Full 3DS Retail Downloads Have Teething Troubles

They should have the glitches worked out by the time
digital downloads come to North America.

not surprised. servers always get in trouble when something big comes out.

Rolls eyes.

Nintendo has CONSISTENTLY underestimated digital downloads...who in their right might would be surprised by this? Personally, I intend to continue buying retail copies of 3DS games, as I'm not really into the whole "digital library" thing on any system where I can't have a large enough storage device for ALL of my games at once.

Anyone who has the slightest amount of common sense would refrain from getting digital downloads from the eshop because there isn't even accounts for the 3ds. You're screwed if something happens to your 3ds... what about your download? well you'll have to give nintendo 40 more bucks.

Come on! Digital Downloads were bound to be in great demand! At least they know what to expect when the service comes to Europe and North America.

What about the downloads in America? I heard it will only apply to USA and maybe Canada. And the rest?

@DarkEdi - Canada and Mexico should have them. Though I'm fairly sure Canada won't see download codes in stores, as there never has been before

This can be taken as good or bad news. Maybe digital is such a big hit that it crashed Nintendo's servers, or maybe Nintendo is unprepared despite Iwata saying it is.

@NintendoMaster Maybe Nintendo should make it account based instead of system based before they try to sell full games on eshop...

@Miroku: Very good point...that is indeed another reason I'll stick with retail.

@Miroku

You're complaining and whining on alot of news posts that you have to buy the game again when you lose it, but thats not the case. If you send your system to Nintendo they will give you your games back. If you lose a game in real life you're probably never going to see it again, so download is in fact safer. Think about it!

Nintendo is not actually the only one underestimating such things. Just look at how gloggy Steam gets everytime they have a huge Summer/Christmas sales.

@Djrr-ific Complaining? I'm simply stating my opinion. It would be better if they just had an account based system instead of all the hard work of sending them your system and waiting for well over a month for it back. I honestly hopes Nintendo fails like sega.

@Miroku

Why would you want companys to fail? Don't you care for their employees? And in the Netherlands it doesn't take alot more than a week you know.. But Nintendo did say they are going to work with account systems on WiiU so they will probably introduce something for 3DS too.. (: They aren't as stupid as everybody thinks they are..

@Djrr-ific I want Nintendo to fail because they're stupid and overall, money-grubbers. The 3DS sucks, it feels so unfinished. I appreciate my GBA SP more than my 3DS.

@Miroku Wow that's harsh, I don't think there money obsesse.

@Miroku
If Nintendo were to fail (and, hate to break it to you, that won't be anytime soon) the game industry would stagnate. Over the decades, innovation in hardware has been almost exclusive to Nintendo. Without them systems would just be more of the same, but with more online and better HD. What's more, they've been responsible for most of the truly revolutionary game elements as well. Nintendo is an important part of the games industry.

Nintendo is no more a money grubber than any other company out there. If you're against Nintendo for wanting money, you must not support Apple or Microsoft either, because they both take greed to new levels. And how about Sony's proprietary memory? And online passes? The world of business is about making money, and compared to other major companies, Nintendo is far from a bunch of "money-grubbers".

Also, I love the 3DS. It's not perfect, but neither was the original GBA. You're comparing the original model of the 3DS to the much improved second model of the GBA. Also, what feels so unfinished about the 3DS?

o look,everyone ones fighting,what else is new.

Also I'm surprised it had problem, I thought digital downloads weren't big in Japan, I'm glad that a lot of people are DLing these games

@TrueWiiMaster Horrible battery life, fake 3D, bad cameras (seriously, you can't take a picture without the whole thing looking grainy), for online, you can't send friends messages, mediocre game lineup, and honestly they should have scrapped the d-pad. Because I now have an unplayable game cough*blazblue*cough

Just saying, a while back Nintendo said they were changing the 3DS account system later this year.

@SuperSonic95 Hopefully they do before NSMB2 comes out

I Support You Nintendo. Physical, that is.

@Miroku NSMB2 is out though, they did say by the time the wiiU will be out, so as long as it doesn't get lost or stolen by nov.
Also how's blaze blue unplayable with a D-Pad? Can't you use the circle pad?

@Miroku

It's not nintendo fault that ARC Systems didn't use the circle pad. The game lineup is looking great to me. You can send messages to friends. The camera is fine for me, it's not nintendos fault you can't take pictures good. The 3d is great.

The only thing I agree with you is the battery life.

@LordOtakWiiU Nah man, d-pad only. The circle pad doesn't work at all, and no, you can't configure controls. So its awkward having one hand at the bottom of the system and the other at the top. Also, I let a friend borrow it before I really got into it, and heres another bummer: you can't delete save files. Pretty much useless. Get street fighter instead.

@SilentHunter382 Yeah, swapnote, that app you have to open to see messages? Not like PSN's messages, which are better.

Right when I thought humanity couldn't get more stupid, life brings us Miroku.

@CerealKiller528 I love you.

That's why I'm still buying the card, so I don't have to take that risk.

@kobe1724 Yeah, most people should go with the cartridge.

@Djrr-ific I know I'm a bit late on this, but there are plenty of people out there who have had certain games in their collections for a really long time, in great working condition at that. It's just as safe, if not safer, in a lot of ways.

An account system would make people feel safer but anyone can make a safe bet that that they will not keep the same games on their servers forever(in case of problems), while a physical game is guaranteed to stay in your possession as long as you take care of it. Are people still unaware of the nightmare that is corrupt SD cards, among others?

I'd also rather have the ability to let friends borrow games, to decide if they want to get their own copy.

Sounds like Nintendo to me. Whenever something big happens, their servers go crazy. Nothing to worry about, though.

@Miroku
"Horrible battery life"
Competitive battery life. The Vita only lasts a little longer, and many smartphones last about the same when in use. It might not be as good as the GBA SP or DS lite, but it's about as good as most other devices out there.

"fake 3D"
How so? The 3D is as real as any 3D video.

"bad cameras"
The 3DS camera isn't much worse than the Vita's. It might even be better based on a comparison IGN did. It doesn't hold a candle against smartphone HD cameras, but it also doesn't cost $400+ without a 2 year contract. Plus, it's one of the only 3D cameras out there. That's pretty cool.

"for online"
The browser on the 3DS, aside from lacking video support, has been great for me. If you're referring to online gaming, then I don't follow. It already has some great online games.

"you can't send friends messages"
Swapnote does that...

"mediocre game lineup"
Really? After the launch period, I haven't noticed any lack of games. Besides, every system takes a little while to build up a good library. They don't just get 40 great games in a year.

"they should have scrapped the d-pad"
Everyone has the D-pad, not just Nintendo, and it's certainly nothing to complain about. Even if one game used it poorly, that's no reason to cut it out. Personally, I prefer to use the good ole fashioned D-pad for side-scrollers.

@Chriiis Be careful, some people like to steal and claim they lost it or something.

@TrueWiiMaster Nah, the battery life is garbage. We live in the year 2012, not 1992 where handhelds were new, large and eaten up batteries like beasts. Plus, the camera is cheap. Not even decent. And really, they should have just scrapped the d-pad instead of having it under. It's extremely awkward to play with one hand at the bottom of the system and the other at the top... really now, what were they thinking. Plus, I like how Nintendo advertises their 3DS to have pop out 3D, when it doesn't do that at all.

Oh nintendo

Miroku, give it a rest already. You are entitled to your opinion and so is everyone else. A lot of people disagree with you, myself included.
Anyways back on topic, I'm not surprised that they had problems, the downloads are bigger than what's normally on the eshop.

It's like a battlefield in here... don't know why I'm surprised though, most news stories on here like these end up with raving lunatics...

I'm not surprised with their servers crashing, Japan probably wanted to see how long it would take to download their games.

@mumof2kids82 Disagree with what?

@Stuffgamer1 I totally agree. I don't mind having cheaper 3DS/DsiWare on my system, but larger titles? That's what cartridges are for!

@grumblegrumble Meh, the game will probably be about 100 MB. Not much...

@Djrr-ific
Just to point something out. Its pretty hard to send your 3DS into Nintendo when something like this happens:
-It was stolen from your car
-You dropped it into a river
In both cases you don't have the 3DS. Let's not go down the "tough, shouldn't have done such silly things" angle...

I know two ambassadors who had the above happen. In both cases Nintendo (of Europe) offered no help whatsoever. In the case of the theft the police report called it a Game Boy and Nintendo refused to believe the police were inaccurate and for the loss there was nothing they could do as they need a police report.

On the other hand I do understand the point that you could be part of a scam if they were to switch accounts or remotely deactivate them (e.g. sell ambassador 3DS then deactive it leaving buyer out of ambassador games). But like most things 3DS that old adge goes..."Proper Planning and Preparation Prevents Piss Poor Performance". In this case the performance is customer care. Not that an account system would be a magic cure by any means...

@Starwolf_UK Would have been stressed if I dropped my 3DS into a river...

"sure-to-be-massive New Super Mario Bros. 2"

Massive in popularity not in file-size, it should be said!

What just happened here? Where did Miroku come from with this garbage? What the heck?

Anyway, I sort of expected this because the same thing happened to NA earlier when they announced the Kingdom Hearts demo in the Nintendo Direct. I'm still going for the digital copy though. I just want to try it out. If I like it, maybe I'll get more full digital games.

@Miroku What are you talking about, haha? The whole 'lend' thing? I only lend out games to good friends whom I trust/let me borrow their games as well/I've known a long time. No problem at all there.

• One friend buys a game they like, while another may find it interesting
• The one with it lets another borrow it/try it
• The one without, if they like the game enough, ends up getting their own copy

That's especially good to get to try out series that you thought you'd never give a try otherwise/probably wouldn't have come across on your own. It's one of the fun things that digital doesn't really allow, unfortunately.

@Miroku

I'm glad at least 1 other use has enough common sense to realize how horrible and risky this service is.

If they had accounts, similar to Steam, there wouldn't be such a massive risk associated with storing hundreds of dollars worth of irreplaceable digital content on a single portable device.

Lose the device? There go every single one of your games. Want to sell your 3DS? You're not getting a dime for your digital purchases.

Stick to carts guys, this is disgraceful.

@warvad I respect you for not coming at me with a pitchfork like some individuals have.

What's the deal with the "loss of or destruction of device" scenarios that mean digital downloads are bad? That's just insane to say that as an UNAVOIDABLE BAD THING. You should take precautions to be certain you don't break or lose your 3DS. And if you do lose your device and "All of your games are gone, too bad" why didn't you back it up like you would with EVERY OTHER DEVICE YOU HAVE? You can just back up what is on the SD card on your computer... Accounts wouldn't matter at all if you just copied the files to your PC and put them on just in case anything went awry. That's how I upgraded to 4GB. Stop trying to diss digital downloads for your carelessness.

@kyuubikid213: please calm down; there's no need for the yelling. without unified accounts being available yet, you can't 'just back up what is on the SD card' — if you tried to insert that SD card into a replacement device, it wouldn't work because it doesn't recognize that particular device as the one it's associated with. a cartridge doesn't care which 3DS it's inserted into, it'll play no matter what, but the SD card in this case would require insertion into the specific 3DS it's linked to.

@Miroku: Funny you should mention the size! Reports show that NSMB2 is about 370 MB!

@Miroku About that "unplayable" game comment. Blazblue is one of my favourite games on the 3DS and I have no trouble playing it whatsoever (I'm pretty good too). In fact, I've gotten used to the d-pad placement and I like it better than the DSi

@Mr_LztheBleh Yeah, I was wrong. I just checked and nothing a microsd and an adapter can't fix..

@SMEXIZELDAMAN I like street fighter more. blazblue is a mess, sorry but it is...

An account-based system is desperately needed, and with Club Nintendo it should be easy. Seriously.

EDIT: Seems someone edited my post. Welp, whatever. Ironic how said users posts are allowed to stand still though.

@rayword45 ikr, they already have club nintendo and linking.

@rayword45: please check out this topic, and if you still have any questions, let me know.

I have spent about £100 on VC and DSiWare games. How is that different to downloading a retail game? A game three times the length of Shantae at three times the cost. Is that a problem?

Should people not download anymore VC, DSiWare and 3DSWare games just because you 'may' one day lose/break your 3DS, you can't sell those downloadable games or let someone else play them on their machine?

@Bass_X0 Yeah, they should stop. Because they should have accounts from the start. It's a freaking no brainer! forbid But if anything were to happen to your 3DS or Wii, you're gonna wish there was an account system so you could at least get your downloaded games back.

@Miroku, while I won't be buying my games digitally (mainly for the reasons you listed), I'll have to disagree with the sentiment that the 3DS has a "mediocre game lineup".

I know some have lashed out at you, but you're not going to stop them by being just as vicious. IMO, you're not doing a very good job of taking after your avatar, who was always the voice of reason on that show

@RR529 They do have a mediocre game lineup. Come on, their most popular games are N64 ports and games without storymodes coughmariotennisopencough...

@Miroku: One man's mediocre is another man's 'hey, i want to play those games'... you can't speak for everyone.

@Starwolf_UK I know of an ambassador in Switzerland which's 3DS had been stolen. She bought a new 3DS and Nintendo reimburced all digital downloads, incl. Ambassador games.

@kyuubikid213 Mishaps always happen though. Just like you said, it is your responsibility. 'You' are the pretty much the key to whether or not you'll have the games a long time, you're in control basically. However, with digitals, since they aren't physically in your posession themselves, without actual accounts it would be a nightmare if one of those bad scenarios were to pop up.

@Bass_X0 You just answered your own question there, haha. One retail game is basically $40(new) on average while you can get numerous regular digitals for that price. That being said, they aren't as much of an issue there to some.

Trust me, if a lot of the ones I own had physical copies, I would have gotten them as such.

@ZueriHB Seems like she was lucky.

I'm definitely gonna download as many titles as possible. In fact, I think I might just download most of my titles from now on. This article makes me hope Nintendo will improve its eShop servers, though, as it'll be annoying if the eShop keeps crashing whenever a major title is released. But I think they can handle it, and the eShop'll work just fine when NSMB2 is released worldwide.

I would go download only, if the games had a massive discount. Its only code, no cart, box, no getting it to the shops, no middle man taking his cut. So 50% discount is more than fair!

@dirtyplastic There is no discount for digital downloads. Can you believe they're charging $40 for the digital download and they don't even have an account system up! oh and there will be tax too

@miroku It's terrible, so if i'm paying £40 i want something I can hold! £20 is still to much, but I would be tempted.

Yeah you had to buy the ac plug extra...... most shops gave you one, but nintendo did not put one in the box..... but I knew that and still gave them my cash hee hee.

@dirtyplastic Now they need to explain why the XL allegedly has better battery life than the original.

@Sony_70 - "Oh Nintendo"? They briefly had some server problems, and then they fixed it. Yeah, Nintendo really are hopless...they should follow Sony's sterling efforts with their infallable PSN!

@miroku It does have better battery life, but you cant charge it to prove the fact!

@Miroku The battery life isn't very good compared to the DS, but compared to other comparable devices, it's competitive. It's not above and beyond what's out there, but it's far from trailing behind. In other words, this is 2012, not 2004, when battery life lasted upwards of 5 hours standard. These days devices are meant to be used up and charged almost daily.

As for the camera, I bought a game system with a camera, not a camera with a video game system. The camera works fine, and like I said before, might even be better than the Vita's.

Just because you don't like the D-pad doesn't mean it shouldn't be there. Some people prefer it for use in old/side-scrolling games even if you don't.

The 3DS does have pop-out 3D... It's not in every game because, thankfully, not every developer has tried to shoehorn it in. It's not for every game. In some games it would be more a pain than anything else. It works great in Starfox (meteors flying toward you) and can also be seen in some of the AR games that were included with the 3DS. Besides, 3D doesn't have to pop out of the screen to be "true 3D". The added depth looks amazing in some games. I particularly liked it in Sakura Samurai, where it both helped gameplay and looked incredible.

Oh, and by mediocre line-up are you excluding Mario Kart 7, Kid Icarus, Mario 3D Land, Kingdom Hearts, and RE: Revelations? Not to mention Paper Mario, New Super Mario Bros 2, Luigi's Mansion, Epic Mickey, and Castlevania coming soon...

@theblackdragon Sorry for yelling ... I just thought you would be able to put the files on the computer and plug it in another 3DS...guess Nintendo thought that would be too easy for pirates to manipulate.

I know that accidents happen, but they aren't omnipresent and unavoidable. By taking certain precautions, you wouldn't have to worry about your system being stolen or broken.

I cant wait for Wii U and New super Mario Bros 2!

I CANT WAIT!

D:

@kyuubikid213 It's not just about being broken/stolen. Anyone can make a safe bet that, somewhere down the line, all of the games currently available(the ones that will be available during the 3DS' life) will probably no longer be available for download.

Without an account based system and them being stuck with one 3DS, once they're gone, most of them will likely stay gone. Hoping Nintendo can prove me wrong there and keep all of them up(for those who will go digital), as we have yet to see a full library available in this way. Even then, you have no control over servers and if a problem arises, you'll probably have to wait to get certain games back(in the case of something happening).

I'm not saying that digital is 100% unsafe though, I'm pretty much saying that I feel A LOT safer having physical copies of my games so I am guaranteed to have them for a long time, since they're actually with me and I take care of them.

Go all digital if you feel the need to, I'll be staying with physical.

On top of that, I like to borrow games from/lend games to friends, so we all can try out games we probably wouldn't have paid much attention to/didn't think we'd like but felt like trying. We always end up getting our own copies of said games if we like them enough. That's something that digital lacks.

Can't wait to DL NSMB2, AC3D, Paper Mario SS, Luigis Mansion DM, and many many more

@Miroku very true my dsi broke and when i got xl had t purchase everything all again

I'm buying the physical copy. Then I can play it on several 3DS systems, can loan it to a friend, or resell it if i were so inclined. It's a no-brainer for me.