Talking Point: The Download or Disc Dilemma

I am oldschool so I still need my boxes, discs and printed manuals Old fashioned, outdated, etc... they all apply, but what can you do? I'm just that way, it's much easier for younger gamers have no need for such futile physical needs. I just hope we keep living in a industry that offers both choices.

Never downloaded before but I'm going to try it for luigis mansion 2, cos I'll have to get it later on :/

I downloaded MH3 because I know I'll spend 100+ hours playing, If there's no real price disadvantage, I'd rather have digitally, because I'm worried the lens won't take it. Other than that, I prefer physical.

I'll download eshop-only titles, smaller games, VC games, etc, but full-on 20GB+ retail titles seem like a pain, especially if then it's locked to my console and I cannot even lend it to a friend.

The reason why the software downloads are restricted to the console is to prevent hackers from stealing paid contents.

You can add that you can't play a game you downloaded on your own console on a friends. With a disc you just pop it in the box and shove it in your bag.

I still buy CDs, DVDs, Blu-Ray, and paper books (and the ocassional vinyl). I also still buy my games in physical from (unless it's impossible).

I'm currently on the fence about downloading MH3U or searching desperatly for a physical copy, but i doubt i will find one around here (Mexico).
Althrough, like most of you guys, i prefer to have a copy on my hands

If the game has online multiplayer and/or I'm never going to sell it, I may as well download it. This only really works on 3DS since the SD card is cheap to upgrade.

Used prices and sales make it cost-prohibitive, though.

I like boxes but I can't find many retail titles outside of Mario games. As someone who would have to import, downloads are definitely cheaper. I, for one, buy a retail title for about 30% cheaper digitally than if I were to import titles and pay for tracked shipping and customs. Furthermore, I dread losing my game during shipping - you'd have no one to hold responsible and there is little guarantee that you'd be reimbursed for the same.

I believe more people would go digital if Nintendo would just tie games to an account instead of the system.

Can't say that downloading retail games has ever crossed my mind, but after reading this, the fact that they are £10 more expensive...I'll be sticking with boxes, thanks.

Although I can see the benefits. Maybe if Lego City goes on sale, I'll download that...that is, if I can wait that long!

I'm tempted to download LMDM, but I already reached Platinum status on Club Nintendo so I pre-ordered it. It's probably already shipped because it's getting here on Wednesday. Anyway, I would just get discs for the Wii U, but I don't really want my room being even more full of game boxes. I may just get a 1 TB HDD and download the things I want

I still only download games when they are download only. If it is a retail game I actually want to have the box because of a collector's mentality, not because I plan on selling it. I also like that it gives me the impression that I actually own the game, and can lend it to a friend. The Nintendo Digital Deluxe promotion helps some with the pricing discrepancies, but the entire industry needs to figure out an even better way to make download more attractive if they want us to make that switch (hint: it's pretty much all about the price and being screwed out of real ownership).

I'm also much more comfortable downloading from Sony where my purchases are tied to my account and not to a single system. Fixing this would help Nintendo a lot in this area.

If there's a game I'm going to play frequently, or one that I know I won't want to trade in, then I'll purchase the digital copy. But this is made very hard in Australia where store sale prices are often much less than the RRP that it sells for on the eShop. Nintendo either needs to give a discount on the digital version of lower RRP's to give retailers less wiggle room (and make digital purchases more fair).

Having a stack of physical copies is wonderful. Its so nice to look over and see all the side labels of your games. It depends on the game though, if I'm never going to sell it, I might just download it, because its going to be a game that I absolutely love. And that means faster loading times.

I should mention, I've been stuck at home due to a foot injury. So I couldn't go anywhere or do anything but play video games, so I bought Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate on the eShop. My loading times are much faster than the people I play with on disc. I find myself getting to the equipment box first when playing online and changing maps much faster. Its nice

It just wasn't designed to do such things. The HDDs are but WiiU and the way it handles all this is pathetic. This prices they charge to download are bloody stupid.
I like my WiiU and its fine coating of dust will be blown away when Chase arrives but even with a time machine, Nintendo would still be left behind. They just don't get it like the others do.

Shame.

There are too many downsides to buying digital - I'd never do it unless I had no other option or the digital download was considerably cheaper. I'm not lazy enough that changing game becomes an issue, I'm not someone who loses or damages his games, and eShop discounts never come close to what prices you can get from used games in great condition.

I also wouldn't be willing to give up the option of loaning and reselling games for at least 50% of the price once I'm done with them. I save space on my consoles for download exclusives at the moment. Download-only games are the future, but the format has to be right. On PC I buy all my games digitally - but that's because services like steam offer 75% off sales regularly on hundreds of good games.

My approach is simple: digital for titles I love, such as Zelda; physical for games I don't see myself keeping forever. I don't shy away from download-only titles either, especially after my two favorite games in 2021 being digital titles. Both approaches have advantages but sometimes digital is better since i don't have to deal with Gamestop, especially on titles that they won't get in if there are no preorders and preorders are not available since the title is under their pricing threshhold.

The most vulnerable part of current consoles is the disc-drive, which is also the most expensive piece to repair/replace. I do whatever I can to minimize use of it. Last year, my backwards compatible PS3 had a Blu Ray drive failure. It was cheaper to trade in the old system and buy a new one than to have it repaired. Thanks to the wonders of digital, I easily downloaded my older titles and went on with my day. In fact, if I had more digital titles, the drive's death would have been a non-issue.

For the record, I'm an old-school gamer. I was in college during the 16-bit era.

The way DRM is linked to the console actually makes downloading more attractive if you own a HDD.
By not using discs your reducing wear on the optical disc drive, which is what usually fails on consoles. HDD failures are rare, and most Quality HDD come with a 2/3 Year warranty.
If you HDD fails the drm rights are un-effected as your still using the original console, even though your using replacment HDD.

I always compare prices to retail and if theres not much of a difference in cost I'll go for the download, taking into account of convenience of not having to go to the shop, Not having to swap discs when changing games (perfect for when in bed) and the optical drive wear saving as a counter for a small cost increase on eStore.

I think things will keep moving that way and I'm open to it. I play mostly download only indie games on xbox and eshop sometimes, but the retail ones are just really big. Storage is cheap now so I don't think theres any excuse for not having big internal storage at least as an option. Also Nintendo needs to start offering their VC titles for REALLY cheap, like app store prices and it'll encourage generally more shopping for the big newer stuff on the shop. It's not that people won't pay good money for good new games, it's that there are still a LOT of people that just aren't connected to anything "E" at all because they don't get that it's all the same content; really. WE get it but the budget conscious consumer just isn't with all that yet and they need to be walked into it with freebies. I know it sounds dumb but it works. Classic Nintendo games already have better appeal than many new ios games so they need to leverage that hard and fast, but it seems their not willing to. They still want the the quick nickel over the slow dime, but times are changing. They have all this golden candy, ready to go, and they're just holding on to it hoping to sell these new $50 games all by themselves; there are too many other cheaper options to choose from to just hope people want a new HD mario at full price Download OR retail. the download needs to have MORE content and a RANGE of prices all the way down to 1$ or free. that would get everyone downloading a lot.

I will never download a retail title. I'd rather have the option of reselling or giving away a game than have it only exist as a digital file.

I do find the mention of a "dying breed" interesting though. I can easily see a download only future, because the newer generation is growing up around downloading games, and for whatever reason they don't see the problem in not being able to lend a game to a friend or having the game tied to one console.

@Nilcam I find it interesting when you say you will download a game when it is a game you are positive you are going to love, like the new Zelda. Because I am the complete opposite. I definitely want to feel like I actually own the new Zelda so I would buy the disc. But that's exactly what I'm talking about I think that's the new generation's mentality.

3DS: Download

Wii U: Disc

Personally with the 3DS games I love to play on the go with a normal console and enjoy them on a XL at home.
Since digital doesn't allow to move the game between hardwares as long as I can I go with the boxed ones. Code of Princess, like the e-shop titles, is a rare case where I have no choice and then go digital.

I don't have a WiiU and so I can hardly judge, but I see that less as a problem since normally you tend to own just one console and play at home.

Of course, as the article point out, there are much more things to consider like prices, limited editions and so on, pointless I repeat them, but I would lie if I say I never considered such aspects too when buying a game.

There's a dilemma? Please.

Nintendo isn't trying to compete with anyone. They made the option of retail downloads:

1) to give the consumer another choice and
2) to give the developers another option.

People have a tendency to compare, so it's only obvious that the [NLife] people will compare Nintendo Network and eShop to Xbox Live and Playstation Network.

So far I've only downloaded demos on 3DS and Wii U and purchased the odd eShop exclusive game. Top titles on the eShop are horribly overpriced on release week and only drop in price when all general interest is dead (I'm looking at you OOT, I bought you on release day- grr).

I only go truly digital for iOS games for the simple reason that I can share my purchases between my two iThings and the games are generally cheaper than the physical versions (when they exist).

Point in hand Angry Birds Trilogy costs almost £40 for the 3DS game but less than £10 (with change) on iOS/android and has free demos. Not forgetting (one of my new favourite games) Ghost Trick costs £20 odd to buy on DS but only £8 on iOS AND has extra features and free "try before you buy".

I love collecting physical games but it's all about making the money go further these days.

I fall under the "collector" category in that I want a robust library of solid games. But, I'm also in my mid-Thirties so I don't want a bookshelf full of game cases; It's just not practical or aesthetically pleasing. So, as I prepare to trade in my massive Wii library, I can confidently say I've gone digital all the way. It even annoys me that Nintendo Land is a disk.

Plus, I love turning on my Wii U and being able to click on what I decide to play without having it be a task in itself.

honestly i prefer physical to digital i like the feeling of holding the game in my hands it makes me feel like i own it

I'm fine with downloads. I just think they need to take into account that there is no resale value. So, if you can pre-order a new game for £30 (which you usually can), you can also assume you'll be able to sell it on for at least £10. So, all in all, I really think £20 is the right price for retail downloads.

I'll echo what @Geonjaha said. I'm full digital on my PC with a ton of Steam games. But I'm not touching digital retail for consoles or handhelds.

@Majin-Naruto
Thank God you're talking about games there!

I download as many 3DS games as I can since SD cards are relatively cheap and the downloads are pretty quick overall. I'm on the fence for Wii U games since the downloads are so much bigger.

This talking point really comes at the right time.
Seeing as I vastly prefer boxed games with the manuals and for all the reasons you mensioned, it's strange as I saw myself downloading this weekend Assassin's Creed III as part of the sale and also to experiment a download retail game for the first time.
First of all let me say that the prices of the retail downloads aren't very atractive and that's one of the main problems to me, but the fact that the download of Assassin's Creed III took almost 8hours and ended up filling up the memory of my Wii U is enough to validate my stance on this matter. So I'll keep doing as always, going digitally only for the Indy and VC games and buying the boxed retail games.

prices. i expect a digital version to be at the very least 10% less than the cheapest boxed copy and on super fast servers. on pc i am all digital because storage space isn't an issue and steam is a cloud based service not tied to a particular machine.

if i get a digital game on the wii U it is locked to one machine, costs more AND i have to have to sort out external storage. so where it's an option, discs all the way. funny because digital is more convenient, loading times, no disc drive spinning up noises.

brand new NSMBU is £30 from zavvi/hut right now. eshop - £50.

I don't have a real issue with downloading. I've gotten games from Steam before. (also Gog.com is great because of no drm) When it comes to a €30+ game though I like to have a physical copy.

I don't have a Wii U but I have bought a few games from the eShop (Pushmo, Freakyforms) but I haven't bought any games where I could have gotten a physical copy instead.

Some downloads, but if i have the option of retail or download, i'll go for retail. I like having the physical copy just in case my 3DS goes kaput. When i had my DSi i had a couple of DSiWare games on it and lost them all when i went in to trade for my 3DS. Not happening again with my 3DS. So if nintendo releases another handheld, i may not get it right away...too much downloaded stuff i have on my 3DS to just loose. It be another thing if nintendo had a way to save it in the cloud to just transfer over to the new system...

This is a really weird subject for me, just because with a lot of things I am totally fine with the idea of digital-only copies, but with video games I'm still attached to the box and cartridges. The main disadvantage to this for me is just that I have to wait a day or two to get games instead of getting them right at midnight on release day.

1. used game
2. new retail game
3. download with major pricecut

@Tsuchiya - Haha, nice one.

I dont download full retail games.i usually buy big releases even though I wouldn't consider myself a collector.i guess I jist like how they look on the shelf only games I download from the eshop are games I caant get on hard copy. Sofar I got T2, Runner 2, switchforce.so indie games ill download.

I go digitally for pc gaming but I go retail for consoles (unless there is a sale that is too good i.e RE: Mercenaries).

My belief is that "if you can't hold it, you don't own it." So yeah, I try to avoid downloads as much as possible.

Limited Hard Drive space keeps me from doing retail downloads. I did get a 32 gb sd card for my 3ds just for Animal Crossing

I choose digital or retail based entirely on the game. If it's a big-name title that I know I'll play a lot and want to play years from now, like Fire Emblem, Animal Crossing, or even Smash Bros., I'll buy it retail, because I've always taken very good care of my cartridges and disks. But if it's a game that I'll probably only play occasionally when I'm bored, like Mario Kart 7 or PilotWings Resort, I buy digitally.

I try to go digital. I take care of my consoles so I don't have to worry about breaks/losses(I would know how to deal with it even if it did occur), there's no one to lend games to, Deluxe Digital Promotion, no swiching discs, sometimes faster loading, etc. I have tons of ext. HDD memory, and the limitations of the account in general really don't affect me.
I have Nintendo Land on disc because it was free, and COD on disc because that's the only way I could get it.
The Ubisoft deal shows there can be deals, but games don't usually get sales for a long time anyway. Alot of people are getting games online even cheaper than retail most of the time, which takes days to get delivered vs. downloading(hours).
This is just my stance on the the debate.

I prefer a physical game over a digital one when it comes to current retail, but I have 2 downloaded to my 3DS. I got Crosswords Plus because of the DKOE promotion (and I will say I got my money's worth for giving it a go), and I got Paper Mario Sticker Star because at Christmas, every store was sold out, so I settled for an eShop card instead. I will say too, that digital depends on the game - Crosswords Plus works great because I can do a puzzle at any given time without need of a cartridge. Other games, like Sticker Star, might not work so well when they take up a pretty sizable amount of an SD card.

I refuse to download retail games from the eShop.

1) Gamestop is within walking distance of my work. Downloading a game can take up to an hour. Nobody has time for that tedious wait. And here in NA, the prices at GS are the same as eShop so there's no advantage pricewise in going with a download over retail
2) Soon I will have a 3DS XL to add to my exisiting 3DS. Keeping a physical copy of the game allows me to play it on either handheld. Why continue to play games on my original, smaller 3DS? If I want to continue to 'game at work' it's going to be with my black, smaller 3DS. Less conspicious. The XL looks like a Fisher Price toy, lol.
3) I have never damaged or broken any cartridge or game disc ever in my 20+ years of gaming. I think I've got this "let's not break our stuff" rule down to an art.
4) THIS HAS HAPPENED waaaaaaay too many times for me to even think about downloading a retail game from the eShop. Seriously....Marvel Pinball 3D, MadDog McCree, Metal Gear Solid 3 demo, plus other games have crashed and forced me to reboot on numerous occassions. I'm not risking a $39.99 downloaded game doing this to me.
5) I'm oldschool and boxes/discs/manuals are the only way to go!!!!

EDIT: I listen to the CD's that I bought everyday in my car.........along with listening to the RADIO!

Physical all the way!

Like on PSN, eshop prices for retail games are absurd!!!, who is going to pay on average £10 more than you can buy from the retailers??. To be honest it's a double edged sword if full retail games were cheaper on eshop then retailers wouldn't like this and it would give them something else to moan about!! with the possibility of not supporting Nintendo with shelve space.
But as apple have proved on IOS, people will download digital content if it's the right price ( it also helps that you can't get IOS games anywhere else other than ITunes)
I plan to download digital content, just not full retail games for reasons described above.
I also think Nintendo have to alter Nintendo network account to the individual and not the console.

i prefer retail, at least as long as the account is tied to the unit. if nintendo ever wises up and ties to account to the owner, then i may change my mind.

the only game i will probably download is AC:NL as it is a game i want on my 3DS XL all the time as it's that type of game.

After many years of collecting boxes, I'm starting to see that there is just too much stuff piling up. Especially after changing apartment a couple of times!
So yeah, I mostly download games now. And I really like the convenient of just having the game ready on the WiiU to boot up.
And the Nintendo Premium thingy helps a bit on the price

Lets face it, Next-box/Ps4 are the last consoles that will utilize disc media for Sony/MS
As for Nintendo, If they release a new console in about 4/5 years time then possibly that will run disc media but it could possibly be the WiiU is the last Nintendo console to use disc media.

Shops will be there to by retro/older consoles/games, gaming merchandise, Accessories, xbl/psn/eStore credit and games that will be sold as a download code.

@Dazza One disadvantage you forgot: with digital games, you can no longer let anybody borrow your game without letting them borrow your entire system, which is a huge hassle. It'd be cool if they had some kind of "borrowing" system with digital games that would allow your friends to play a game on their system for a certain amount of time. Probably won't happen, but until it does, I'm sticking with retail. goes back to Runner2

I only use the 3ds eshop for VC games, and based on the poll it seems that not many people have gone fully digital, I'm just so used to getting the physical copy.

I usually dont purchase full retail games digitaly but I'll give it a try with Animal Crossing: New Leaf. Being able to play that anytime fast and easy seems perfect.

need for speed, tanktanktank, little inferno, f-zero and tekken -> downloaded

I have instagames!

Here we go again.........Well I swore up and down I would never Download a single title over a year ago. Well how times have changed! I have downloaded some very good software that I wouldn't have been able to get on Cartridge. ATV Wild Ride, Picdun 2, Bloody Vampire, Witches Cat, Reel Fishing 3d Mini, Wild Adventures Deer Hunt, Gunman Clive, 3d Game collection, Anonymous Notes Chapter 1 through 3 - From The Abyss, Crimson Shroud, Nightsky, Cave Story, The Denpamen, Outdoors Unleashed Africa, Colors 3d etc etc. Not unhappy with any of the games I have downloaded but.......I still prefer cartridge if I can get it

I go physical as much as I possibly can.

I'm a big game collector (If you don't believe me, check my Backloggery. ), and I've always had a love for those boxed copies you can get on the shelf. Truth be told though, there are some advantages, especially for 3DS. Having them all on the system like the article said is much more convenient. But with convenience comes the cost of not being able to let a friend borrow it, or a sibling not being able to play it without having to let them use your console. (Which I hate to do, since I'm very conscientious about my handhelds.)

Then there are the added incentives with finding the physical game really cheap a year or more down the line, and the ability to trade in a rotten one. I'm just going to continue down the physical path for the most part now, until I can't anymore.

I've yet to purchase a downloadable only game. I may well do so in future but I just don't see the value. Savings are not being passed onto the consumer when compared to buying a boxed product.

I'd only DL a retail game onto my new 2TB harddrive if it was on sale and obviously appealed to me and/or family. Downloaded 3 titles from the recent sale. Just Dance 4 was 15GB so took over a day to DL with intermet connection and Wii OS issues! Also, the need to introduce a tool (like they are with the 3DS) to allow u to use your disc saves in any DL of the same game. Good example is Tank Tank Tank.

"if there is a sale I might"
...and I actually will with RE:Mercenaries!!!

On 3DS, I prefer to download to SD Card, for convenience. On Wii U, I prefer to buy retail games, but I still use the hell out of eShop. Most of my games are from eShop. I can see a time in near future though where I would download a retail game if it was a small download, like 2-4gb. There is no way in hell I'm downloading a 20gb game though.

I am surprised that so many people come on here to bash Nintendo about their system and the way they handle things. If you're really unhappy, sell the damn thing. That is the only way for you to send them a message that you don't like their product. Coming on some internet forum to bitch about it isn't going to get change, you need to hit them where it hurts, bank accounts.

That said, there are things I don't like about how they do things, but the one thing I do know is Nintendo Customer Service will do everything & anything to address your situation should you have an issue.

I wouldn't trust Microsoft or Sony with my toaster, let alone my game machine

if we all downloaded games, we wouldn't see the angry video game nerd's basement game collection. instead it would be a bunch of consoles with patched up releases of games sold as DLCs when they were just incomplete. lame.

Fully digital since NSMB2, though some very delicious Collector's Editions might make me slip in the future.

I'm absolutely for retail games. Yes, the colorful box, the manual and all.
I would only buy digital copies of games if they were a whole lot cheaper, and I mean like 75% off. That way it might be worth it, but I'd still think about it a lot.

I just don't see any advantage at all of digital copies.

Only download what I can't get at the store!

Personally, I prefer the touch, the smell of the physical copies, the fact that I own them. However, since I'm in my mid-twenties and soon enough a family man, nowdays I try to sell all my physical copies and replace them/buy the new games digitally. It will be easier when the kid arrives, plus my wife is happier if my games are on my console and not everywhere in the house.

I adore the getting retail games.
I love seeing the game boxes and I'm like "Oh hey! I remember when I got that!"
I like that feeling.

Other than Nintendo Land, which came with the system, I only have downloaded games. I think I'll stick to it, as long as the sales keep coming. I bought Sonic Racing because it was only 40 bone and I picked up AC3 during the Ubisoft sale. The Premium discount adds more incentive. I don't really buy many games, so this is a good system for me. And if I want something that I think might not be very good or received mixed reviews, I'll buy a used physical copy.

@Squiggle55 Except I'm not part of the new generation. I've owned a console in every generation starting with the Atari 2600. With the advent of digital and the difficulty of dealing with Gamestop and having no other alternative, I'm pretty open to non-physical copies of games. I also don;t need the bulk of a gaming collection. I've even gotten into the habit of selling classic games that I now own through digital services.

Losing stuff forever is the big worry for me - if my 3DS is lost, corrupted, stolen etc then I'd worry about losing all of the games I'd downloaded.
Always feel a bit safer with a physical copy, though that may not be justified.

I download cheap games. I want to buy a 3DS XL and download some of my games to the new system and leave some on the old system for my son. I can't do this and that's why I don't buy a 2nd system and why I don't buy expensive digital games. I bought Fire Emblem digitally and I regret it because I can't move it to a 3DS XL that I want to buy but can't because of Nintendo's policy. Nintendo loses sales, pirates continue to pirate. I lose, Nintendo loses, pirates shrug.

I will only get Wii U games at retail because;
1. I am a collector.
2. A safer purchase as I take good care of my games.
3. I can take it to a friends house.
Keep in mind i have no issues with downloading indie games, as I have actually just recently gotten in to them. Runner 2 is my favorite Wii U game yet.

The 3DS is a different matter. I was previously a retail only 3DS owner, but I was forced into getting Fire Emblem, due to supply shortage. While I still prefer retial 3DS cartridges, I now realize that I can have whatever cartridge I am playing, in addition to the downloaded Fire Emblem game I have at all times, thus getting rid of the need for me to carry all my games around on a long trip. I still buy retail, but for 3DS downloading at least looks a little enticing.

With Nintendo's system?
No. I never will touch retail games with Nintendo's digital download service until they fix their awful awful "locked to a system" purchases to the more common "account-based" purchases.

I only download if I already have the money from my eshop card but other than that I prefer discs/cartridges

I'll only buy Mario Kart through the eShop but I'd buy more if they were £10 cheaper.

Nintendo games keep their value so well that it almost makes no sense to buy a more expensive digital copy when owning the disc is like having a £20 exchange voucher for when you're done with the game.

I don't think people "collect" CDs as often anymore but they do collect vinyls so maybe video games should go back to cartridges? The hard copy era is dying out but it'll be a sad day in many ways as we'll lose a lot of content to the ether without the hard copies. If the Xbox 720 is always online install only but PS4 is hard copy plus used games, we're sure as hell going to see people vote for what they want this gen! i like that Nintendo by and large is still relatively simple, you pop in the disc and it just works kind of company. I'm appreciating that even more this gen with Wiiu!

Having all games easily available is great, but i'm running out of space too quickly. Looking for a good compatible ssd which doesn't need powersupply

I will only make digital purchases if that specific game is more suited to it. Games that I know I will always come back to, games that are great in short bursts or games that are easy to get back into having not played it for a considerable amount of time.
That's why for me, digital will only work for my 3DS, but I have come across another problem as of late. I've noticed that my 3DS retail games all have amazing boxes, and the upcoming games follow suit so it's becoming even harder for me to buy digital or retail. Another problem came to light recently and that was games from the same series. I have all the boxes of the Professor Layton games from the DS, so I couldn't bare the thought of breaking that trend when it came to the Miracle Mask. Therefore I bought it via retail.

However, that isn't the case for the Wii U. It's a home console, it's not going anywhere and I like having those boxes with their fantastic artwork also I have the space to store many games so I'm happy. What I used to like most when it came to buying games were the manuals, they had a good thickness, very easy on the eye, had great drawings of the characters & locations and a nice summary of the story (not all the time) but this isn't the case anymore as the world is constantly shifting towards protecting the environment. I'm still thankful for digital manuals I also make sure to read them, even though I may not need it, I just like to keep that tradition going.

Having said all of that, at the end of the day, it's a joy to look at your collection of gorgeous games on a well maintained shelf. Digital can never do that for me

I'm a huge fan of digital releases in theory. I buy a lot on steam, and have bought quite a bit through Xbox Live, and would have bought even more through PSN if I had a PS3. I don't buy physical books or movies or music on disc anymore, and the amount of space you save is wonderful, along with the convenience of having it easily available on pretty much any device.

Nintendo have a lot of catching up to do though. The prices are too high, and the lack of a unified, cloud-based account makes it really hard to go digital only on Wii U. If they can get their account infrastructure closer to Apple, then I'd happily forgo disc-based games.

@Hardy83
You mean an account system like sonys where they're not going to let you access any of your PS3 downloads on your PS4? Yeah, that seems so much better than Nintendos approach of transferring everything.

As I have reiterated hundreds of times before, I will only ever go digital if prices are below that of physical copies. Why should I have to pay the full retail RRP when the cost manufacturing of discs/carts with boxes and instructions and shipping is eliminated? Even with same day first class delivery with new games on Amazon, physical games are almost always cheaper than the respective downloads.

If they lower the price to a reasonable level, fine by me, I'll download a retail game now and again. But until that happens, no thank you.

I prefer boxed games but if the prices were better I surely buy digitals too.
Thanks to the stupid region lock I'll download Code of Princess. And thanks to its low price it's likely that RE Mercenaries will follow.

@BradPJ Amen.

I recently bought a 3DS XL and have eShopped the following games: Fire Emblem Awakening, Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon, and Mario's Picross. I qualified for the XL promotion so I got Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask from the eShop for free.

I won't consider buying a Wii U until customers can transfer their eShop games to a new console themselves (like we can with the 3DS), without having to send the console to Nintendo. Having to send the console to Nintendo to transfer licenses is industry-trailing B.S.

I prefer the physical copy my games. The only reason I would digital download a game is if I can't get it physically.

I buy physical if possible. I like my collection and digital prices are often unreasonable compared to physical. I may make exceptions with PC only games on steam. I also buy CDs if the are easy enough to obtain and I want the entire album.

It really depends for me. Most of my music is downloaded (preferrably DRM-free), though I'll get CDs if I go to a concert, get a freebie from a newspaper, or am looking for a specific local band. My movies are physical discs, unless they're CC-licensed or Public Domain, in which case I download. My books are either downloaded (Gutenberg.org) or come from the library. For games, I prefer physical copies, though I'm open for downloads if there is a deal going or it's an eShop exclusive.

Well I already downloaded NSMB 2 and Paper Mario (and a LOT of eshop games) on my 3ds, so I pretty much have to buy retail now. But I have been downloading on Wii U.

No dilema for me other than the eShop only indie games I'm still very much disc only for several reasons;

Price - Disc based games are considerably cheaper in many cases
Sell on/Trade in - If I buy a game I don't like or finish a game I won't play through again I can sell it on or trade it in towards another game
DRM - Games locked to console not account makes it difficult if your system breaks etc.
Internet connection - Living in a rural area my connection speed isn't great plus I have download limits just one single retail game would eat into most of that
Release - Pre-ordered games often arrive in the post the day before release and before its available on the eShop

And thats just the reasons that popped immediately into my head no doubt I could think of more if actually trying. At this point in time there is no real reason for me to give up games on disc. Sure thats just me personally and downloads may suit other people's needs but at this stage its hard to see much benefit to buying the download other than the lack of noise from the disc drive, but then the Wii U has possibly the quietest disc drive of any console ever so even thats a hard sell.

I'm really wondering if I should have downloaded Monster Hunter on the Wii U, but at £10 more than retail it doesn't make it easy! I'm happy to get alot of the smaller eShop games on 3DS and Wii U, but don't find making the jump to the bigger games as easy.

Download games should be around a tenner or less. Doesn't matter if they're also disc titles. Paying 19.99 for a download title is bad, 49.99 or 59.99 is just ridiculous. Plenty of overpriced games in the download space.

Boxed games for me.

I buy both physical copies and digital downloads. It really depends on the game. For example, I'm going to get Animal Crossing: New Leaf through the eShop because I know I'll play that game all the time. On the other hand, I bought Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon as a physical copy because I really wanted that box. It just depends for me.

As for the Wii U games, so far it's always been physical, because I currently don't have an external harddrive for the thing. I have a USB SD card reader, but that's still too little for, say, Lego City Undercover. 22 GB? That's practically a whole Wii U Deluxe's system memory. Forget it. I'll be buying physical discs for the time being. I do wish all digital games were a bit cheaper, but then again in California I have to pay state tax if I buy a physical copy, so... I guess I can rest somewhat?

@Linkstrikesback
Exactly. There's no guarantee PS4 will even be BC at all with digital past purchases. They probably won't even let PS4 owners 'share' accounts anymore.

Wii U has an updated user interface whether people can see that or not. There's definitely better ways to do things, but we're not there yet. Looking at other companies ways of handling a 'problem' or 'feature' as small as this and expecting the same standard across the whole industry completely ignores they are different companies in the first place.

I prefer Disc with Nintendo. For the time it takes me to drive to the store and back to pick up the game is nothing compared to the download time. However with PC I digital is great! On Steam I can pre load and they have tons of discounts. If the eshop becomes more like steam then i will do digital!

Depends on the cost.

However, I have been buying up Virtual Console games that I already own the retail release off and then selling the cartridge. However, I don't need to own NES games on 3DS that I have already downloaded on Wii Virtual Console.

Download for a HIGHER price?? No, thanks!

I'm all about digital downloads. I wasn't for a while, including movies, but it's so convenient and there's less clutter in the house. I'm also entirely keen on not having to swap discs. Had enough Assassin's Creed III? Start up LEGO City: Undercover, without getting up off the couch. I never traded in games anyway, and even though you could get good deals on used games, the games I really really want easily get full priced payment from me.

I would have easily bought Mass Effect 3 and Black Ops II if they were both available in the eShop, but noooooo.

For me, if it's Wii U, I go physical. The 3DS will be digital from this point on for me since it is portable and having all games on one SD card is much more convenient for travel.

To me, it's a waste to dish out an incredible amount of money to buy USB sticks. It may be slightly more comfortable to access a game by one tap of the game pad, but it's not difficult to get up, and put a disc in. In fact, I love getting up and inserting discs with those nice round edges.

Also, I like going to the store. I love entering Best Buy with the large, spacious environment, and going to the game section and browsing.

The prices put me off tbh...

I only bought VLR off the eshop because it meant getting it months earlier than retail (only just came out here). That was worth paying the 10€ extra. But I'm not buying a full retail game digitally from Nintendo again until I can be sure I won't lose everything if something happens to my system. I wouldn't mind the 5€ extra on normal retail games if I knew I could redownload on any system with my profile on it. I mean just let me have a profile on one system at a time, that would be enough.
There's also no Club Nintendo in my country so getting back any of my VC, 3ds ware or retail downloads would probably be impossible. I stopped taking it with me for streetpasses, partly for fear of losing it or it getting stolen.

I much prefer physical copies. I like having a nice box to go on my shelf with a manual and all the trimmings. It's something tangible that I own and will always own.

I've never purchased a downloadable retail game from the eshop on my 3DS. They are ridiculously overpriced and Nintendo's lack of proper unified accounts is extremely offputting and, in the event of hardware failure, anti-consumer. That alone would prevent me from ever buying a downloadable retail game from them.

I have downloaded full retail games on my psp and ps3 before because the prices have been extremely attractive. Persona 1 was £3.99, as were Final Fantasy I and II. In the case of Persona, a physical release was never available in the UK, and in the case of the latter two, it was difficult to get hold of versions with the original packaging at a reasonable price.

Good text Darren in between. I don't see any hassle in swapping discs home but if I had kids maybe I would go fully digital as they might crash my games and I don't want to get mad at them! LOL

But the prices are way too high to go digital right now. Even for 3DS which is a portable system I can get Luigi's Mansion for around 33€ when it is released this week instead of 45€ on the eShop and it's not like I'm going to play it in short times for years, I am going to stick to it until I finish it and go back to it some years later as I did with Luigi's Mansion.

I just think that digital is a better way to have the games not considering the price. I understand it costs more, but digital over disc is a better option if you can do that IMO. It's better to have the game at all, though.
How the heck did iTunes do so well then? They charge more than a CD alot of the time, and i devices just add more megapixels or processing power that never gets used by the software devs.

On my personal 3DS I download T rated games since its less tempting for my kids to try and play them since I can hide them in a folder, everything else I buy the physical copy.

If Nintendo wants to be really progressive, they could offer the ability to "resell" your digital copy for "trade-in" value for another game's digital copy. Done with Luigi's Mansion? Why not resell it back to the eShop (essentially lose your access to the game) for the conservative sum of $10 in eShop credit? Or they could restrict it towards only a game of $10 or higher value, thereby ensuring a profit.

What would be even cooler, is if they set-up a Trade Market in eshop in which you could trade your digital copies of games with other people. Perhaps, a digital copy of a game could only be traded once (only the original owner), in order to offset an infinite loop of trading.

Nintendo could even create a "used digital copy" marketplace, in which the used copies would be discounted, and the market would only be there if people actually traded in those games for eshop credit.

In short, there could be alot more "inventive hooks", incentives to purchase digitally, especially when the prices are often higher and fixed. Personally, as a new 3ds owner, I own two games so far, both physical copies. Being able to resell a game that I'm tired of to recoup some of the cost, is hard for me to turn away from. Though I love the convenience of being able to download digitally, and to have the game always on my sd card. Under the right impulse mood conditions, I would probably cave for a digital copy of a retail game.

I buy most of my games digitally. Especially on Wii U on which I get 504 points (€5) for every €60 I spend.
And because of loading times. Oh and I love having my games ready to play in an instant. I only buy physical copies of games I really want forever like Zelda games. But if I can I'll also buy those games in physical form incase I ever lose my files.

"They live for the smell of a freshly opened instruction manual, or seeing the game boxes stacked on a shelf."
I am an old school gamer. I would rather spend the effort to get some of the older classics stacked in boxes with instruction manuals on my shelf. Disc based games post PS1 just don't seem to have all that much "personality". Nowadays, they are either removing the manual altogether or it's a paltry little black and white pamphlet.

"But do these people still buy CDs or simply get their music on iTunes[?]"
This is one of the things that started me down my road to all digital. I don't see the point in CDs for music, haven't for years. Why should I care about discs for games? If it ain't a cartridge, I don't find it to be collectable.

I bought a 32 SD card and a 2T HDD for my 3DS and WiiU respectively, and I'm LOVIN' EVERY MINUTE OF IT!

I would download more retail games if they were cheaper. At the moment I buy all of my games as discs but I've considered downloading many of them but then saw the price, it's just not worth paying £50 for non-physical copy of the game. I know that less and less people are buying physical games but, at the moment at least, there is no real insentive for me to go download only.

I honestly love being able to download a game on launch game, since i live in mexico and they take about a week or so to get games on shelves here, but i like the old school thing too, also depends on the game, for example Paper Mario Sticker Star, i hardly ever play that anymore but i won't delete it, on the other hand, Monster Hunter is my laterst download and that's perfect to have in my system's memory because i want it with me at all times.

I love the eShop and I'm glad Nintendo is catching up with the times, albeit slowly. I like to collect my games so it physical media for me on retail games. I also have the issue of having more than one Wii U in the household so having games tied to one machine won't do the job. Make them account bound and playable on more than one machine and I'd be more open. Setup a family account system with child accounts and make the games playable by all accounts in the family.

I never buy digital albums, singles maybe. This explains why I have every album Michael Jackson solo released physically. (Except Got to Be There)

I only retail purchase games i collect, so currently im on the fence about animal crossing new leaf

I think there's enough people out there that want hard copies of games to keep that market going for a very long time. I don't get used game hate from publishers it allows for game rentals so people can try out the game, people sell the game to buy more NEW games, and if your game is good people want to keep it and want a hard copy. Especially with Nintendo games, they've always made their games worth owning forever. I love games like Skyrim or Mario Galaxy where the studio is like, here's our game on disc! Buy it and keep this mofo! I used to like download, on steam and what not just like I used to like itunes but I've recently moved back to wanting hardcopies of the content I like. I think there's a market for both!

@Suicune
I love you.

Depends for me.

I'd rather download Adventure Time then get it at retail, as it seems more fitted as a download.

I'd rather get Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon at retail, because it's such a big game.

Well for now I will be getting all retails released games on disc and just download e-shop only titles digitally of course .
Reason is the cost difference and the speed of the download via Nintendo's network.

benefits of a physical copy outweigh the savings (often there are no savings at all) of a download version.

Great balanced piece @Daz! Good to see you writing on the site again.

I buy a few 3DS titles on the eShop, but not that many at all. I've been burned of about $400 USD on a Wii that had I had packed with games and I've not really purchased much from Nintendo's online offerings ever since.

I like my games how I like my women - physical.

You enjoy your digital downloads. Just remember they aren't real.

I only download when there is no other option.

Almost all my retail games are downloaded from both eShops now. Collector's Edition games and ones which are way too huge to download easily are the ones I'd consider buying or preordering at retail.

Of course, if I could get preselected download cards for retail games I'd buy those, just so I could at least have some physical aspect of the game to keep.

@XCWarrior
The digital downloads are still on a physical device(ext. HDD). It basically runs the games like a cartridge if it's setup right.
With my ext. HDD, I can potentially carry 100+ games in the size of 3 disc cases.
I see that as being a good thing. I bought digital games on Xbox 360, PS3, and 3DS.
The games whether on disc or not are real.

Disc all the way! Nintendo's expensive prices+games only restricted to one device+gigantic file-sizes means no downloading retail for me! As long as I can get a retail game somewhere at retail, no way will I download it!!

It's just not a choice in Europe.

Either Nintendo needs to stop overcharging for Download versions, or I'll never , ever buy them over the retail version. Simple as.

I would absolutely LOVE digital versions of Fire Emblem: awakening and Animal Crossing, but Nintendo is going to charge £40 for them, so I'll just laugh and get them for £30 or less at retail.

I love the art work associated with the box and manual!!! I won't go digital unless the auction price is outrageously high. Btw, I download all my music so it's just a Nintendo thing. I love to hold the box/case in my hands. The fact that Pokémon SoulSilver and HeartGold and Kid Icarus Uprising had cardboard boxes was a great it of nostalgia.

I downloaded up to 300 dollars worth of games on my last 3DS and all of a sudden it just stopped working. It was replaced under warranty minus all the games I had downloaded. As you can tell I clearly don't mind downloading rather than have a hard copy, but, until Nintendo has an account system ill never download another full retail game again. Also I like being able to sell some of my old games (the ones I don't like so much like NSMB2)

@Linkstrikesback absolutely! Nintendo needs to be far more flexible with their digital prices. I'm lucky in that I live in New Zealand but can download off the European Eshop. I go on the Spanish Eshop and due to our superior dollar I get an 80 dollar (NZ) for like 65. Which works out quite nicely

@dartmonkey Haha no because Nintendo doesn't have an account system O lost all those games. I still have the big list of all the games that I tried to get back! Very depressing

I'm put off by the higher prices on some digital downloads but one thing digital has over physical: time and convenience. I love being able to download a game at 2am and start playing it without waiting for the stores to open. Sometimes I'll read a decent review of an App/game and immediately download it.

@MeWario
You should have been able to get your games back with a replacement through warranty. Do you have a Club Nintendo? My memory utility went bad on my Wii, and they transferred the licenses to the new memory.

The pluses are indeed valid, but what if your console goes kaput? You're SOL big time and have to buy the game again. No me gusta.

Nope, not doing it.

In all honesty I'm flexible. If it's a game that i want that has no tangible media then I'll download but if it does then I'll purchase the physical media

@dragon_rider hey bud you know you can just save it to a SD or external HDD right?

Personally, Because of the nintendo ID restriction, im forbidding myself from purchasing any game thru the eshop. I'll keep physical discs for games I love. and Demos for everything else.

I'm quite irritated that you've missed the most important point, and one that people really don't seem to realise.

If a game, or ANY media for that matter, is released download-only, it's as good as lost in 10 or 15 years (assuming there is no piracy on the system, that is, which obviously in an ideal world is true). Think about it - all these great indi games you are playing, all totally dependent on your console - and even for the PS3 and 360 where they're not console-dependent, they're still dependent on the servers staying up forever. Once these go down, your only option pretty much is to buy a console on which a person happens to have bought that game if you wish to play it in the future.

The preservation of games is vital for future generations to enjoy. Imagine if people today like me who are young enough not to have experienced the likes of the NES firsthand couldn't just buy a NES and virtually any NES game in existence off eBay, and instead had to track down one NES console per game they wanted to play. This is what it'll be like in the future if we keep to using DRM of ANY form at all in conjunction with download-only games. Exactly the same goes for film and TV - if we ditch the physical media, anything the publishers care not to rerelease will be all but unobtainable. This is not hyperbole. This is the terrifying truth and why DRM must be avoided at all costs.

I have VC, Wiiware, 3DSware etc games and I also have quite a few games on Steam, however I will always choose the physical game if the option exists. There's nothing wrong with digital only games but having the real disc feels so much more real. Plus I'll always be a collector at heart.

If eshop games were significantly cheaper than physical games I might consider them, but not if they're the same price.

Unless the game I'm buying is only released in digital form, I buy physical copies..that's it. I like holding it in front of me (the same goes for my music and movies.) I can't see myself getting everything in digital form only because then I have to backup everything in case I lose it one day.

To this day, I am proud of my collection of NES, SNES, N64, GC, PS, PS2, DS, 3DS, Game Boy, GBC and GBA games (the majority of them are still boxed and have their original manuals.)

Don't fix it if ain't broke. Digital downloads have too many negatives for me. As a collector and as a gamer I don't like it. If I can have a tangible copy, I will take that over a download any day. DRM is getting to be a huge issue as well.The fact that a download cannot be sold is problem for me as well. I don't often sell games (except duplicates) but I want to be able to get my cash back if the need arises. I have 100s of old school games sitting on my shelves, that took time and effort. If I said I have hundreds of ROMs on my PC you would be less than impressed. I think collecting is fun as well. It's great to pull out a rare game or console and talk about it. I meet collectors all the time and we compare stories of amazing finds or outrageously rare items. I'm only going to buy digitally when I have no other choice.

@SCAR392 who would I contact to organise that? I do have club Nintendo account but I'm not sure it counts your Eshop downloads here in Aussie/New Zealand. EBgames here were useless and had no idea what to do.I kept the old ad card even just in case the games saved to it instead of the system but alas they didn't.

@dartmonkey maybe you're being naive maybe you're not haha I honestly thought once I got the new system all I'd have to do is link my new 3DS to my old account and click redownload. But Nintendo has never been that easy unfortunately.

@MeWario
Well, I just said that I wanted my games to be transferred to the new one. You have to access the EU eShop, correct? It might be different in that case, but as long as you explain your situation and such, there shoul be no problem
That's why I don't understand the complaints and such with Nintendo systems. I always manage to avoid the problems apparently lots of others have in regards with Nintendo.

I've honestly had more problems with the other consoles' accounts, online, and hardware than I ever have with Nintendo's.

Here's my take.. in as little as the last three years past I was all about physical copies. People threw around the scary agreements and sensationalized the fact that you can't "turn in" or resell a digital copy. Since I have done a 180. I will never buy a pc game non digital again. It's a bit less black and white for console gaming (especially nintendo) because they have been slower to embrace a full digital store and don't seem to completely understand how to give their customers a smooth experience as their competitors (especially steam) quite yet.

That said I generally buy my 3ds games digital.. and when I get a wii u I'll likely do the same. I already use psn for my playstation 3 and vita almost exclusively. (love playstation plus) Convenience and not having to worry about if my local shop has the game in stock or worse it went out of print and I have to buy it for more than it was worth new. (atlus games are infamous for this) In the end I can't help but think that we're seeing the future here and it's better than many believe.

@Nhoj1983
I know. I sold all my retro physical games and their respective consoles for over a grand to collectors and rebought the games I liked most off the Wii Shop which are still supported by Nintendo. I still had tons of money left over to buy a 3DS and lots of other stuff, so I think it was worth the trade off of physical copies for way more in return.
I just don't get why people will charge the price of a brand new console for those old games, when you can literally buy a new console and then some.

I go to where the price is cheapest, if it is the physical disc/cart (which it most often is) I buy that but if its cheaper on eShop then I buy it from there (like that LoZ: OoT 3D sale).

@MeWario
It kind of sounds like you got your 3DS replaced by a store and didn't actually go through Nintendo. If that was the case then you would lose all your games. If however you went through Nintendo's repair process then they would have transferred all of your games to the new system.

I've started downloading a lot of games on 3DS because it's great to have games like Fire Emblem ready to play without carrying around a bunch of carts.

On the Wii U I've downloaded Monster Hunter and Need For Speed. Monster Hunter because with the amount of play it receives it is kinder on the optical drive and for when the offscreen play update comes I won't have to get up to switch disks. I downloaded NFS because I had $20 worth of DDP points and it was only 6GB.

I currently exclusively download digital only games on my system. If I have the option to buy from retail I most certainly will due to the fact that I prefer to have a hard copy of games for my systems. I don't consider it a big deal to get up and change discs or cartridges whenever I want to play different games either.

I really considered downloading Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate, but after careful consideration I decided to go with retail mainly just because I prefer cartridges over convenience. Though I do own some games digitally as well.

@Nhoj1983 Have fun trying to play those games in a decade or so.

I'm 16 and I will never buy a game from the e-shop if I can buy it in retail...Gamestop is a 10 minute drive...my internet takes probably 2 hours to download a 6GB game...not worth it. And I like having the cases and games to look at...it's kinda weird but yeah...

to actually own the physical game is a lot more rewarding IMO. plus you can borrow or rent a game to try it out, it's a different experience. Nintendo is doing the best there here in offering both.

I know a lot of people who probably won't buy the new Xbox if it doesn't have a optic drive. download only may be the future but I think it's too soon to only offer that. keep options alive

I don't download often. not retail games anyways, not on the wii u. i do on my xbox because they have a huge selection and for pretty reasonable prices, plus discounts all the time. i got darksiders one for ten dollars. pretty sweet deal. but i am open to downloads and if nintendo brings some awesome games, i'm down.
i did download lego city undercover, pretty happy with it, just like to be able to re sell

i bought my 3ds in the u.k but am currently living in japan. I can't read japanese so without downloads i would have to wait weeks after european release dates to get the likes of luigi's mansion and fire emblem. It's already pretty frustrating getting street pass hits from japanese people playing ACNL, DQ7, god knows how many ace attorney games and so on. Saying that though when i'm back in the U.K , i'll never use downloads again. Going down to the shop to get a new game is all part of the fun for me.

100% digital. I lost my lust for clutter long ago. The less I have clogging up the veins of my house, the better.

Also, I have 3 kids under the age of 5. Discs break all the time, no matter what precautions are in place.

I would consider physical for games that aren't up my alley or I'm not sure I'll like for reselling - but I've been far too busy to waste time and money on chances.

I do sometimes miss using gasoline to go to a store, get annoyed by the clerks, refuse their special offers, for the honor of holding plastic. But it's more nostalgic than practical for me at this juncture.

Also, download times for large retail games are a non issue. Start at midnight, go to bed. Lord...

For me, I'm a collector, so I like to have all of my boxes lined up on the shelf. I also feel that if I cannot hold it, I do not own it. Technically, whether it is physical or digital, you only paid for a lisence to that game, but having the disk feels more like an actual belonging that I can do whatever I want to.

One thought of mine: In 10+ years from now, someone will want to play a certain WiiU game, but can't because the copies that exist are digitally tied to systems. That person, in order to play the game, will either have to buy the system as well, or pay for a physical copy. The problem is that because eveyone bought digital copies, it contributed to the scarcity of physical copies down the road. Good luck trying to find physical copies of games out now in the future, because there will be less of them.

@Intrepid Ten years from now, someone will want to play a Nintendo game, but can't because Cthulu ate the power grid.

Who knows what will happen in ten years.

Most USA based Internet Service Providers have now capped your connection with an average limit of 250GB for 1.5 -> 80 Mbps. Between Skpe, VoiP, Video on Demand w/Full Movie downloads, PSN, XBOX Live, YouTube, Smart Phones, etc ... I cannot how how feasible it would be to download 19GB games with such limits. CenturyLink enabled a new bandwidth cap of 150GB on accounts and did not notify any of its users and will disconnect you once you break the cap. With the increase of caps from COX, Time Warner, AT&T, Ameritech, CenturyLink, etc ... I see no point in wasting precious bandwidth if you can purchase it at the store. When did your Unlimited Internet become LIMITED?

I still need to understand why people are so upset about Wii U downloads being tied to hardware. We're supposed to play those games only on our Wii Us. We're supposed to have only one Wii U, which is the console on which those games are tied. If our Wii U has an issue, we just need to contact Nintendo to make sure the games will be on our replacement Wii U. So I'd like to know: where is the issue?

15+ years from now, the Wii U eShop and network servers as we know it will be discountinued. The same will hold true for Sony and Microsoft's networks for the PS3 and XBox 360, except much sooner, about 5 years from now. When that happens, none of those downloaded games will work on the PS3 and XBox 360: you'll have to find you're way around the cloud through Gaikai on the PS4, and we don't even know yet how it's going to work with Microsoft. But guess what: even if Nintendo dies tomorrow you will still be able to play your Wii U downloads for as long as your Wii U lives. If Sony and Microsoft's networks get killed tomorrow? All those games won't even work.

At least that's the way I see it. Nintendo would be wrong to copy their competitors if that's how it is. And if it's indeed this way, I believe they deserve that at least we Nintendo fans give them a break.

I prefer the physical media, but I am beginning to go w/ games digital too. A game like Need for Speed on the WiiU I am going to get Digitally, because I want to play the game, but have no attachments to it. But if a new Zelda was offered for the WiiU, i.e. Windwaker HD, I'm buying a physical copy. Glad theres both for whatever matters to you!

@DePapier I think that the games I've downloaded on PS3 still work w/out my internet connected. I do know that XBLA games don't always work though, but I see your point. Every thing in the world never seems to be perfect though.

I decided for Wii U to go fully digital from day 1 (other than the Nintendo Land pack-in) as I much prefer the convenience of having games instantly accessible. Trying to carry all my games to friends' houses is impossible and I'm much too lazy to switch discs out all the time. The 3DS is another story. I've been having trouble letting go of physical games. Introducing downloadable retail titles over a year into the console's life wasn't a great move to me. Plus the last 2 3DS games I got were presents so it's kinda hard to avoid physical! I've decided to download 3DS games from here on though. Another bonus is that due to my timezone, eShop downloads go up 3 hours before release day, whereas if I bought a physical copy I'd be waiting a week for delivery.

The Nintendo Network Premium is weird in Australia, the higher costs of games gets you 519 points for NSMBU, which is enough to get you a $7 code. So basically you buy a full RRP game and instantly get $7 back on it!

With the exception of Steam, downloadable retail games are overpriced on console stores. They've still not figured out how to get the majority of people to make the switch to downloadable purchases. I think it will be a loooooong time until disc is dead.

The disadvantages list pretty much summons up my take on this, along with other points made by posters such as not being able to lend games to friends and how, because I take good care of my games, having a physical copy feels much more like you actually owning it, among other good reasons to stay physical.

For the Wii U, actually getting up to swap games when I want to is not as big a deal to me as others make it out to be because usually retail games offer enough where I am hooked onto mostly one game per play session. With indie titles being considerably smaller/more price appealing, those aren't as bad and are more suited for digital anyways. On top of that, I tend to stick more to my favorite series usually except for the occasional 'outsider' that I pick up that peaks my interest so my collection isn't usually a million games per console, which means I'll have plenty of space for a loooong time yet.

As for the 3DS, I guess I'm still a smaller collector in the sense that I find it much more nostalgic/fun in the run to be able to look at a box/case(which is kind of like art imo) rather than a little icon and a 3 second tune. It isn't a problem when I'm leaving out either; I simply pick out which games I want to play that day when I can and I put them in the little 3DS game case I have(which can hold a good amount of them if for some crazy reason I need access to more than I think while also being reasonably portable).

I've pretty much gone exclusively digital. I don't mind about the price and am not so interested in having the game cases, plus I love the convenience of always having the game on my system.

I still respect the people who prefer physical media, though, as long as their reason isn't "The big evil Nintendo wants to take mah games away eventually!"

If they had something like Uprising, where you got tons of extra stuff with the game, I might still get a physical copy. Otherwise, it's "viva eShop!" for me!

I love physical copies, for showoff, though i bought mh3u from the eshop. Im glad i did because the game loads quitte often. Still i would like to feel the box

I'm an american living in Central Asia... the only way for me to get Nintendo games is over the eShop so... it's not like i really have a choice.

I took the 'entry level' way into Wii U and got the basic package... 'saving' me money? but no Nintendo Network Premium and just shelled out for an external HDD... that will teach me.

I live in a village... no cable broadband here... downloading The Cave took the best part of an evening. I'm happy to download small indie games etc or VC, but retail games, not a chance - 19GB for Lego City!!!! nah, pre ordered and i get a free lego toy (give to my son, to placate the wife)... oh and physical is cheaper, and once i'm finished I can trade it in and buy another game.

Having downloading games is a HUGE benefit for people who live abroad. My Wii U and 3DS are North American, and I live in Europe. Having access to the eshop saves me a fortune in customs fees! I also have a Japanese 3DS and love being able to purchase "import" titles on the eshop. For me it's digital all the way!

As far as I'm concerned, if I can't touch it, I don't own it.

I will never ever buy a game digitally.

I have a 12gig data limit where I live and I pay through the nose for it. I can't get ADSL, so wireless is my only option. It's expensive and prone to drop outs and totally useless for online gaming. I buy a lot of smaller eShop games on my 3DS and Wii U, but retail games, unless they are fairly small file sizes, I'm forced to go boxed. Which i don't mind at all, and it does really depend on the game. Especially with the 3DS. It's much more convenient having everything already there on my handheld console, as it saves having to find and pack and keep safe a bunch of carts. But I don't see much of an advantage with having full game downloads on my Wii U or any other home console unless its a good deal cheaper by buying online (which it generally isn't) or its a game that is hard to find in stores.

Personal I'd prefer retail than downloading games. Biggest reason is because you trade it in if hate it! Plus I get wii U games and 3DS games for around £24 to £42 pound in grainger games Liverpool instead paying £39.99 to £59.99 on Eshop. not having Ability trade them in would be incredible annoying.

I still buy cards because ultimately the cards are cheaper than the downloads even when I'm ordering on line. MH3U was €7 cheaper ordering from Amazon UK with delivery to Ireland then downloading (also cheaper than actually buying it in a local shop too) and €7 isn't worth the "convenience" of downloading, seeing it's also tied to the device. I like the idea of the card being separate from the device because I've had multiple Nintendo devices damaged over the years.

Now if Nintendo had a cloud service where it backed up my save data and downloads and I could just switch device and still access it all... I'd be more willing to pay the extra €7... because you can loose a card!

I need answers about that STUPID update that DESTROYED my 3DS!! >:[

For me, it really depends. I might be a younger gamer, but I still like that feeling of unwrapping a sealed game and popping open the case to find a minty fresh manual and an unscathed disc or cartridge. The only time I've ever downloaded a retail game thus far is Luigi's Mansion Dark Moon. Where I live, there was a massive snowstorm the night before the game launched...so I wouldn't know when I would be able to get out again (school was even cancelled). Plus, it was available at midnight on a saturday where I was entirely bored to death. In addition, there was no sales tax so that was a bit of a plus.

@Noend
You CAN transfer games between 3DSs, or from a DS to a 3DS. I did so to leave my old DS to my daughters.

I have two sons who each own a 3ds. Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon will be played by both of them and by Dad as well Now I'm not going to download it three times, am I? So a cartridge it will be.

disc 4 ever

I will never ever buy a game digitally.

Then you're missing out.

I hate to say it but I have gone down the digital path I'm a serious collector but i'm actually gonna get rid of my huge game collection a little bit at a time. I have already doownloaded SM3DLand, Professor Layton, Sonic AllStars, New Super Mario Bros 2 and many EShop titles.
I will be downloading Animal Crossing, Resident Evil Mercanaries, Mario Kart 7 just so I can have them on the go. I recently downloaded Need For Speed for Wii U and I will probably download Lego City as well
Something I would like to see Implemented would be what the Android market does and that is if you pay for something and your not happy with it you can uninstall it after 15 mins and get a refund. Sadly this is something I know Nintendo will never do, but it's something I really think they should do.

I only use eShop for exclusives and Indie/VC content. The day consoles go download only is the day I stop buying them. I'll make an exception for Ouya though.

I'll say this much. I think downloading is more conveniant, but i'd miss physically buying discs. :/

Unless a digital game is dirt cheap and I'm saving a lot of money on it, I'll buy it, otherwise I'll go physical because I generally don't sell my games but if anything ever came up and I had to majorly relocate it would seem like the most logical idea as I would not be willing to carry on all this luggage.

I think the reason I love physical games over digital is because of control.

With digital, there is no way to control what happens in the future. Will the game be available later or will offline servers or expired licensing make it difficult to download? If I something breaks and I have to replace my hardware, either in the near future or 10 years down the road, how easy will it be to get my games to play on the new system?

With physical game I know exactly where I stand. As long as I take care of my games and can find working hardware, they will remain playable for the foreseeable future. Sitting down with my daughter and playing NES games this week has only driven that home even further.

(Cost is also a big reason. I frequently trade away games that I'm done with if there is no interest in keeping it for replay or as part of my collection. Using www.vgfive.com has let me swap 3DS games multiple times for just the cost of postage, letting me stretch my gaming dollar far further that it would've gone with digital purchases.)

I have downloaded a couple retail titles to my 3DS, but there are some games that I prefer to buy the physical copies to (mainly games that I want to keep forever since Nintendo has no username or cloud service to keep my downloads secure in case my 3DS dies).

@ejamer You totally summed up my opinion.

So many varied opinions. It really is nice to read what everyone thinks while drinking a nice cuppa.

i'll never download a title that is available on disc as long as Nintendo maintain the stupid hardware-tied system
i can admit that Nintendo forbid us to resell games but it's a shame not to be allowed to change hardware

I got digital with NSMB2. As long as its aviable digital and I buy em myself, digital is cheaper and easier.

@Tobias95 Easier yes, but it's usually cheaper off Amazon! (by a few dollars for new games)

I dont live in America. American games are useless since my 3DS is EU.

Digital is preferred, but it's more expensive.

Once it gets better deals than physical retail, physical is history to me.

@Shiryu
Well one day us older gamers may have a nicely boxed piece of history worth thousands of dollars sitting on our shelf while younger gamers may someday be without the thousands they spent on digital games that Nintendo may no longer allow you redownload after you delete them from your hard drive. So please, I encourage people to buy digital, it will make my physical copy worth more

@Tysamu But the HDD is formatted to their proprietary file system; you can't read the files on a computer. That HDD is used for the Wii U and only for the Wii U, it's on the HDD, but if both the HDD and console go kaput, you're screwed. Yes, digital is convenient and saves room on your shelf, but damned if you, damned if you don't. Nintendo needs to abolish the whole games-are-only-tied-to-a-console-and-not-account bull crap.

With restrictions like this (DRM, etc) it's no wonder people pirate.

@dragon_rider
People pirate no matter what though. Nintendo gets your games back as long as you talk to them and let them understand your predicament. The games being tied to the hardware lets you have more control in the long run vs. online accounts. Buying the games off the eShop is like buying a cartridge and keeping it on the HDD. They make sure nothing will happen to your purchases as long as you deal with any given situation correctly.

I've never had a problem with digital.

I too like holding the game for 1 second before putting it in. I also like making out with the box.

On PC I get everything digitally in Steam, but on consoles... nope. I prefer good old boxed retail games on consoles, because it gives you the real feeling of ownership and collecting.
On PC I just feel somehow different. The box doesn't just feel to have a same kind of value than in consoles. I not going to go into more detail about this, but some may know what I mean.

I'll only download what I can't buy physically. I really don't see the point of usually paying more for a game that is also only needlessly cloggng up space on my hard drive, and can't be loaned to a friend or sold/traded when I'm bored with it.

@dragon_rider HDD failures are uncommon, or a lot less common than media drive failures.
The chances of both your HDD and WiiU failing a the same time is extremely unlikley and by using a HDD your reducing wear on the WiiU, prolonging its life and if the HDD fails you can buy a new HDD, redownload your games and not have to worry about the drm being linked to the console.

At the end of the day there's plus and minus points to both disc and download games, and depending on internet speed/restrictions for some the benifits of discs are more apparant.

But all this debate will be irrelevant in the near future, more and more games will be released as dl only on all platforms untill eventually all games are only available via download, regardless of platform.

If a game is available online and on disc, I always buy the disc version. The only reason is you can trade them in and buy second hand discs. Also, the prices are too high and for big games it takes a lot of time to download.

Nintendo needs to put a code in the retail game so we can download the digital game too.

@DarkEdi Essentially, we'd probably end up giving either the code or the disc to a friend or someone like that in which case we would be buying two copies for the price of one. Nintendo would lose big money on that deal.

I always choose Retail above download. Unless the price is really, really good.

game disc all the way you cant swap a download.

Download all the way, unless there's a really good retail sale. Nothing beats storing my library on a single little USB HDD as opposed to worrying about losing or damaging a fragile optical disc. As a big PC gamer, Steam has made me a firm believer in digital distribution. But then again, they've got it down to an art form...

@Nhoj1983 "Convenience and not having to worry about if my local shop has the game in stock or worse it went out of print and I have to buy it for more than it was worth new. (atlus games are infamous for this) "

You do realize when digital games "go out of print" they are lost forever since they are cleared from the companies servers. At least with the physical ones you can at least get them on eBay etc. If you still have some of these out of print digital games on your console, you better hope the console never breaks.

No way would I buy a download retail game on the 3DS. I don't even buy games that are download only, I do without.

This is especially true on the 3DS. This console is probably an anomaly. I doubt there will be another stereoscopic 3D capable one released again. It is too "nichy" and it isn't a big sales draw. It is likely that any future handheld, if there is one, will just have a 2D screen like the Vita. In this case I want to truly own every game that I want and I want to have it "forever". To think of losing all of my games once the console breaks, and Nintendo no longer supports it is a dealbreaker. In 10 years I may want to go back and play some of my favorites. While my current system my be broken I will always be able to find a working one on ebay and pop in my old games and go. That will be impossible with these DRM filled downloaded full priced rental copies we get now.

You have to realize with download games you really DON"T OWN IT!

@GiftedGimp-" HDD failures are uncommon, or a lot less common than media drive failures.
The chances of both your HDD and WiiU failing a the same time is extremely unlikley and by using a HDD your reducing wear on the WiiU, prolonging its life and if the HDD fails you can buy a new HDD, redownload your games and not have to worry about the drm being linked to the console."

Media drives may fail but if you have physical copies you can still use them on your replacement console with no hassle. With the digital ones you need to re-download ALL games , if you can (you have to count on them having them still on their servers which may be an issue in a few years). If you have 20 games at 30 GB per game do you know how long that is going to take to get your stuff back?! Hopefully you have unlimited data and a FAST connection!

"But do these people still buy CDs or simply get their music on iTunes[?]"

That is a dumb argument and totally different. You can move a music file to ANY MP3 player and even have multiple copies on different players, it isn't locked to hardware. I can have the same downloaded album on 10 different devices if I want. I can move the music at will and not have to ask Apple's permission to do it, I just copy the files.

With download games I can only have it on ONE console at a time and have to ask daddy Ninty to move it! Like DUH!

I hate the fact that on wii-u the software is console bound; my friends Wii-U died 3 times and every time his game saves and wii transferred purchases are gone.. really frustrating. Nintendo should take the example of Sony and bound the software to a user account and let the user bound one console to his account where he can re-install the software and also lets the user save his save files to the cloud.. just my 5 cents..

On digital downloads price is factor and also even if I wanted to I couldn't go fully digital I mean games usually are released quite some time after the retail release and you would have to wait on Xbox and PC services like steam are second fiddle to consoles. I like the idea of digital downloads the convenience and the fact that it saves a huge amount of space. But the fact is one at the moment it's not all that convenient and two it usually costs more for now digital distribution just isn't where it needs to be to warrant going fully digital.

If they really wanted to do it right (too late now) these systems would have a system key such as a SIM type device that would look like a small game cartridge and have a unique code on it. It would plug into the console and games would lock to it, NOT the console. If the console breaks move the SIMand external HDD with the games on it to the new one and all your stuff will instantly work. Same with 3DS, could have had a unique removeable SIM card. Just move that and your SD card to any unit at any time and it would "just work" and all of this without lengthy transfer processes, internet connections, or a note from your mom.

@Shiryu Im 25 and i am an avid video game collector. with my retro stuff i have plenty of stuff without boxes but i strive to ge boxes and manuels and boxed systems. But with the current generation of gaming if its a game that can be played for year's to come say like Arkham City or anygame that really catches my fancey ill pre order and pick up the actual disc or with games that look good but not good enough to pay full price for I might wait for a price drop or at that point I might download the game. for the most part though the only downloads I have are free games I got on club Nintendo.

I usually just do both. It's helpful because if I lose my 3DS, still have half my games. If I lose my retail game bag, I still have half my games. :3
@nesdan321 That cretainly is a long sentence. o____O

Lots of reasons not to dowload on Wii U:

1. Expensive
2. No resale - I alway trade my games
3. Limited storage - I'm not adding a clumsy external drive
4. I like the experience of owning the physical product
5. It will be the end of video game shops

@DaveC not a bad idea, most other digital distribution is just tied to an account, like iOS.