Topic: This Week in Europe Downloads - October 26, 2012

[Killer_Man_Jaro]

Professor Layton hogs the limelight in this week's selection of releases.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/news/32258

It's slim pickings for European digital downloads this Friday, with a brand new retail game the only major release on the 3DS eShop, alongside a few low-key titles and a series of short 3D films. Meanwhile, there are zero new additions to the Wii Shop Channel.

Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask, the fifth game in the accoladed series from Level-5, is the obvious cream of this week's crop, becoming only the second title after New Super Mario Bros. 2 to launch on the eShop on the same day as its retail release. As Layton's inaugural outing on 3DS, Miracle Mask brings the franchise's classic blend of adventure and puzzle gameplay to a dazzling new 3D engine, and offers 365 puzzles to download over the duration of a year (you can read our review here). Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask is available for £39.99/€44.99, but early buyers will also receive double Star Points when they register the game on their Club Nintendo account.

Elsewhere, Tecmo Koei's Mighty Bomb Jack, originally for the Nintendo Entertainment System, is the latest entry onto the 3DS Virtual Console. The player controls Jack as he travels through 16 platform levels, defusing bombs everywhere he goes. Mighty Bomb Jack costs £4.49/€4.99.

The only other new game is Heavy Fire: Special Operations 3D, which is also priced at £4.49/€4.99. Similar to its WiiWare counterpart, this game is an arcade-style first-person shooting gallery game, set in the Middle East.

A few other items round out the rest of this week's digital offerings. Let's Golf 3D, one of the first pieces of 3DS Download Software to be released on the eShop, has seen a 67 percent price cut down to £1.79/€1.99, available for a limited only. 

In addition, there are two DLC packs for New Art Academy. The first, Pointilism & Textures, provides extra options for adding detail to your creations, while the second, Mixing Paints, allows you to make new mixtures of colours by combining paints. Both add-ons are £1.79/€1/99 each, while New Art Academy itself can be downloaded from the eShop for £29.99/€34.99, or purchased via retail.

Lastly, Breakthru Films has released seven 3D videos, titled Fat Hamster, Little Postman, Magical Dance, Papa's Boy, Scarecrow, Spirits of the Piano, and Transformation, respectively. All of these short films can be bought for £0.89/€0.99 each.

[MrPhishfood]

Just got Professor Layton today.

I live in Britain (the Home of Professor Layton, u jelly?) and the game on the eShop costs £40 but at a retail store it costs £35 and online its selling for £30.

Of course Nintendo don't set the prices over here so I assume they have to set the eShop prices to be the same as the RRP.

[TJ Spyke]

Yep, Nintendo sets the eShop prices to be the same as the RRP they give to retailers. The fact that most retailers tend to sell games for less than the RRP makes some people think Nintendo is charging more for the online copies (which is false).

[NWR_insanolord]

Nintendo might want to reconsider what the recommended price should be if nobody actually sells it at that.

[TJ Spyke]

But retailers do that, no matter what the price is. If Nintendo lowers the RRP, retailers will still sell less than that.

[NWR_insanolord]

Outside of Amazon, retail prices for Nintendo games in America tend to be right around MSRP, less by a few cents maybe.