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WiiU

A Tale of Tanks and Wii U DLC

by Daan Koopman - January 5, 2013, 7:59 am EST
Total comments: 1

With the first DLC hitting the Wii U eShop in Japan, I raise some questions.

Some of you may have seen a recent video in which I look at downloadable content for the Tank! Tank! Tank! Basic Set. The Basic Set allows Japanese players to buy a free version of Tank! Tank! Tank! with a few restrictions. Most notable is that the single-player campaign is locked, and the multiplayer modes have very limited options. You can only choose one mission in co-op, and one stage in Versus and Team Battle modes. You are also only allowed to play multiplayer three times, though there is a way to circumvent that.

If you purchase any downloadable content, the restriction disappears and you can play as many times as you like. If you want the single-player campaign, you have to pay 2200 yen. A separate multiplayer co-op stage is 600 yen, and a versus map is 200 yen. You also have the option to buy My Kong mode. In My Kong mode, the person with the Wii U GamePad plays as an ape and smashes everything in his path, and the players with the Wii Remotes try to defeat him. It is a lot of fun, and currently costs 200 yen, though the price will increase to 1000 yen later in the year.

Unlike Nintendo 3DS software, where a special eShop wallet overlay appears on the screen, all transactions in Tank! Tank! Tank! Basic Set are done through the Nintendo eShop on Wii U. The game doesn't even provide an option you can click in-game; you have to access the HOME menu yourself and get to the Nintendo eShop from there. After this, you click on the downloadable content button in the game's profile and choose which pieces of content you want through a checklist. I find it a bit clumsy to use, as it takes a while to load everything.

After the download completes, you are required to exit the game and let it update, so that all the needed files can be installed. Although the few seconds of updates aren't the biggest issue, if we look back at the Nintendo 3DS, it did things very differently. It would go back to the game in an instant, which makes this situation all the more surprising. I have to load up the game all over again, just to have something present in the game I was currently enjoying. It remains to be seen if other games will use the same structure, and if it will improve over time. At first glance, I am not quite as optimistic as I was with the Nintendo 3DS.

Talkback

KDR_11kJanuary 06, 2013

I'm guessing that depends on the implementation.


Also Scamco.

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