More Details Emerge on the Launch of My Nintendo

Additionally, you'll be able to redownload digital games from the eShop onto other devices.

What does this even mean? I'm just trying to wrap my head around what this statement means.

do it say what countries.. or only said 39?

@Yoshi My understanding is that this means games won't be tied to one device. As in, VC games would just have to be bought once. Still unsure tho, we'll know in a couple hours whenever they publish the English translation.

I'm assuming that if a devices is registered to an account, say you have 2 3DS systems, or deregister to sell one and buy a new one that you then register, you can download multiple copies of a previously purchased game. This will make upgrading systems easier on the consumer.

@Yoshi

Let's say you want to buy a New Nintendo 3DS but don't want to sell it until you get a new one and transfer all your games over and whatnot.

You can now sell your old 3DS to have money to go towards a New 3DS if you would like, and all your games/saves/themes/etc. will be tied to your My Nintendo account instead, so you don't have to own both and transfer everything.

Maybe NES games you buy on 3DS can be downloaded to your WiiU as well (you know, the way it should be!)

@Yoshi

As far as I remember, you can't access the eShop with 2 different consoles of the same kind, for example 2 Wii Us or 2 3DS, that's why when you get a new 3DS you have to do the system transfer thing, what this means is that you can download the games on other systems and not be forced to have your information and games on just 1 console.

For example I have 2 3DS, one is XL and the other one is the first ones that were released and I can't have my games on both, I had to do the system transfer when I got the XL. If this is what that means, it'd be awesome for families that have multiple 3DSs or planning to upgrade to a new one.

Yeah, I can't really see them giving us the option of having games on several devices simultaneously. I'm guessing it'll be something like, you have to go online and uninstall a game to be able to install it on another device. Which would still be better than what we have now, but it would still suck if the system you have it downloaded on breaks or gets lost.
I'd love to be proven wrong, though.

i hope the points are retroactive for games already bought, not just games bought after the service starts.

MANDATORY NX COMMENT: @Yoshi in addition to all of the above, it might also mean that wii u and 3ds eshop games won't need to be rebought for the nx. i read about a huge brouhaha about wii vc games having a fee to be available for wii u.

Cool, Club Ninty thing hurry up, I got a wishlist that wants to be bought for prizes!

@MrSeitaro in the case of multiple 3ds I think that you'll always have to log out on one of it and log in on the other one. If it wouldn't be like this we would have a way to share games with a friend, splitting the cost of them. And I don't think that the new account system will allow this practice. Nintendo is not a charity company 😉

@Yoshi Got the answer already, just my take on it: Digital software on Nintendo devices are locked with the internal system ID. Say, you download game X on your systems SD card, put the card in another system and log in on it. You wont be able to play, because the device ID doesnt match up. Basically just rural copy protection.

Linking your software not to the system ID but to your active account will solve that issue. Log in on your system and it can verify your licenses online. Basically what everyone else is doing already. This hoever could come with some disadvantages: It could require regular online checkups, other forms of DRM to prevent "account sharing", like activating / registering systems binding them to your ID with a hard limit etc. Worst case: only one type of system per ID (one 3DS family system, one WiiU)
Sony does something rather similar in that you can register up to 5 systems on your ID.

As for the "redownload" part. To swap systems, you had to do a system transfer. So having both systems (2 3DS family systems for instance) physically together. With MyNintendo, all you need is your account data, which veryfies your licenses and lets you download your games no matter what system ID it has now.

All in all, it was long overdue to implement something like this.

@Jamotello Well, the fee for WiiU VC games was due to them running on completely new meulator software. Technically, they were new games. Imo, perfectly reasonable to ask a small fee to have them natively on the system with all their added features. If youre not willing to pay, you could always just use Wii Mode.

But since they are pretty streamlined now, i see no reason for them redoing the whole thing again for the NX. Avoid mistakes made with the WiiU and implement that stuff natively from the getgo.
If they come up with yet another VC solution, it can always be patched later on (Something, the Wii VC also lacked in)

@KDChronos The 39 countries has to be all of Europe, Japan and America at the very least. I'm hoping "you'll be able to redownload digital games from the eShop onto other devices" means cross platform support. Well it's got to be with a supposed dual console and handheld sharing the same architecture. It was wrong of Nintendo to charge double for both devices, especially when Sony didn't do so. Knowing Nintendo though, they'll increase the price of games that share this feature.

@Einherjar Close. Software is actually tied to the NNID right now. That NNID is tied to the internal system ID. With the launch of Nintendo Account and the My Nintendo services, everything becomes tied to that account and the NNID becomes simply an ID.

@Yoshi maybe that they could allow 2 or more 3ds share library per user account. E.g Sony allows to sign in into 2 PS3 and redownload your games at the same time

I'm not sure about the platinum points and gold points, as having two different sets of points makes things unnecessarily confusing. It might sound better once more details emerge.

The rest sounds good, especially the ability to redownload games on to other devices. I can imagine people would be more willing to buy VC games if they made it easy to redownload elsewhere.

As for cloud data, I would love that to mean an optional achievements system, but I'm expecting it to either be a save backup or storing some other data.

The q&a section on Nintendo's Japanese homepage specifically mentions only one Nintendo network Id can be linked to your Nintendo account. I think downloading to other devices refers to using your PC or smartphone to download it your registered 3ds / Wii u. That's my take on it anyway.

I have a new 3ds a new 3ds xl and when it comes out the Pokémon yellow 2ds. So if I could download my games on all three that would be lovely allowing to chose one to play at my pleasure!

@KDChronos. There's a map at https://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/library/events/160203/05.html
Seems like Japan, NA, EU/Russia, Brazil, Au/NZ & South Africa...

"Additionally, you'll be able to redownload digital games from the eShop onto other devices."
So, multi platform indie games and VC games on both 3DS and Wii U and you don't have to purchase them twice? YAY.

I'm interested in that "cloud data" part. Does that mean I can store my game save data in the cloud?

This would explain why the 3DS VS has been dead for over a year (to stop people double dipping, then complaining)
Will this mean GBA, SNES, N64 on 3DS?

If they let me download games on 2 wiiU's, I'm gonna buy a new wiiU and pick up splatoon!

Every shop and most online stores give points for purching stuff off them. If I have the choice I would buy at the store that offers an on the spot discount rather than a few points.

One book store gives points and I would have to spend £500 to get a free book, their books are not the cheapest anyway.

You do get a few people that like collecting points, and for some odd reason they will spend more on an item just to get the points.

@Ootfan98 Of course not, the 3DS is too weak for that. Game Boy and Game Boy Colour games for Wii U seems more likely.

Oh, downloading eShop games to other devices!? Will NX re-use the WiiU eShop instead of rebuilding it entirely? This one statement throws up so many questions in my head.

@GoldenGamer88 I hope so. That could mean NX could launch with a huge selection of indie games and maybe even some Wii U retail games. Plus if you could do a system transfer, you could use your whole Wii U purchased library on NX instantly. Maybe even your Wii Shop games too from Wii mode? If they do that and continue adding to NX VC and continue their good relationship with indies, the NX game catalogue could be pretty huge pretty fast which it desperately needs to be honest.

"Additionally, you'll be able to redownload digital games from the eShop onto other devices."

YOU MEAN WE'LL FINALLY HAVE A PROPER ACCOUNT SYSTEM?
Better late than never. Welcome to the modern age of gaming Nintendo!

I'm really hoping that this does something about the country issues with the NNIDs. I live in South Africa but my NNID is locked to the UK eShop (eShop wasn't available in SA when the Wii U launched), and I really don't want to have to make a new ID and lose all of the content I've bought and the save game data I have.

One can only hope...

Sounds great so far! Looking forward to the full reveal!

Allowing 2 consoles to share a game at once. Old vc titles not full download games. Would allow easier 2 player gameplay. And negate the 2 player download play thing. All in all this is good news. A stable network framework is imperative for whatever nintendo has planned for the future

Hopefully this means that purchases will be linked to the account itself rather than the hardware. I know it's probably unlikely knowing Nintendo, but if the new system followed Sony's model and allowed for several systems to be linked to the same account, it would be awesome.

Oooh, Brazil is included? Seems like I'll no longer need to be Canadian!

This has to mean that Nintendo will be working with a new distributor in the country, after ceasing their contract with Gaming do Brasil last year, which can only be good news.

So does this mean an achievement system will finally happen

I forgot my Nintendo Network ID password and my old gmail it's connected to. It also wont let me buy T-rated games on the e-shop. Should I just make a new one?

Additionally, you'll be able to redownload digital games from the eShop onto other devices.

If this means that I can finally put all my VC games on my NES 3DSXL, all my Pokemon games on my yellow Pikachu 3DSXL and all my Mario-related games on my white-and-red exclusive Mario 3DSXL, without double dipping, then it is a blessing!!

@ricklongo I noticed Brazil in the map as well and that probably means good things are coming for us. ^^
Now my only hope is that Nintendo comes up with some way to register more than one NNID to a My Nintendo account and unify their purchases since I and lots of other people I know have both Brazilian and Canadian accounts (on the 3DS and the WiiU, respectively) and we don't want to choose to keep only one of them.

Just as I thought... that would be too good to be true. I've got 4 3DS and I'd love to be able to use my old ones too.

I'd say the devil is in the details, such as region-/geo-/ip-locking, prices, features (stuff like cross-buy and so on), plus trophy/achievement support (I don't personally care much, but apparently literally millions of other people actually DO), and of course, I'd love to be finally able to ... you know, communicate with folks on my friendlist, do stuff like ask them: "Hey, wanna play a round of Splatoon?" .................. Should have been able to do this for roughly 10 years now Oo

Wait a minute, are we not going to get coins for buying physical copies of games anymore??

The point delivery system seems like a bit of a pain in the face. I don't really want to be faced with the choice of booking up the eShop and getting my 'Playinum Points' for the day, or just forgo the otherwise meaningless excercise and get on with my day. The personalised promotions thing is also a bit creepy. I'm sick of everything being personalised 'to my needs'. I ended up unliking pretty much everything on Facebook so the adds would get a bit less stalkerish, and now I'm happily back to 'MENS'S FASHION COATS 70% OFF'.

The whole system seems more contrived. I guess we'll see when it launches though.

as long as it operates similar to the iTunes account, in that I can download to a limited number of devices owned by me and registered to me, and I can edit this list and authorise/unauthorise as I see fit to manage my account, then I'm happy. If it does not operate in this manner, it's a waste of time and no actual improvement has been made.

The console owns the games I pay for????? That needs ditching like a bag on anthrax and fast.

@KDChronos Chart

@Grumblevolcano SNES maybe but n64 is impossible on any 3ds or new 3ds of they could make GBA new 3ds only.

@Einherjar i hope so. i took a look into the wii shopping channel and there are a lot of really good games in there that aren't on the wii u eshop.

As usual, Latin America for Nintendo is just Mexico and Brazil.

@mjc0961 Nope, YOU are wrong. Software is tied to the NNID. You just have to make a phone call to Nintendo to kinda authorize the NNID on a new system, if in any case your old system is unavailable. Save data is tied to the hardware, though.
You can go to the eShop and see your purchases. How is that tied to the hardware?

Hmmm I'm wondering if i should hold off downloading the new fire emblem til the system is in place. I'd hate to miss out on a butt ton of points buying all 3 versions...

Gold Points for digital downloads only. Man, they are really trying to phase out physical purchases . . . .

Shame that the downloading to different devices has been deconfirmed for now. Whole thing still seems a bit sketchy to me.

Points and coupons are understandable, but still no confirmation on how to earn them apart from registering Miitomo gets a platinum point. I guess that there will be a few ways to earn both points and coupons. Please let us get something for the games we've bought and played since the cessation of Club Nintendo. Plus let there be something for physical purchases too.

How the rest of the list of items will function isn't at all clear. In-store credit? Only for those living in New York or online stores that don't exist in most countries? Remote downloads I expect to mean you can order on PC/mobile from the Nintendo Store and the games will automatically download to the registered 3DSWii U. Emails? That could mean simple registration of an email. I'm not feeling particularly clear on this. It doesn't feel all that much different from the way things have been for a few years now. Cloud integration might be interesting later on, but this is the Club Nintendo replacement and not the Nintendo Account. Cloud integration might just mean you can see your purchases and info on a PC. Hoping for more details.

And what about Flip Note? Wasn't that supposed to be available to EU customers for signing up to the My Nintendo?

@maceng @AVahne @Peace-Boy @Yoshi "Additionally, you'll be able to redownload digital games from the eShop onto other devices."

Sadly, this sentence or confirmation is nowhere to be seen in the official English translation of the press release.

D'oh!! The first link in the article explains most everything.
It does not mention any points for physical purchases. That's worse than we had before.
Graphic also shows the My Nintendo/Nintendo Account launch in Japan in mid March and the rest of the world late March. More like 6-8 weeks than one month to go.

In Finland we still don't have digital reward system for competive consoles so i'm happy to see Nintendo finally making it. I bought a lot of games with those Wii U's premium reward points.

@andrew20 how is N64 impossible? unlikely that Nintendo would even try (because milking ports seems to be the strategy) but I wouldn't say impossible. And GBA already exists on 3DS as the ambassador program, so the emulator is already in place, they just haven't lifted the veil yet (if at all).

So you have to buy digital to get digital points? That sucks! Oh well, I will have very little points then.

My main question is whether my 100+ NES cartridges can be imported into this new account system for some kind of OG credit. Common nintendo, been supporting you bigtime since the 1980s. ;']

Important to note from the official translation that Platinum points are specifically redeemable for digital items, and reading between the lines, specifically not games. The picture shows things like mii outfits and 3DS themes.

So Platinum points are earned by non-monetary activities (jabbing at a smartphone or browsing the eShop), for goods with no monetary value, while it's the Gold points that are earned by spending money and redeemable for expensive goods.

Platinum = Silver.

@crimsontadpoles Previously, Club points were earned based on titles purchased and attached to your Nintendo ID either via eShop purchases or entering a code that came with a physical copy of the game. These let you get either free digital games or physical rewards. There was also the Deluxe promotion, which was completely separate, that gave you points based on all of your eShop purchases (came out to about 10% back if I remember correctly) which could be redeemed for eShop credit. These were both completely separate sites that you had to go to in addition to the eShop.

Now, everything will be done automatically as they will all be the same service. Platinum (Club) and Gold (Deluxe) are just new names for old things.

Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Supporting Norway / Sweden!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! After being left in the cold since the 1980s!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Club Nintendo)

@IceClimbers The 3DS was out, before the NNID was a thing. I doubt they changed the license chain for that. But your example might very well be true for the WiiU, which, to be honest, would be really silly A license daisy chain: Software > Acc. > ID.
Well, as long as it does its job i guess ^^

Anyways, a proper account system is a welcome change. I just hope they reach their entire consumer base so everyone registers one.
I can see the "casual confusion" comming already

@Warruz LOL, poor Africa and south Asia

So gold points are actually more valuable than platinum points? I had a fear that Nintendo would go the same route as Microsoft went with their MyRewards program: People who buy physical games aren't getting any benefits anymore. This is really disappointing as I'm buying everything physically that's available in that form. Thanks for rewarding my loyalty Nintendo! Seems as if only people who buy everything digitally count as loyal customers for you!

Let's get the ball rolling! There is nothing like getting free stuff from Nintendo.

@Manjushri yeah I hear you. I'm buying a NEW 3DS soon and hope that I will be able to unify my NEW 3DS with my 3DSXL.

@adamatsu Nope

@Moshugan It is stated in the Japanese version though so I don't know if it's a Japanese exclusive feature or what, but it's there.

@adamatsu First thing I noticed too. Most of my 3DS purchases are digital, but you can't get preorder bonuses that way. Will games for NX even come in physical form?

@manu0

Totally agree with you. Really fed up with this news. I like having something to resell.

@tux_peng
If that's the case, at least Nintendo can save themselves a fortune on in-store advertising!...

er... wait a minute...

*Shakes hand as if shaking dice.

Come on digital purchases linked to your account and not the console like every other digital purchasing platform!

Did they ever confirm that physical rewards will return too?

@Yoshi

I think it means your purchases are no longer stupidly tied to hardware. So, if your 3DS sinks to the bottom of a lake or is stolen by Elvis before he returns to Planet Xaxxar (your experiences may vary), you can redownload your games on your replacement 3DS.

@3dsgeek333
I was about to ask that too!
I want physical rewards Nintendo!!!! :<

Does that mean Nintendo's pulling a Steam and having your name tethered to an account instead of a stankin device?? WOO-HOO!!! Welcome to the 21st century, Nintendo!

Digital Digital Digital....
No need My Nintendo.

Best idea for EU...

I love the concept, but HATE the name.... Good job on confusing the HELL out of people Nintendo, you really never disappoint!

My Nintendo... That's such a Windows XP folder sounding name. It sounds like something that was new in 2001, not 2016. It's such an antiquated, drab, and vague name.

As for my thoughts after reading the English translation...

Why would your purchases be downloaded automatically after sale? You should be able to download them whenever you want afterwards, or hold off on the download if desired.

The points program seems like a return to Club Nintendo style points, except smart devices and digital purchases seem to be favored over retail purchases. Platinum renders cheaper DLC, and perhaps exclusive DLC, while Gold is a coupon discount. That is... A clear favoring of Platinum over Gold for smartphone and digital copy users, and doesn't seem to offer any incentives for physically switching over to consoles, only digitally. That's deeply disappointing for anyone who actually wants to physically own their products.

It sucks to see Latin America, Southeast Asia, and big chunks of much of the world be totally disregarded for initial My Nintendo Accounts. Especially Latin America, since they're part of North America. It's pretty pathetic that even with this "new" infrastructure, Nintendo STILL cannot offer their programs to anyone in the world who can go online, like so many PC online shops like Steam, GOG, Gamergate, Humble Bundle, Desura, etc all do. (Although fairness in pricing varies, with GOG having the best ethical behavior.) Even PSN makes My Nintendo look like a sick joke in this regard.

Miitomo is starting to sound like a digital Furby app, except with Miis instead of Furbys. You, uh... Kind of missed the boat there, Nintendo. Years ago.

Oh, no... The service is rolling out in Japan before everywhere else.... This gives me flashbacks to Sega's handling of the Phantasy Star series, especially Universe. For those who didn't play it... Basically, Japan stayed ahead of everyone else in content forever, no attempts were made to catch everyone up, and eventually everyone outside Japan got so far behind, that they were an entire YEAR of content behind. I hope DeNA and Nintendo are competent enough to not allow that to happen...

A "feature" will be added to "encourage" people to join My Nintendo, and to become members... In other words, Nintendo will officially be using DRM and spyware to track the behavior of users who don't sign on to their program, and monitor those who do. I'm not sure whether to be disgusted or spooked. Maybe both?

Well, I'm not thrilled about these details. I may give the service a miss entirely.

So no coins for games bought at a store? Well this program sucks

@PlywoodStick sounds more like you got a plywood stick up your BUTT

@Maggots So do you have any comment on anything I mentioned, or...?

@andrew20 if the game boy advance can run SNES games then the 3DS can run N64 games. Hell it already has n64 games on 3DS!!!!!!!

Great news if this means I can more easily get my ambassador games on that pokémon n3DS that I preordered.

@Yoshi either we are getting games available on cross-platform, or we get to purchase games separately to download later?

@Manjushri
Man, I have 20 NNID because Nintendo can't grasp the concept of one person having several 3DS units. For a given NNID I can only download Pokemon Shuffle to a certain 3DS not to any 3DS that I own.

Apple sells 1 dollar games and you can download it to as many as 5(?) devices. Why can Nintendo do the same? Or at least give me an easy way to concentrate all my purchases on a single unit (I've bought several 3DS with a pre-installed game -I'm looking at you, MH4 special edition!!-).

@Kicked2TheKirb the new 3ds is around Wii power so it is possible.