Well, I'm glad to see that Nintendo's jumping into the putrid Free-to-Play pool head-first with a game everyone will be dying to play.

:(
Free-to-play has come a long way from the cheap grindfests and poor value proposition of the past.


As for Steel Diver being the choice, it is an odd and underwhelming surprise. Thinking on it more, I think this is great way to reintroduce the game. Submarine and naval combat action games are an underrepresented theme so another Steel Diver is something that is still new and fresh.


Also, I never bothered to play or buy the 3DS original. Having a free-to-play version is nice to have.

Well the original seemed like too "minor" of a game to be a retail release.  This fits it a lot better.

Since I hate free-to-play I'm glad Nintendo isn't tarnishing a franchise I actually give a damn about on it.  The more half-assed effort from Nintendo on this the better.  I don't want them to embrace this model so it would be ideal that they botch it and lose interest.

Well, on the bright side, nobody will have to pay $40 for a Steel Diver game.

Sorely disappointed that Nintendo's first free to play game is something more appealing. SOme of the conecpts from the street pass games would make better games. Hmm wonder what platform it will be for.

People paid $40 for this? I paid $3 and think it was too much.

I haven't yet played Steel Diver, so I'm not really sure how it'll work with micro-transactions.

I sort of did, Amazon had a ton of $20 off short-term credits when you bought a 3DS at launch (I think it was, I recall getting $60 off my purchase).  Given the games available at launch I ended up using an extra $20 credit on Steel Diver.  I traded it back to Amazon for $15 later, so doesn't really count I guess.

Should be easy enough, it's a time/score attack game with multiple subs with different abilities.  Make it F2P for say 1 or 2 subs  and 5 levels.  Sell 3 additional levels for $3, a different sub for $2, and various sub/weapon upgrades for $1 each (or maybe less).  No idea if that's how they will do it, but it's a simple extension of the game.

So the F2P Nintendo game is 3DS only?

It's possible that it's a Wii U version. Or maybe it will be for both systems.

As someone who's been working on various F2P games myself, I can't say I have anything against the idea.


There are legitimately cool games made for people to freely play, and spend a few dollars inside if they feel like it.


Steel Diver is certainly the type of game that I'm interested in playing, but which I find it difficult to justify paying retail price for, so a F2P model could work wonders for the game. It means I'll play it where I otherwise wouldn't, and if it's a multiplayer experience, it's especially clever of Nintendo to make it free.

Sarcasm or no, testing the waters with Steel Diver (prolly for the Wii U) makes a lot of sense. Smaller game, utilizes a dual-screen control setup, easy to pick up and play, encourages score-attack replays, built-in community to look for matches since its apparently multi-focused. Low risk since the primary structure of the game is long done anyway and you are not risking putting some taint on a valuable IP.

Hopefully with added time in the oven they could polish the title more and give it some more pizazz, maybe improve the narrative. And oh yes, DLC mushroom and arwing subs and whatnot. Super-curious to see how Ninty monetizes.


Anyways, a game like this that uses the touch screen itself as an engaging control interface is something I'd like to see more of. In this case the added complexity is itself key to the game experience. Next time, Nintendo, how about Mech piloting?


tldr; I Likes robotz.