Topic: Hypothetical situation involving transfer of Virtual Console accounts

[Louieturkey]

I will just say I agree that they need an account based system.  I only bought 4 total VC/Wiiware games because I didn't want to be tied to just that system.  On the PS3, I've bought nearly 100 or more games on there because of the system in place.  If the system was better for Nintendo and similar to Sony's approach, I almost guarantee I would have bought many more games on the system.

[Mop it up]

but if you lose or decide to sell a system you should be able to recover those games without the hassle of jumping through hoops.

Why should you be able to get back games that you sold? The only way to get back what you sell is to buy it again, digital purchases should be no different in that regard.

I didn't think about theft though, that's a good point. I s'pose the benefit of not having physical media is that it can't be stolen.

[Pixelated Pixies]

but if you lose or decide to sell a system you should be able to recover those games without the hassle of jumping through hoops.

Why should you be able to get back games that you sold? The only way to get back what you sell is to buy it again, digital purchases should be no different in that regard.

I didn't think about theft though, that's a good point. I s'pose the benefit of not having physical media is that it can't be stolen.

If you read what I wrote again you'll see I said nothing about selling the games. I was talking about selling the system, which because of Nintendo's backward system is tied to the games.
 
Just to give you an example of the sort of thing I'm talking about, a few months ago I came to the conclusion that I wanted to buy the 3DS XL. However, I couldn't really afford it and therefore wanted to trade my original 3DS in to put store credit towards the XL. I went into the two GAME stores in Belfast and told them what I was interested in doing, but that I really needed to keep my ambassador games as well as the other games I had downloaded. Neither store, however, had wi-fi and they would would not let me leave the store with both systems in order to try and find a hotspot to allow me to perform the transfer of games.
 
So I chose to simply not upgrade.
 
I'm now in a position where I could totally afford to buy an XL outright, but the whole experience soured me on the idea.
 
I partly blame the sales representatives in those stores for being so obfuscatory, but quite a lot of that blame also lies with Nintendo for being so backward about something which a resolution exists for.
 
Anyway, that's my story. Just thought a little context for my opinions might be in order.

[Mop it up]

I know you said "system," but I don't know why you'd sell a system and keep the games. Well, except for the situation you just described, however the topic creator didn't trade up to a new system but rather sold the system and the games.

[Soren]

I know you said "system," but I don't know why you'd sell a system and keep the games.

Backward compatibility?

[Mop it up]

I know you said "system," but I don't know why you'd sell a system and keep the games.

Backward compatibility?

That's no issue, you can transfer your games to the next system.

[Louieturkey]

I know you said "system," but I don't know why you'd sell a system and keep the games.

Backward compatibility?

That's no issue, you can transfer your games to the next system.

As long as you still have the old system in Nintendo's case.  With MS and Sony, you don't need the old systems.  That is the point that is being made.

[TJ Spyke]

With the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, you do need them for gamesaves (or did, until the Xbox 360 got cloud saves recently).

[NWR_insanolord]

Not necessarily. If you have the foresight to back up your saves to a USB drive, you can transfer them without having the old system. Then again, the Wii also lets you do that via SD card, the transfer process is really just streamlining it.

[Louieturkey]

With the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, you do need them for gamesaves (or did, until the Xbox 360 got cloud saves recently).

PS+ members have had cloud saves for over a year (increased to 1 GB of space a couple of months ago).  Also, if you aren't backing up your gamesaves on an external drive (the ones that aren't locked that is), then it's your own fault if you sell the system and lose those saves.

[Mop it up]

As long as you still have the old system in Nintendo's case.  With MS and Sony, you don't need the old systems.  That is the point that is being made.

I don't think that was Soren's point. If you want to do a trade-in deal on a new system like Pixelated Pixies talked about then it's a problem, but otherwise you'll have your old system to transfer to the new system.

[MegaByte]

Unless it breaks. Which is pretty common.

[Mop it up]

Not for Nintendo products, but yeah, then you'd have to get customer service involved to transfer your games.

[MegaByte]

It's still pretty common, at least for early adopters. The majority of the staff had to have their Wii repaired/replaced.

[Mop it up]

Yeah, I think the Wii has had more hardware troubles than past Nintendo systems. I know I've had problems with mine twice before getting a new one, and I haven't had an issue with any previous Nintendo hardware. But we're also heavy users of the system, I wonder what the percentage is of overall hardware. I'd think it's certainly less than the Xbox 360 and PS3, and not nearly high enough to be considered common.

In any case, I don't really buy digital games so I've never contemplated the issues of Nintendo's account system with the 3DS. There are workarounds to some of the problems that can come up, but I see now how it's inconvenient to have the account tied to a 3DS system. It's fine for my needs though. And of course I also understand why Nintendo set it up that way, but hopefully in the future they will become a little less paranoid.

[Pixelated Pixies]

I've said it once but I'll say it again, we should all have the ability to sell or give away our hardware independent of the games themselves. You might argue 'what's the point in keeping the games and not the system?', but a question like that gets away from the more important question. Why should we be expected to tolerate an inflexible system which puts the onus on consumers to prove their ownership of the content?


Whenever I hear people try and prop up Nintendo's approach to digital content migration they focus on the question of why people would need to migrate games without having the original system present, instead of focusing on the more important question of why owners of digital licenses aren't being given more flexibility.


To question why a more flexible system is needed is not only naive, it's also besides the point. If I pay for the game I expect to reserve the right to access that content regardless of what happens to my hardware.

[MegaByte]

But we're also heavy users of the system, I wonder what the percentage is of overall hardware.

Balance that with all the Wiis gathering dust. It probably won't break if you don't use it.

[Mop it up]

Except I wasn't propping up Nintendo's approach, I was legitimately asking. Like I said, I don't buy digital games, so I didn't know what kinds of things people wanted out of it or where they were running into issues. Nintendo's system works fine for my needs.

I do think it's still an important question though. Shouldn't I ask for the reasons why you want a feature? Why ask for a feature that doesn't get used? I already have your question of why digital context isn't more flexible, that's exactly why I don't buy digital games because physical gives me the right of ownership. And I still don't see why you'd keep your games for a system you sell and don't plan on buying a new one.

But we're also heavy users of the system, I wonder what the percentage is of overall hardware.

Balance that with all the Wiis gathering dust. It probably won't break if you don't use it.

I knew you'd say that. Still, no evidence of it being "common."