fan of 99 cents. I'm gonna have a weird number of cents left over then be mad just like with itunes >:{
SMEXIXIZELDAMAN -> But 99 cents is SO MUCH CHEAPER than 1 dollar!!!!
That's a good price to start.
Way better than the DSi shop! Thank you Nintendo!
LOLz, glad to see Nintendo adopting a nickle-and-dime plan like Apple. Still, though, what is the reasoning behind the $.99 ??? Stupid, Stupid, Stupid...
In the end, it won't really matter when they try to dump sales tax on us like with Wii points CC purchases.
This is one of the strongest, if not the strongest, reason to get a 3DS. The eShop's gonna be great.
I'll just buy very few games, then. Hopefully we will get lots of free stuff though!
Zenonia (One Of Your "Bare Boned Apps") Is 70 Cents And It Took Me 160 Hours To Complete (Including Sidequests); So To Everyone (Including Nintendo) Who Still Thinks That Phones Only Have Short Games, Wake Up And Smell The Coffee
@ Link79.... Seriously?? Thats Like Saying Why Not Buy A Macintosh From The 80s To Play Modern Games... Hey Look They Are Selling Them As Expensive As Modern PCs... But Thaaatsss Okayyy Because They Used To Be 3000+ Back In The Day.....Indeed Not A Good Argument
wait, if the minimum is $1.99, then how come there are free games/apps?
oldies like marioland should be free !
i didnt plan to put money on oldware like these first.
at least, make us pay for a cheap 5-pack bundle.
i prefer paying for those 3dsware titles.
People complaining about the prices obviously have spent too much time in the app store, I'd much rather have quality then quantity any day of the week.
Up to 4.00 USD for any downloadable game is not bad-look at how much the cartridge games cost! O_O hehehe....
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