Topic: Amazon.com Starts Selling WiiWare Games

[Flames_of_chaos]

The big online retailer starts selling WiiWare game download ticket codes.
 http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/newsArt.cfm?artid=18256

 Today, Amazon.com made a listing for recent WiiWare success World of Goo. The listing marks the first time a downloadable WiiWare title has been available for purchase outside of the Wii Shop Channel. The game has a price of $14.99 on Amazon, which matches the price of the game if purchased on WiiWare. The only difference is that if purchased on Amazon.com, the retailer will promptly e-mail the buyer with a Wii Download Ticket that the buyer will then have to enter in the shop channel to redeem the purchase.    

So far, the only WiiWare title that Amazon.com sells is World of Goo. It is unknown whether Nintendo is testing out a new way to sell WiiWare games and raise awareness of the service, nor is there any indication of whether more WiiWare titles will be available from the online retailer in the future.

[Plugabugz]

INTERESTING!

I would love to see these on other sites (Play.com particuarly!) so i can just put the code in and grab the game.

[Pale]

I can't help but wonder who takes the hit to give Amazon a cut of the sale price... Nintendo or the Developer or both?

[broodwars]

I'm confused.  What exactly is the point of this?  To bypass the points system?  If the games were discounted on Amazon, then maybe I can see the benefits (though I highly doubt we'll see this happen on a service Nintendo directly controls) but otherwise there's not much difference.

[EasyCure]

At first i thought this would be an interesting way to sell WiiWare games to those consumers who don't have their Wii's online, then i remembered you'd need to have your Wii online to even input the Download Ticket#.

If you have your wii online anyway, wouldn't this just be an unnecessary step to downloading a game?

[Flames_of_chaos]

I'm confused.  What exactly is the point of this?  To bypass the points system?  If the games were discounted on Amazon, then maybe I can see the benefits (though I highly doubt we'll see this happen on a service Nintendo directly controls) but otherwise there's not much difference.

Most likely more WiiWare exposure, and since the retailer is Amazon, they can have sales. Ever since Amazon opened up their Xbox Live Arcade store, they have sales practically every week. For example Amazon is selling Flock for $10 where as if you purchased it on the Xbox Live Market Place it's still 1200 Microsoft points or 15 dollars.

And Amazon's shop can be a good way to gift one of your friends the game if you don't want to spend 20 dollars on a 15 dollar game (remember that you can only buy Wii Points in denominations of 1000,2000,3000 and 5000 on the Wii Shop Channel or 2000 Nintendo Point Cards in retail).

[UltimatePartyBear]

Brilliant.  I hope this program expands.  I see the most potential in gift giving, since now you can put the code in a birthday card to make the exchange personal, not to mention give away prizes without having to deal with friend codes.  It's also handy for marketing, since Amazon will be recommending this to every registered user with a Wii.  It also takes away any excuse from Wii points haters who demand to pay with real money for one item at a time.

[Smash_Brother]

It should be noted that I suggested this idea to Nintendo.

But yeah, this is great and will be great for giving more exposure to WiiWare in general.

As of yet, I'm not entirely certain that most Wii owners even know the service exists. In fact, I'd bet the opposite.

[Flames_of_chaos]

I have a feeling Amazon and/or Nintendo will send out emails and maybe messages on the Wii Message Board.

[MegaByte]

And Amazon's shop can be a good way to gift one of your friends the game if you don't want to spend 20 dollars on a 15 dollar game (remember that you can only buy Wii Points in denominations of 1000,2000,3000 and 5000 on the Wii Shop Channel or 2000 Nintendo Point Cards in retail).

This is why I welcome this news.

[vudu]

As of yet, I'm not entirely certain that most Wii owners even know the service exists. In fact, I'd bet the opposite.

People really don't notice the SHOP CHANNEL icon in the upper right corner of the screen when they turn on their Wii?

And Amazon's shop can be a good way to gift one of your friends the game if you don't want to spend 20 dollars on a 15 dollar game (remember that you can only buy Wii Points in denominations of 1000,2000,3000 and 5000 on the Wii Shop Channel or 2000 Nintendo Point Cards in retail).

This is why I welcome this news.

You just need to buy more stuff.    I whole-heartedly recommend Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts.

[NWR_Lindy]

Yeah, the best part of this is that somebody can now give you an Amazon gift certificate and you can use part of it on a WiiWare game, and the rest of it for something else.  You're no longer locked into buying Nintendo points, which of course can only be used to buy Nintendo games on Nintendo's service.

This rules.

[NWR_pap64]

As of yet, I'm not entirely certain that most Wii owners even know the service exists. In fact, I'd bet the opposite.

People really don't notice the SHOP CHANNEL icon in the upper right corner of the screen when they turn on their Wii

Considering that Nintendo is working hard to try and connect every Wii sold, going as far as to give players 500 Nintendo points if they help others connect their Wiis to the internet in Japan, I think S_B is right in his assumption.

[vudu]

I love that everyone in this thread has probably already bought World of Goo.

Considering that Nintendo is working hard to try and connect every Wii sold, going as far as to give players 500 Nintendo points if they help others connect their Wiis to the internet in Japan, I think S_B is right in his assumption.

Wait, what?  You just told me that Nintendo is trying very hard to inform everyone that they can buy games online.  Then you told me that Nintendo is giving about point which can be used to buy a game online for free.  Why do you still think that most people don't know they can buy games online?

[UltimatePartyBear]

I haven't.  Blame fridge cleaning and, since that was fixed, my latest PC game addiction.  Now I'm tempted to buy it this way even though I have points to spare.

[TJ Spyke]

I'm confused.  What exactly is the point of this?  To bypass the points system?  If the games were discounted on Amazon, then maybe I can see the benefits (though I highly doubt we'll see this happen on a service Nintendo directly controls) but otherwise there's not much difference.

Say somebody wants to buy a WiiWare game when they are not at home. They could buy it and then download it when they get home. Or if somebody wants to buy a certain game but don't want to have to buy extra points (like if you have 100 points and want World of Goo, this way you won't have to buy $20 worth of points).

[stevey]

They should start selling World of Goo in stores. Everyone needs to buy it at lease once!

[TJ Spyke]

I disagree, I think WOG is vastly over-rated. I think it's a decent game, but overpriced at $15 and I am happy I didn't pay for it (I got it in the NeoGAF Secret Santa program).

[broodwars]

I disagree, I think WOG is vastly over-rated. I think it's a decent game, but overpriced at $15 and I am happy I didn't pay for it (I got it in the NeoGAF Secret Santa program).

We found a witch!  May we burn her?   

Seriously, the game isn't perfect and can be really frustrating at times, but it is easily the best game on WiiWare right now and is the standard by which all future games on the service must be judged now.

[TJ Spyke]

It should have been $10 though, $15 is too much for the quality (same thing with Braid on Xbox Live Arcade, that game is a total rip-off at $15 and should have been $5).

[KDR_11k]

(remember that you can only buy Wii Points in denominations of 1000,2000,3000 and 5000 on the Wii Shop Channel or 2000 Nintendo Point Cards in retail).

We've got 1000 and 3000 point cards at retail now.

They should start selling World of Goo in stores. Everyone needs to buy it at lease once!

We've got the PC version in stores, does that count?

Seriously, the game isn't perfect and can be really frustrating at times, but it is easily the best game on WiiWare right now and is the standard by which all future games on the service must be judged now.

Well, there are other games that don't turn frustrating at all...

[Flames_of_chaos]

In America I only saw 2000 Nintendo Points Cards, I think in Japan they once had a 5000 Wii Points Card bundled with a Classic Controller.

[Stratos]

In America I only saw 2000 Nintendo Points Cards, I think in Japan they once had a 5000 Wii Points Card bundled with a Classic Controller.

They just recently announced that America would be getting the 1k and 3k cards.

I like the idea because if they expand it to include other games I can put them on my wishlist and stalk it until Amazon offers a special deal on the ones I think are too expensive.

[Mop it up]

One word: superfluous.

The game has a price of $14.99 on Amazon, which matches the price of the game if purchased on WiiWare.

That's not entirely true, as the game costs $15 even when purchased at the shop. So you save a penny. Does Amazon charge sales tax? If not, you've saved even more.

[TJ Spyke]

Does Amazon charge sales tax? If not, you've saved even more.

If you live in New York they do, .

Stupid Governor Paterson, no wonder the majority of people here in New York don't want him elected to a full term and why he has the lowest approval ratings of any governor in New York history.