Hopefully most of you won't be surprised by this pricing. New Super Mario Bros. 2 has officially received its eShop pricing. If you're going to buy the digital version, get ready to cough up $39.99.
Nintendo has already said that there weren't going to be differences in retail and eShop pricing. There may be opportunities with buying digital codes at retail, but going straight through the eShop nets you the same price. Now you have to decide if the convenience is worth the lack of box and cartridge.
Link
Nintendo has already said that there weren't going to be differences in retail and eShop pricing. There may be opportunities with buying digital codes at retail, but going straight through the eShop nets you the same price. Now you have to decide if the convenience is worth the lack of box and cartridge.
Link
RSS Feeds:
Even when they take it off the eshop, the game is still in your download list, and you can redownload it from there.
Glad RMC pointed out all the details here. Basically non-news.
Still total shovel, but non-news.
This is a godsend to me, if they manage to convert that price correctly. Here in Mexico, they sell 3DS games for 800 MXN ($60). However, games in the eshop are cheaper than the regular conversion rates.
For example, at the American eshop Pushmo is 7 USD, that should be 93.50 MXN. However, at the Mexican eshop, Pushmo is 86.99 MXN. That's five US cents cheaper than the regular conversion rate.
Simply put, Digital copies should always be cheaper then retail ones. Period.
But don't take it from me, let Jim Sterling explain it. http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/jimquisition/5684-Dont-Charge-Retail-Prices-For-Digital-Games (I'm kinda surprised, no one posted this yet)
I don't follow.. What perks are you talking about?
I thought it was fact that things like making a manual, a plastic box, the box art and the actual game disc added to the production cost which then was added to the game's retail price.
So again, if none of that is factored in for the digital version, why should they cost the same?
Apparently because certain people find the convenience factor appealing. The rationale basically boils down to something's value being determined not by its production costs, but the amount people are willing to pay for it, and that is basically the foundation of a free market system. Regardless, Nintendo's still going to limit the audience for their downloads by keeping the price the same as more full-featured copies while removing significant features, but maybe that's what they want anyway. I personally like the approach of many DVD and Blu-Ray sets, which provide a digital copy along with the physical copy, but it's understandable that game makers don't necessarily want to do that when they can cut out all production costs and still charge the same price.
No thanks.
I would only "maybe" consider this if the purchase(s) were bound to my Club Nintendo account and thus, be portable and movable forward as newer 3DS hardware comes out, or new generations of the system are released. The way it is now you can only move them a few times before they're "frozen". I guess it all depends on what you consider a "value" to be; they might be surprised by the outcome. Or who knows, maybe I'm in the minority here.
I think Nintendo needs to learn from Apple on this one and make purchased "apps" flexible, re-usable, and at the very least, more affordable so that the risk is at least somewhat tamed by a lower purchase price. If the cost of the title was 25% lower, I would feel slightly inclined to just buy it digitally on launch day. With price parity, I will always go physical; the resale value and physical product provided is clearly worth more than the convenience of a download.
They're off to a good start as far as their openness to digital sales is concerned, but they still have a lot to learn it seems.
@NeroSuferoth it's more convenient. I can just browse the catalog from my house and in less than an hour I have the full game ready to go. It's always on your system. No more carrying and swapping cartridges. You also CAN purchase it at the store if you want to, if the retailer wants to lower the price they can. Things like that
Nintendo has a HUGE relationship with retailers, and they don't want to damage that relationship. You can probably pick up NSMB2 for digital at GameStop when they have a sale or something, but again, Nintendo wants to make sure retailers will always win.
Was there ever any doubt? Seriously?
Not really sure where they get off selling digital goods as the same price as physical?! And by "they," I don't just mean Nintendo! There should be a law against this garbage! At least take $10 off! Marvel has $4 digital comics, same as physical, Sony and M$ are doing it as well! This is total BS!
Digital goods should NOT be the same price as physical! The consumer is getting ripped here while these jerkoff pocket all that extra money for doing NOTHING!
Why should they get more money while we get less product?
A song for .99 cents on iTunes is fine, because we aren't forced to buy the whole album, but all other digital goods should be less than the physical. We are paying for the physical creation of, the shipping and to have it sit on store shelves, yet none of those things are actually happening?! All that money is going for us to have the convenience of downloading it? That's a stupid argument!
No, it isn't.
Didn't know so many people here work for Nintendo's marketing department. Why are we justifying this like it's okay people? And so sure of it too.
Lmao. Having bought my share of digital titles on the 360-I'm fine with this. *Sits back and watches topic go nuts still*
lol at the "I no have to change my game anymore" and "leaving the house is a hassle". If people feel ripped off for paying full retail price for a non tangable, licence to play a game, then let them. Nintendo is not going to reward you for sticking up for them on a internet message board.
My point was that you can't guarantee that the eShop/Club Nintendo/Nintendo be around in 20 years. Nintendo could choose to retire their old servers and then access to the old eShop and 3DS library be retired also. It happens.
I have GB and NES carts that still work today. If they had been digital copies, I wouldn't imagine all of them would still be available on the VC/eShops today.
Don't get me wrong, I'm all for digital and will buy most of my games digital. I just think that the digital copy has a higher risk of being lost/inaccessible than the physical copy.
In terms of the price, the cost of getting the digital game to the customer is a fraction of the cost of getting the physical copy to the customer which, in my opinion, would justify the digital price being cheaper than the physical.
Huh. For some reason I thought they said digital would be cheaper. I didn't expect significantly cheaper but a bit cheaper.
I'm still not convinced about digital distribution yet (if it is a smaller game, like pinball or bejeweled then I am) anyway...
Definitely getting retail, nothing compares to opening a case and holding the disc and manual in your hands!
Because it is.
It's true that people ought to not care about others' personal stances in these kind of situations if they're not going to ever be on the same page, but you have to understand that these people are using their own sentiments to argue an objective standpoint (specifically, Nintendo should lower the price because they don't care about digital benefits and think that production costs have meaning), which leads to these kind of arguments.
If Nintendo is not around in 20 years, then manufacturing of even their retail games would stop as well. Then we would have to settle with buying what's being passed around. It's not any different between retail and digital.
Physical media is not everlasting and will always be more prone to damage or any other related circumstance than a digital file.
Production costs are irrelevant. You don't see people trying to argue that a game like Brain Age 2 should've had its MSRP be the same as regular DS games because the cost of getting one copy manufactured also costs Nintendo the same.
You're not getting my point...
You buy the physical game today and you can play it indefinit,ely regardless of Nintendo's future existence or the status of their servers. I'm not taking about buying the physical game new in 20 years time.
You buy the digital game today, and in 5, 10, 20 years need to re-download your purchase, you can't if the game os gone off the eShop, the eShop itself is gone or Nintendo is gone. That's very different.
Will you be able to backup your purchases and be able to restore your purchases without reliance on Nintendo? In my experience physical (game) media is far more reliable and less prone to damage. Especially cartridges.
Personal experience means nothing in justifying an objective standpoint.
I see no reason to take your supposition seriously if you aren't going to provide reasoning to convince anyone of its possibility.
There will still be people who will buy the digital copy.
Then disregard my personal experience and just respond to:
"You buy the physical game today and you can play it indefinitely regardless of Nintendo's future existence or the status of their servers. I'm not taking about buying the physical game new in 20 years time.
You buy the digital game today, and in 5, 10, 20 years need to re-download your purchase, you can't if the game os gone off the eShop, the eShop itself is gone or Nintendo is gone. That's very different."
FYI, your statements saying "Physical media is not everlasting and will always be more prone to damage or any other related circumstance than a digital file" is also subjective and not a definite objective standpoint.
I already did respond to that, so I'd be encouraged to think that you don't understand what I'm talking about.
And no, I don't believe that my statements are subjective, or else I would not have used them in order to support an objective standpoint. Would you care to enlighten me as to how they are?
Games on the Steam are mostly more expensive than on the shops. And I always buy my PC games from the Steam.
View the full discussion!