Wii U Digital Shop

[Veitch11]

So, I've got to thinking lately about the Wii U and its fast-approaching launch. Personally, I believe that Nintendo will publish only a couple titles at launch (plus a pack-in with the system) and let third-party titles shine again, but in a way the 3DS launch games couldn't. With a variety of AAA titles announced already by third-parties, I believe Nintendo may look into fleshing out the system's digital shop with great content instead of working on getting more of their own games ready for launch.

My intentions with this thread are for us to discuss what we'd like to see in the Wii U's digital shop...I'll start it off with some of the things I'd love to see.

*Re-launch of the Virtual Console service
-Let's face it. The VC on the Wii Shop is dead. There have been announcements of some more games coming soon;
however, there's still not much, and no one knows when those titles will arrive. I tend to believe that Nintendo has
realized that the online system implemented with Wii was somewhat of a failure and that they've been holding back
some titles from launch on the Wii's VC so they may stand a better chance when the Wii U launches. This could be
completely wrong, but I think it's a possibility. The N64 hasn't seen very many titles on the VC, and I think the arrival
of the Wii U will bring many more N64 titles as well as Gamecube titles. Wind Waker and Mario Sunshine on day one?
Yes, please.

*Wii U Controller Support
-The Wii U controller is pretty much the swiss-army knife of controllers and can easily provide control setups for any
of the systems currently available on the virtual console, and any that could be added in the future. The beauty of the
Wii U controller being able to control those games is that it could also allow the ability to play games without the TV
on just the controller. This is an ability that could easily be implemented to all games available on the surface and
would, in my opinion, add value to each title.

*System Transfer
-This is simple enough. If we can't bring the games that we've already purchased over to our Wii U, then that will be a
bit of a ripoff...

*eShop Interface and Compatibility with 3DS/DSi Downloadable Titles
-The ability to transfer DSi/3DS Download titles to the Wii U (minus 3D support of course) would make a ton of sense.
The fact that it makes so much sense is also why it probably won't happen, but imagine having access to your full
library of downloadable titles on the Wii U. It would be easy to transfer/copy titles to the Wii U from your DSi/3DS
and would be another way for Nintendo to prove they're more serious about their online interfaces.

[Serpent_Seed]

I better be able to bring my stuff from Wii over. Anyways, I would enjoy a nice online shop. Plus i bet they are saving some stuff for Wii U instead of Wii's VC. I do want a transfer tool to store stuff from my 3DS so i can keep the 2GB for a long time.

[KingBroly]

I'm betting on User Accounts.

[Serpent_Seed]

User accounts would be great. also i would love if they made an update for 3DS so it too can use a user account.

[gtt]

User accounts. this needs to happen. my hardware should not be my user account. I want my digital titles to go from system to system, down the generations.

severe price reductions, sales, bundles, etc.

portability. play my snes games on my 3ds, game boy games on my wii/wiiu.

Put all their first party nes/snes/gb/gbc/gba/n64/gcn games up on the shop within the first year. All of them. Their back catalog is one of nintendo's greatest strength, combined with good pricing, would be an amazing way to show that they are serious about this space.

[Veitch11]

Yes! I forgot to mention pricing! They MUST embrace a better pricing system. NES games should be $3, SNES games should be $5, etc. Then throw in special deals every now and then like the Playstation store...it bothers me how solidified the crappy pricing system is...

[Battlestriker123]

Put all their first party nes/snes/gb/gbc/gba/n64/gcn games up on the shop within the first year. All of them.

No no no no no no no. This is the exact reason why its been over 100 days since we got any "new" VC games. They oversaturated the Wii Shop during its first year, people only bought like 3 or 4 games, if any, and now people are complaining that there are no more games to play on the Wii Shop.

[gtt]

Yes! I forgot to mention pricing! They MUST embrace a better pricing system. NES games should be $3, SNES games should be $5, etc. Then throw in special deals every now and then like the Playstation store...it bothers me how solidified the crappy pricing system is...

more like 1$ for a NES game, 1.50$ for a SNES game, 2$ for a 64 game. and 5$ for a gcn game.

Put all their first party nes/snes/gb/gbc/gba/n64/gcn games up on the shop within the first year. All of them.

No no no no no no no. This is the exact reason why its been over 100 days since we got any "new" VC games. They oversaturated the Wii Shop during its first year, people only bought like 3 or 4 games, if any, and now people are complaining that there are no more games to play on the Wii Shop.

I disagree. I think the focus of the digital store should be new stuff. I'd get the back catalog stuff out of the way. just have it there, it just its there, taking up less space than a single dvd on a server somewhere, having a 100000000% profit margin everytime someone buys a copy of mario.

just be all like, "oh yea, we have like, the SNES library up there on our store, whatever, that's not even what we're focused on."

[Veitch11]

While I do agree that the back-catalogue should be there day one, and not a big deal, they need to flaunt it big time and keep supporting it. New games should be the focus, but they need them in bigger amounts! The 3DS has a nice thing going, but something bigger would be much nicer. Also, we'll NEVER see $1 NES games, $1.50 SNES games, etc. That'd be ridiculously cheap, and even I believe they're worth more than that....

[gtt]

While I do agree that the back-catalogue should be there day one, and not a big deal, they need to flaunt it big time and keep supporting it. New games should be the focus, but they need them in bigger amounts! The 3DS has a nice thing going, but something bigger would be much nicer. Also, we'll NEVER see $1 NES games, $1.50 SNES games, etc. That'd be ridiculously cheap, and even I believe they're worth more than that....

They really aren't. We are coming up on 30 years. Copies of 30 year old roms should not be 5$. I think a single dollar is generous at this point. and more to the point, with digital, less is more as far as pricing goes.

if SNES games were 1.50, I'd be far more likely to buy like, 10 at once. that's 15$. when they are 8 or whatever the hell they are now, I buy one. that's it. and I don't come back for months at a time because the price for what they are is just simply outrageous that it turns me off the whole store. steam has sales and cheap stuff all the time. and you know what, I check that thing multiple times a day. and I buy stuff there on a lark. not so with the VC. I've spent probably close to 1000$ on steam stuff, and while yes, there are some new games in there, it's cheap stuff and sale stuff that makes the majority of that total.

[TwistedN]

more like 1$ for a NES game, 1.50$ for a SNES game, 2$ for a 64 game. and 5$ for a gcn game.

Yeah I don't think so, Nintendo has done the upscaling for you, look at the Wii's VC they made them all 480i/p. I guess they will make them all go to 720p/1080i/p without the price rape.
$4 for NES $6 SNES $ 9 N64 $15 GameCube, On sale in same order, $2 $4 $6 $8.
I hope we get a bundle for the Mario Party games 1-3 $17 4-7 $30-45

[gtt]

more like 1$ for a NES game, 1.50$ for a SNES game, 2$ for a 64 game. and 5$ for a gcn game.

Yeah I don't think so, Nintendo has done the upscaling for you, look at the Wii's VC they made them all 480i/p. I guess they will make them all go to 720p/1080i/p without the price r**e.
$4 for NES $6 SNES $ 9 N64 $15 GameCube, On sale in same order, $2 $4 $6 $8.
I hope we get a bundle for the Mario Party games 1-3 $17 4-7 $30-45

that is done in the emulator. a one time labor expense. not justification for outrageous pricing.

explain to me how any NES rom is worth more than 1$. go on, I'll wait.

[The_Dude1212]

Two words: Copyright royalties.

Even if Nintendo wanted to adopt that price setup, I doubt every other third party would be so generous. You think Activision-Blizzard wouldn't take advantage of the price StarCraft 64 is at currently? Or if Tecmo thought Ninja Gaiden 3 was worth less than $15?

Or even Bandai wouldn't extort as much as they could for Stadium Events?

[Zug Zug]

more like 1$ for a NES game, 1.50$ for a SNES game, 2$ for a 64 game. and 5$ for a gcn game.

Yeah I don't think so, Nintendo has done the upscaling for you, look at the Wii's VC they made them all 480i/p. I guess they will make them all go to 720p/1080i/p without the price r**e.
$4 for NES $6 SNES $ 9 N64 $15 GameCube, On sale in same order, $2 $4 $6 $8.
I hope we get a bundle for the Mario Party games 1-3 $17 4-7 $30-45

NES-1.50
SNES-2.50
N64-3.50
GC-5$
That's how I would price it.

[KingBroly]

Considering Microsoft charges $15 for incompetent and incomplete ports of Xbox games, I doubt Cube games will be $5.

[gtt]

Two words: Copyright royalties.

Even if Nintendo wanted to adopt that price setup, I doubt every other third party would be so generous. You think Activision-Blizzard wouldn't take advantage of the price StarCraft 64 is at currently? Or if Tecmo thought Ninja Gaiden 3 was worth less than $15?

Or even Bandai wouldn't extort as much as they could for Stadium Events?

I think third parties would be on board with lowering their prices, if they saw strong customer presence in the market. which well a well stocked and reasonable priced back catalog along with strong new titles(also reasonably priced) would do.

they need to get people in the door, as it were, and you don't do that by charging 5$ for 30 year old roms. and by not having bundles and sales and such. They are hamstringing themselves with the over priced, understocked digital store.

[KingBroly]

They need to lower prices for Genesis games at least.

[TwistedN]

more like 1$ for a NES game, 1.50$ for a SNES game, 2$ for a 64 game. and 5$ for a gcn game.

Yeah I don't think so, Nintendo has done the upscaling for you, look at the Wii's VC they made them all 480i/p. I guess they will make them all go to 720p/1080i/p without the price r**e.
$4 for NES $6 SNES $ 9 N64 $15 GameCube, On sale in same order, $2 $4 $6 $8.
I hope we get a bundle for the Mario Party games 1-3 $17 4-7 $30-45

that is done in the emulator. a one time labor expense. not justification for outrageous pricing.

explain to me how any NES rom is worth more than 1$. go on, I'll wait.

For Nintendo games, a dollar for say a 20 year old game would be cheap and all but people have to make money, if I put hours into a painting I made 20 years ago and people want to buy it, I'd put it at the highest price and reasonable price as possible, seems like what Nintendo is doing now.

[gtt]

For Nintendo games, a dollar for say a 20 year old game would be cheap and all but people have to make money, if I put hours into a painting I made 20 years ago and people want to buy it, I'd put it at the highest price and reasonable price as possible, seems like what Nintendo is doing now.

if you could replicate your painting for zero cost would you want 10 people to buy it for 10$? or 100 people to buy it for 1$ and on their way out those hundred people all see your other work and since they have money left over they buy some of that to, and when they are done they end up spending more total than they would have just buying that one painting.

The work on these roms is done. they can be replicated infinitely for zero per unit cost at will. Digital sales of back catalog items is pure unadulterated profit. and you don't maximize that profit by charging a premium.

[PaperLink64]

Considering Microsoft charges $15 for incompetent and incomplete ports of Xbox games, I doubt Cube games will be $5.

$15 for Nintendo 64 ROMs as well!

[KingBroly]

Considering Microsoft charges $15 for incompetent and incomplete ports of Xbox games, I doubt Cube games will be $5.

$15 for Nintendo 64 ROMs as well!

Eh...Banjo-Kazooie is an enhanced remake. And considering the game's quality (note: I got it for free with N&B pre-order) I'd say it's worth it. Tooie is just a bad game, and they didn't show the same love and care for it like they did the original, so it's not worth $15 IMO. Perfect Dark, however, was $10 only, had online multiplayer and brought in the Goldeneye weapons to break the game. Moronic.

[Broken_Cartridge]

Eh...Banjo-Kazooie is an enhanced remake. And considering the game's quality (note: I got it for free with N&B pre-order) I'd say it's worth it. Tooie is just a bad game, and they didn't show the same love and care for it like they did the original, so it's not worth $15 IMO. Perfect Dark, however, was $10 only, had online multiplayer and brought in the Goldeneye weapons to break the game. Moronic.

I think that just boils down to preference. I enjoyed Tooie way more then the original, and everyone else that I've encountered irl has had the same opinion as me. I bought both Kazooie and Tooie off of XBLA, and the only purchase I regret was Kazooie.

Edit:
Also, about pricing of games on the Wii U shop. Let's all take into consideration that NES games on the 3DS (that have been given the "3D" treatment) are 6 bucks. I know that it's because they enhanced it for 3D, but if we'll be getting VC games that can output to HD that's somewhat of a reason that Nintendo would have to raise prices "Get Wind Waker HD for $15!" and so on and so forth.

[gtt]

Edit:
Also, about pricing of games on the Wii U shop. Let's all take into consideration that NES games on the 3DS (that have been given the "3D" treatment) are 6 bucks. I know that it's because they enhanced it for 3D, but if we'll be getting VC games that can output to HD that's somewhat of a reason that Nintendo would have to raise prices "Get Wind Waker HD for $15!" and so on and so forth.

I'm sorry, no. I'm not paying a premium on what will be 30 year old NES roms because nintendo decided to code some up-scaling into their emulator. and especially if they don't get a persistent account system in place.

[Irritating Stick]

As far as VC games go for the Wii U I would probably pay these prices if they were upscaled in some way, shape, or form.

NES: $3
SNES: $5
N64: $7-10
GC/Wii: $10-20

Just my two cents...

[Broken_Cartridge]

I'm sorry, no. I'm not paying a premium on what will be 30 year old NES roms because nintendo decided to code some up-scaling into their emulator. and especially if they don't get a persistent account system in place.

Yeah, kinda peeved that they're doing that on the 3DS. In their defense, they don't just "up-scale" it into their emulator. They actually do have to remake it in 3D. Of course they still have the same assets from the game that they use, but they completely remake the game in a 3D environment for the 3D classics. It was in a Iwata Asks. Does that make those old NES games worth the $6? No, but maybe if they started adding more to them other then just 3D.

And I'm a little disappointed that their isn't a account system in place yet. I plan on getting a lot of downloadable games for the 3DS, but if my system breaks completely I'll be SOL. Which sucks. They definitely need to have an account system in place for the Wii-U. If they don't I won't purchase content available on the internet as much as I would on the PS3 or 360.