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3DS

Problems with the European Nintendo eShop

by Daan Koopman - June 27, 2011, 5:58 pm EDT
Total comments: 2

We are off to a great start, aren't we?

As a big fan of downloadable titles on any given platform, I was thrilled by the arrival of the Nintendo eShop on June 7th. Quickly, I prepared my Nintendo DSi to transfer my DSiWare to the shiny new Nintendo 3DS. I knew it would cost me my game saves, but I was happy to have a bunch of games with me. Quickly I entered the eShop just to download all of the Virtual Console games, Pokédex 3D and Excitebike. A week passed by and once I got home, I checked the shop. Once booted it up, however, I only saw Donkey Kong on the shelf, and wondered where the new DSiWare releases are. I looked through the release notes in the news section, but it only mentioned Donkey Kong and Link's Awakening DX. The text wished me a good time with these exciting new offerings and that I should come back soon for more new content. 

Then it struck me that there were no new DSiWare games on the store. Slowly I started to discover that other features on the European store are currently wasted potential. There is barely any retail information, with some games missing that are currently available in stores. Games like Ghost Recon: Shadow Wars, Ridge Racer 3D and Pro Evolution Soccer 2011 3D are just a few of the examples. Trailers are not common on the store, and only two at best are in 3D. To this very day we are still waiting for those E3 2011 trailers to be added, but that seems like it is not very likely at this point.

As I mentioned before, new DSiWare offerings don't become available on Nintendo eShop. Just one question: Why? America and Japan still get them every single week and it doesn't seem like it's an extra hassle to upload them to our eShop. Currently, DSiWare entries only have small little screenshots and information from the Nintendo DSi Shop. Why do I know that you ask? Well, I am located in the Netherlands, which means my version of the service is automatically Dutch. While that's fair enough, why is all the DSiWare information still in English? It is not like that information doesn't even exist. If you look at our local website, you will see that all the details are provided in my native tongue. Another problem is that some DSiWare games highlighted on the few shelves the store has (fighting games, racing games and DSiWare highlights) don't even have banners to promote them upfront, including some of Nintendo's own offerings like the Art Style series.

While I am not saying that there isn't anything worthwhile on the store, Nintendo is not giving us something fresh and new. When can we expect more 3D classics? What is the fate of original Nintendo 3DS download software? When can we expect the return of DSiWare? It doesn't seem Nintendo of Europe is changing their course very soon, but what we got was definitely not worth waiting till June for. A handful of Virtual Console titles can't fix these problems, even if they are pure nostalgia. I came here for a fresh, amped-up download experience and still hope that we in Europe can experience this. For now I have to return to my DSi, which really saddens me.

Talkback

CericJune 27, 2011

I know what happened. 

NoE saw that NoA were being bigger screw ups then them.  This would not do.  So looking where they hadn't screwed anything up yet and weren't obligated they saw the poor eShop.  "Hey Stopppp Don't put those on the servers.  Not until we are declared he bigger screw ups."  Thus though the sin of Sloth NoE wil become the bigger Screw Up.  Now the bargain that Nintendo had made in the 80's comes back to haunt ever more.

coffeewithgamesJune 27, 2011

Wow, this seems really odd.  It would seem like Nintendo, as a whole, would be better at releasing updates for online services with their systems.
Why it has taken NoE so long to get up E3 trailers is really odd though, and that doesn't make any sense to me...I would think that would have been done the week of E3.


Hopefully this catches some wind, and reaches the right people quickly, so it gets fixed.

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