Pikmin 3 Listed As £39.99 On The Wii U eShop in The UK

Cool. Tie my purchases to my account and not my slab of plastic and I'll buy some games digitally. Until then, I'll continue to own the games I pay for.

If this happens in America, I will officially regret using my $30 eshop credit on the 3DS.

Still £32 on Amazon... Not interested.

This sounds interesting. Can the Wii U download eShop games when it's turned off?

@Gavin_Rozee
Club Nintendo account. I don't understand why people get so upset about console-tied purchases.

I hope all this happens in America. I'm buying as much digital as I can this gen, unless I see some crazy physical deal.

@Bulby Exactly. I was expecting it to be £34.99 on the eShop. No sale at that price.

The only games I'll be buying digitally are those I can't actually buy a physical copy of. I'm still waiting to play Super Luigi U! Roll on Friday when I get my hands on the disc version.

Meh, I hate how they're pushing digital distribution to be honest, stuff like this makes me worry that physical copies will be a thing of the past soon. They already got rid of actual instruction booklets, don't let them take away the full physical games as well. I'll be going for the physical copy, even if it costs 40 bucks more.

@BillyCupid Same with me physical only roll on Friday when I'm also getting Super Luigi U

I pre-ordered Pikmin 3 for £29.99.

£40 cant really be called tempting. £30 is acceptable, anything less is tempting.

Consider it a deal!

What kind of madness is it that £39.99 is considered a bargain? It's £29 on Tesco's website.

I was about to say, the physical copy is much cheaper elsewhere, as I'm sure will be the case with The Wonderful 101

@Inev
The difference is that you haven't has a system fail, right? Consider this: I bought 8 games at MSRP on the eShop for my 3DS. Then someone broke my car window and stole the 3DS. Do you know the hassle that Nintendo puts you through to get the download games back? I STILL haven't and I already bought an entire second 3DS and lost THAT one in another theft. Consider that the first 3DS had 8 games at $39.99, and the system had a game in it and the system's original price, that comes to $529.90 US. If I had bought only physical games, it would have been "capped" at just $169.99 + $39.99 (because there were no download games and only one physical game in the system). That would cost me only $209.98 (to replace) and I would still have the 8 games that I downloaded instead...

That is why I am so against the download tied to system. And why many more are too. Nintendo is STILL making hoops for me to jump through and the system was stolen last Fall (I think? It may have been around November...)

Also keep in mind that the system is "locked" to only 5 transfers of a single account as well as if the system, cannot be started then you are SOL. Think of the possible fire damage, flood damage, theft, physical damage, and so forth. The system-based copy is a bad idea.

^ He more or less covered why I feel the way I do about Nintendo's terrible online purchase system.

@lordGeovanni

I completely agree that purchases should be tied to an account, it's idiotic the way it is. Still...you've encountered a lot of theft! You're very unlucky.

@Yosher

I don't see games being digital only ever. It is well known that some parts of the US cannot get decent internet access, let alone poorer countries.

Account based or not, I don't like digital only stuff. I don't mind losing manuals as those can be put inside the disc and help reduce the paper used. You can still check manuals without having to leave the game, too.

Sounds like a great deal to me! I love the way Nintendo tie the games to the console too which means should I ever decide to sell my console then I can sell the digital games too! Actually makes purchasing digital copies worthwhile!

Oh this just got interesting if you are not pre-ordering this deal is cheaper than the stores and quicker than the internet if you are undecided about 101 you can wait for the reviews and miiverse comments. Well played NOE, well played indeed.

£35 in Game....and comes with a free keyring. XD

got them BOTH pre-ordered for UNDER £50 (flubit and wowhd prices for the demand). offer is alright i guess, but i'd rather have physical copies for £20 less and a chance they'll arrive before the release date. then again they might come after, but i can live with that for the money saved and having physical packages. pikmin 3 has particularly nice boxart.

nintendo are slowly getting their act together with the digital sales and offers though. keep em' coming!

Interesting. 3DS games have been £35 on the eShop lately, maybe NoE are getting more realistic about how much they can justify charging.

But yeah, it's still best part of a tenner cheaper on Amazon, so no thanks.

I saw a print ad today from a Dutch retailer offering Pikin 3 for 37,99 euro so i'm guessing the retail version will be reasonably priced as well

£32 on Amazon, £35 from Game. Even at Game's prices, the most you would be able to save is £2, assuming the digital version of 101 costs the same.

Sorry Nintendo, I would like to download it but it still isn't worth it.

also, i don't see any mention of the 10% premium wii U digital offer which i believe stacks on top of this. so another 10% back off the total of both games. should probably include that in the article, would make it even more appealing to some.

Until they modernise their account system i won't spend more than a tenner on anything in the Wii U Eshop. Hopefully the delayed summer system update has a surprise account update with it.

Discriminating towards your true collectors, are we, Nintendo? Double Club Nintendo stars, now this... I know it's much cheaper to just put it digitally online and be done with it, but you should show your collectors who paid full price for legitimate physical copies for ages now some love in return.

@LordGeovanni
Sorry your 3DS was stolen. That sucks. But remember, that's not a system failure.

This article is about Pikmin 3, so I thought the OP was specifically complaining about the Wii U, a home console; that's also where my mind was when making my post.

When I see people complaining about the account thing with a home console, I'm not sure why they're afraid of their console breaking (especially a Nintendo one). Unless you're playing rugby with it, I can't imagine a Nintendo console just up and dying on you.

£35 at game and you get a free pikmin keychain lol

Also £32.00 on Shopto.net

Nice that Nintendo are finally embracing cheap digital downloads but if i can get it for £7 or even £5 cheaper iwith a bonus item for no extra cost. Its a no brainer. Sorry Nintendo

Don't forget the Digital Deluxe Promotion. You'll be making some good points by using this opportunity as well as getting a 30% discount for W101.

Guys, the game still costs more in the U.S., because there is no discount. If you buy digital, you're buying the game in any form it's in for the same price we(U.S.) would be with no discount.

I'm still getting Pikmin 3 from GAME...I want that exclusive keyring they're dishing out. I'm sure that I can get The Wonderful 101 cheaper elsewhere.

I was going to go digital after I heard about this offer, now I just did the maths and I'm disappointed... Ha ha.
I would definitely buy with ShopTo both of these games, so they're both £32.86, atm, if I get them both at that price, thats £65.72
If I go with nintendo thats £39.99 for Pikmin 3 and I guess we can pressume the same for Wonderful 101.
Thats around £67.98 with the 30% discount included. If I'm being kind I can also include the £5 eshop code I'll get from buying Pikmin 3, which will make it £62.98 in total, but is it really worth a £5 saving to sacrifice physical copies?

Nintendo should have announced how much wonderful 101 will be on eshop really. Though if its cheaper than what I pressume it will be, it'll only mean less of a 30% saving, though I think its probably very likely it'll be £39.99.

I think I'm putting pikmin 3 back on pre order physically...
Plus seeing I'm not so interested in wonderful 101 anyway, I could wait for a bit if I want and get it even cheaper.

EDIT: And I just noticed I have £5 of shopto discount points to use if I choose to, ha ha. Its definitely in retail's favour atm no matter how you look at it to me. Plus more purchases will further lead to gold membership, so earn more points with further purchases and more offers...
And of course, purchases arent even linked to my account exactly, not good at all.

EDIT2: Oh, I also forgot to mention I'll very likely get the games a day or 2 early from shopto as well. Yeah just not in digitals favour for me at all atm. Make the Wonderful 101 deal 66% off and maybe I'll come back to you...

We're still paying the same price for discs as DLC over here in the U.S.
€30 over here is $41, and €40 is $55. A digital OR physical copy is $60, which is €75 in the fashion we're buying it in.

We're paying €75 for Pikmin 3 over here in the U.S. without a discount or a pre-order bonus.

You guys have more options.

If I buy a $60 game, the price goes down to $40 almost immediately, so it's not worth it to have a physical copy, especially on a day one purchase.

For the record yes.. The Wii U will download if you shut it off.. how you know this is happening is the light should be Orange.. not the regular red of a shutoff.. I have dloaded Demos.. Including Monster Hunter Like this.. when I did not have a game yet.. so the answer is yes..

@Inev Club Nintendo isn't available in Northern Europe (Norway, Sweden, Denmark etc).

I hope the digital deal is the same for Australia too! I'd buy it digitally either way (happily ignoring all the concerns of losing my digital library since I no longer have any of my physical collection either). But, it'd be nice to be rewarded for doing so (although I already have earned many a free game from my Premium points).

@LordGeovanni I once lost my carry case of physical DS games. 3 games in the case. Nintendo's digital setup isn't ideal but buying physical shouldn't give you a false sense of security either. Anything can happen.

Also, my digital Playstation 3 games are tied to my account but from the sounds of things they won't work on my PS4. Nothing is certain.

@FineLerv for real, that's a good point

People just have an axe to grind, as usual

@OptometristLime "People just have an axe to grind, as usual"
Lol. Cool expression!

I think people are just genuinely afraid of change. I used to have hundreds of CDs. I took care of them and held on to them passionately. Then after moving house a couple of times I found that they were just sitting in a box in my garage. A couple of months ago I gave them away. Didn't sell them; They all went to a friend. I wasn't waiting for someone to release a means to upgrade them to mp3, I was just attached to my old ways.

Similarly, my mother has several bookshelves full of books, double layered! I look at it and see inevitable landfill.

The reality is, Nintendo let me transfer my hundreds of dollars worth of Wii VC games over to my Wii U, and this is from a company that's supposedly backwards in the digital department. The paranoia really has to stop. I've never bought anything tangible and worried about it getting stolen or broken, why would I let that stop me from buying a digital game?

As I've said, Nintendo's set-up isn't ideal. But holding off for the ideal is a mistake.

@Inev My Wii died on me. Even after sending it in to Nintendo for repair it was fidgety to start and if I didn't power it all the way down (red light) when done it would take about 20-30 restarts before it would boot to the main screen without locking up. Had to keep it alive or lose all of my virtual consoles games, etc. forever.

If my purchases had been linked to an account, not the hardware, I would have simply let it die and re-download on the Wii U or actually, Nintendo probably would have had another Wii purchase from me.

I was actually planning on buying most of my games digitally for the Wii U. (Collecting plastic and paper is just a silly waste of resources.) I have a 500 GB hard drive waiting for it as well. It just hasn't made sense yet, cost-wise, even without considering the tied-to-the-hardware issue.

I keep waiting for it to make sense.

@SCAR392 Either your math is very unique or I'm just reading your post wrong.

It is true that retail prices are rock solid for Nintendo games in the US and the prices are the same online. For third parties, though, the physical disc prices fall fast in most stores and you can often find horrible discrepancies in the eShop.

@aaronsullivan
My mistake, I meant €75. Still though, there are no ways in the U.S to get deals as good as these.
As for 3rd parties, it will pay off if the game has a digital version in the eShop, because copies of the game will never run out after those first edition discs they put at retail.
My math is: Since we're paying more for these games in the U.S. despite the U.S. dollar being weaker, it gives the U.S. a boost. If you buy digital, you're technically cutting the cost even more.
So Americans are buying the game for more either way, but the ammount for a used copy in America ends up having the same value as a new copy in Europe.

This is the most obvious reason I've ever seen why region locking exists.

@aaronsullivan If your Wii dies, Nintendo will allow you to send that system and a new one to transfer your purchases to. Not ideal, but it works.

@Inev
I am not just talking about "system" as the game system. It also is the "system" of having an account-based on the console.
I was born in 89. I have lived and breathed Nintendo since I was a child. I only ever bought one NES. Two SNES (horrible hot cocoa accident). One N64. Two GC (one failed). THREE Wii. (failure and failure). On handheld, I only got one GB. (Tanked through a THUNDERSTORM out in the rain all night and still works today). Two GBC (one is my sister's, both still work. Three GBA (one was sister's and one was stolen). Two GBASP (one stolen). Two DS (both failures in hardware) and Two DSlite (both also had failure). And now FOUR 3DS. (Two stolen, one failure on the wireless capabilities).
Why did I mention that? Because if you look, I have lost one system through damage, four through getting stolen. And a HUGE 8 systems due to failure of the system. Out of them, only the Wii and 3DS have download technology. I only downloaded purchased games on my 3DSes at that. Why? Because out of 7 that can handle download, I only have 3 left. Two stolen, and three failed. That didn't happen with the earlier systems. I was able to transfer the data off the third 3DS, but that was just luck.
Should I expect systems to fail or get stolen? I do. Should I expect my ENTIRE game library to get stolen or lost at the same time? I keep my games safe as best I can. But when there is a system-account that prevents you from reclaiming your lost download if there is a problem with the console, that is what I have issue with. I also do not like to "send my system back to Nintendo to fix". Both the Wiis were sent in and the first ended up replaced with another - after I paid half the price of a Wii to get that one repaired. The second was also "repaired" however it came back still broken.
I understand that with time, technology has become "replaceable" rather than "repairable". But Nintendo should not have this system-account if they expect their systems to not hold out. And with their actions concerning recent failures, I have no hope for the future. (And I have STILL not gotten the downloads from the first two 3DSes onto another of my 3DS. Nintendo says that they "cannot help me at this time".)

@FineLerv
I know quite well at the possible losses to physical games. As I said above, I have had 4 systems get stolen from me. That also lost 1 game in each of the systems as well as the downloads. I lost more games in the first 3DS that got stolen than ALL the physical games that have gotten stolen on me. The bigger issue is that I see this as a Nintendo failure than I see it as my own failure. My failure is something that I would take under as a learning experience. Such as that I don't keep all my games in the same location in case someone steals it. But I cannot do that with Download. I also do not have a brick fall on all of my games if the system breaks. I still have them for the next system if I keep them. But not on the 3DS if they are downloads.

This all seems like me just being whiney, but it is still true. Download as it is now is NOT good. I still refuse to get any game as a download unless I HAVE to because it is download-only. And even at that I have over $100 on my current 3DS. Imagine if I lose my 4th 3DS (You know, the 4th in a little over two years, in comparison to the 4 over the ENTIRE DS life, or the ONE GB that STILL works today).

@b23cdq

Yes, but you can still create an account to be located in UK. You can also change your console's country to use these Nintendo Club thingies. But remember that if you change country, your money added is tied to country. (like I have Finland and added money, if I change to UK it will show no money so I have to add it while it's set to UK. When I change back to Finland, the original money added is there, so it doesn't disappear even when changing countries).

Even all this digital sounds interesting (and this offer), I still buy games from where those are the cheapest. That's why it's extremely rare that I bought games from my own country, since it will add taxes and so on, so games here regularry cost 59.90€ or even 69.90€.
But for some reason Pikmin 3 can be found for pre-order for 36€ in Finland (which is cheaper than Amazon's 32£)

I was really having a hard time with this on the way to work this morning. Trying to decide whether or not to go digital or just buy the physical copy.
Pikmin 3 in Norway is about £55 in retail shops. The digital copy on eshop is about £45 and the physical copy from Amazon in the UK is about £33 ..

So I save about £13 on the digital copy of The Wonderful 101 which is available for pre-order on Amazon for about £35 and physically about £55 in Norway again. So I guess I would save some money sure. But I wouldn't be able to ever re-sell anything. It's my hard earned cash. I want to go digital but only after the future of downloadable software is more solid. Right now I just hesitate to buy stuff that I might not be able to play one day when I feel like it.

Sooo.. yeah... I'll stick to the physical copy from Amazon

@LordGeovanni I understand. If I had your experience I wouldn't buy digital either. In fact, I probably wouldn't buy anything. I'd call it quits and cut my losses. I'd live in paranoia, cowering under my bed. Four DSes in one lifetime? I don't think people went through that many X-Boxes...

This cheaper version including the discount for wonderful 101 will probably make this a download purchase.

That is, if this translates to the other european eshops, because I'm paying in euro's of course. Is anyone able to confirm whether or not this is similar throughout europe, discount intact?

@erv yeah I'd still like to know about this as well. Would suck if I do the digital download thing and then the 30% off doesn't include my region

@FineLerv
I am only 23 years old. And with blessings, I will live for four or more times that. While my experiences are soured, I still have quite the number of pleasurable experiences with Video Games. I avoid Xbox because I KNOW that I would hate it. I have, instead, stayed with Nintendo, (and slightly with Sony, however not the PS3 or Vita). While I do have a very bad rash of failures, I still enjoy Video Games more than I hate the losses that I have accumulated. I can, in some ways, control my losses. I learned in that horrible hot Cocoa accident to keep my food away from my games. I learned with my GB that I REALLY need to watch where I leave it. I lost the GBA out of my school locker. I never kept it in there ever since. I lost the GBASP while with Boy Scouts. I learned that "friends" are not always trustworthy. I learn.

And I still get to play Smash Bros., Pikmin, Mario and especially Zelda games. I dislike Download because I cannot control my losses. I still like the games. Therefore I still get them - in the way that if I lose them it is my own fault.

@LordGeovanni You're a good man, and I'm sure you'll live to see the "all digital" age of video gaming. And I'm sure that after a generation or so it will be a more consumer-friendly service. Just, look after yourself, matey.

Sorry but that's just too much for a digital game (that we can't even sell/trade/give once we're done with it).

If a retail game is say £49.99 then the digital game should be at least half that price imo, around £19.99 would be good.

There's no disc/print costs, no box/packaging costs, do transport costs, no game stores taking a cut...

If none of those savings are passed down to the consumer I just don't think that's right.

@SCAR392 “€30 over here is $41, and €40 is $55. A digital OR physical copy is $60, which is €75”

Where the hell did you get that last number from? lol. In line with what you just said, $60 would be around €45.... use a currency converter.

Really weird how you seem to think you're paying higher prices in NA.

I'm glad that they stopped charging 10 quids more than everywhere else. at least, it's the same price as the suggested retail price and not higher.

I'm somewhat of a collector and always tend to pick up a physical copy. I want to be sure my game will still work 20, 30 years down the road even on a replacement system.

@HaNks
Good shout. I just tried what you described and now have Pikmin 3 ordered for £23.76. I'm trying the same with W101.

£39.99 for a console-tied download or £23.76 for a more tangible product that I can sell later if I want? I think physical is clearly the better deal in this case even considering the 30% off W101 deal.

Tis nices

@Gavin_Rozee
This argument is quite dumb. You are in fact still tying your ownership of the game to a piece of plastic... just a disc shaped piece of plastic. One that is actually a lot easier to get damaged or lost than an actual console. And once a disc is lost or damaged, how could you possibly retrieve it? Call Nintendo support and ask them to send you a new disc? lol

There are plenty of reasons to stick with a physical copy (being able to resell, take to a friends house, etc...), but being tied to the console is quite honestly dumb.

@Doma
Exactly. We're paying $60 which IS €45 normally, but since we're paying more, the conversion goes the opposite way, which is up.

€15 more Euros than Europe in America.

€30-40 is less than €45. Our dollar means less, but we're giving more.

@nprtmn4evr Actually you're 100% wrong. The system is most likely to die in the long run. Especially one with moving parts. As to the disc, a collector such as myself will take care of it. I can also easily sell the game at any point in time giving it more value than a digital copy. Not only that but if one disc does happen to start failing, I still have my other games. You lose the console 20 years down the road, you can kiss your entire digital library good bye.

However I do believe the future will go 100% pure digital someday. Hopefully they'll have all these issues resolved by then. Until they do I'll stick with my physical copies.

@Akira_1975
Way to complete miss the point. There are plenty of reasons (which I Gave and you echoed) to stay physical. Collecting, reselling, etc. are all great reasons to stay physical.

The point I was referring to had to deal with him complaining that digital was tied to a "piece of plastic." Physical is also tied to a piece of plastic, just disc shaped. People say "if my console is stolen then I'll lose all my games." Which is exactly what would happen if your games were also stolen/lost. To your other point: discs are way easier to be scratched or damaged than a console for most consumers. If they are, there is ZERO chance Nintendo will replace them. If a console is damaged, there is a a semi-decent chance you could recover any digital games you downloaded.

Would it be nice if downloads were tied to an account as opposed to a console? Yes. But honestly, some arguments for physical over digital are just silly. Others are not.

@nprtmn4evr
Also, if they just started treating ext. HDDs as cartridges(being able to plug them into any console and use them), and activating them via Nintendo Network, that would be a better option than anything.

@nprtmn4evr As SCAR392 said, it would be nice if you could somehow physically remove your virtual library from your console. I`m sure the they`ll figure this all out in time. I envision 3 components. The console, the removable media containing your library, and possibly a SIM card identifying you. Something along those lines. That way you could have multiple backups of your library and the SIM card would prevent anyone else from using it. Just thinking out loud =)

@SCAR392 What the... now you're beginning to confuse me.

The currency you start with has the exact same monetary value as the currency you covert to. Makes no difference if you convert $ to € or € to $. You can't add or take away from that value afterwards for no apparent reason.

If you're talking about the price Nintendo has actually set for this game in our territories, which is in £ listed here. Put the £40 into a converter and see if you're paying more than us for it.

@nprtmn4evr

This is funny... because I had a 3DS get stolen and I am on my 3rd after it and STILL Nintendo "cannot help me at this time" when I ask them to give me another copy of my downloads...

@Doma
£30 = $48
£40 = $61

A physical copy costs less, but that is not usually the case in the U.S. where they have equal value. If you want a disc of Pikmin 3, it costs around $65 including tax.
The values are always changing, but at first glance, you're paying less over there for physical copies.
Nintendo charges based on currency.

@Raylax
Based on your numbers, those games will both be on the eShop for £40 each.
Both games will end up equalling £56 after the 30% discount, plus the 10% Deluxe Digital Promo after that for extra eShop funds.
If you try to sell your physical copy, it will already be worth less than a digital copy as soon as you open it.

That's only if W101 is £40, but still.

love digital being £10 more expensive
_{watch the language, please — TBD}

@SCAR392 your math is off. it's 30% off one game, not both. so £68 presuming w101 is also £39.99.

@Sonic_Phantom awesome price! change from £24 even. my flubit order just dispatched earlier, win-win by using them so far. you should certainly get a wonderful 101 offer in the £25 area too.

@HaNks Yep £25.07 for Wonderful 101! The main catch seems to be having to pay up front rather than on dispatch - there's still a month for general prices to change as the game is still somewhat of an unknown quantity. Still worth a punt I think.