Gaming Nintendo Network to potentially offer full 3DS game downloads?

[Midna]

Foxi, Iwata personally said they were considering digital distribution of packaged software. I believe he said that "the infrastructure is already in place" or something to that effect. And Nintendo themselves sort of sets their own caps. They can change them if they want to. The only problematic thing is download times.

 

[beta4attack]

Some games are hard to find (I have trouble finding Cave Story 3D), so It would be good. If 2GB is the limit, this is enough for at least 60% or 70% of retail games.

More than just that. I know KI is only 4GB so downloads in parts are also possible.

I think KI is 2GB. The only 3DS game in existance which is 4GB is Resident Evil: Revelations. And soon, KIngdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance.

 

[Foxi4]

Foxi, Iwata personally said they were considering digital distribution of packaged software. I believe he said that "the infrastructure is already in place" or something to that effect. And Nintendo themselves sort of sets their own caps. They can change them if they want to. The only problematic thing is download times.

My point was not that it's impossible but that the system is grossly unprepared for it as of today. The cap can be indeed lifted but the download times straight to the 3DS would be appaling and some games are simply programmed in a way that would make this option unavailable without a re-release. The 3DS is obviously up to the task from a technological stand-point, but as a piece of hardware it was not designed for PC connectivity which would make the task less frustrating and juggling SD cards is not an option due to signing issues.

 

[Deleted member 194275]

Foxi, Iwata personally said they were considering digital distribution of packaged software. I believe he said that "the infrastructure is already in place" or something to that effect. And Nintendo themselves sort of sets their own caps. They can change them if they want to. The only problematic thing is download times.

download times seems be a problem to Nintendo. I think that "download later" was a try to solve it. (I've used it two or tree times and I don't like it).

 

[chris888222]

Some games are hard to find (I have trouble finding Cave Story 3D), so It would be good. If 2GB is the limit, this is enough for at least 60% or 70% of retail games.

More than just that. I know KI is only 4GB so downloads in parts are also possible.

I think KI is 2GB. The only 3DS game in existance which is 4GB is Resident Evil: Revelations. And soon, KIngdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance.

Metal Gear Solid as well.

Yes, I believe KI uses a 2GB cart.

 

[GeekyGuy]

1. The cards seem to still help them in terms of piracy protection.
2. Nintendo are still focused on the mainstream. The mainstream still shops and Walmart.
3. Nintendo don't really seem as focused on eCommerce as much as "the other guys," mostly due to reasons 1 & 2.
4. Physical retail products still offer greater perceived value, which is turn allows them to slap on a heftier price tag.

Nah, I don't think they will go that route until either everyone else has and it's the market norm or they can figure out a way to lay claim to a huge portion of that space for themselves.

 

[heartgold]

There will be no full game downloads simply because the file size for downloadable content is capped, much like in the case of WiiWare and 3/DS/iWare. Demos are small enough, full games are far too large.

Shows how much you know.

The cap is 2GB for E-shop developers for now, enough for almost all retail games and could possibly be extended for a few larger retail games.

Nintendo themselves have said it's something for the future, Iwata said they aren't dismissing the opportunity, the 3DS was built with the infrastructure in mind, but there's no current plans to do so.

To successfuly introduce such a system, Nintendo would have to make this an option for all titles, not just those under the cap. The download cap would have to be equal to that of the maximum cartridge capacity. Moreover, some 3DS games are *still* programmed to save onto the cartridge and these would require re-releasing in save-to-sd versions. Shows how much YOU know.

Edit: Good luck downloading 2 gigabyte + games on the 3DS, it would take quite a while and a PC app dedicated for this task would be most useful. What? No USB slot? Oh bummer. And before you say "use the SD card", you require keys to sign the app and those are stored on the 3DS.

You are silly, Iwata already stated in his 'Iwata Asks' interviews that the 3DS already has the necessary infrastructure to support this at any time. You think I'm making some bullshit crap up, I've only said what has been officially said by Nintendo themselves.

3DS supports sleep mode download, so just let it download over night. This option is obvious not for everyone to use but I must say 3DS has very good download speeds from my experience so leaving in the stand over night is fine to me. For your information E-shop developers can already make up to 2GB games if wanted, so now a retail game is considered too large while a pure eshop game, isn't?

There is no cap for retail games on the e-shop cos there is no retail games available on the E-shop at this given time, only e-shop developers are capped to 2GB limit, lager retails game may get a bypass cos the system isn't limited as the Wii or DSI.

You know why the Wii and DSi limit couldn't be raised, it's due to the games where running on ram. Wii was capped to 40MB and DSi 12MB.

 

[Foxi4]

You know why the Wii and DSi limit couldn't be raised, it's due to the games where running on ram. Wii was capped to 40MB and DSi 12MB.

Uhhh... No.

It's just that Nintendo suddenly realized that they can save onto a medium and then stream content to RAM. The caps were always artificial for both WiiWare and DSiWare.

 

[heartgold]

You know why the Wii and DSi limit couldn't be raised, it's due to the games where running on ram. Wii was capped to 40MB and DSi 12MB.

Uhhh... No.

It's just that Nintendo suddenly realized that they can save onto a medium and then stream content to RAM. The caps were always artificial for both WiiWare and DSiWare.

Whatever I guess I was wrong, anyway 3DS is a more capable system. If E-shop games are capped to 2GB and could be put up there considering that's large to some people, then retail games something like super mario 3D land is only 300MB, hell I would love to have a copy with me at any time.

 

[Coto]

Well when I got the MGS demo, the game was about 145 MB and it took 22mins aprox to have it as a present on my 3DS menu. Est. it would take about 2.5 hours per GB, meaning 10hours to retrieve a full 4GB cart.

Wow that's a lot of time

 

[Foxi4]

You know why the Wii and DSi limit couldn't be raised, it's due to the games where running on ram. Wii was capped to 40MB and DSi 12MB.

Uhhh... No.

It's just that Nintendo suddenly realized that they can save onto a medium and then stream content to RAM. The caps were always artificial for both WiiWare and DSiWare.

Whatever I guess I was wrong, anyway 3DS is a more capable system. If E-shop games are capped to 2GB and could be put up there considering that's large to some people, then retail games something like super mario 3D land is only 300MB, hell I would love to have a copy with me at any time.

Like I said, it's not a stupid idea. All I said was that the system, as of today, alongside its online architecture, is not prepared for it. Sure, you can download in snail-like speeds overnight, but do remember that keeping your system on while charging greatly decreases the battery life in the long run as batteries used in such devices are simply not manufactured to work under such conditions - they're not supposed to be charged and discharged at the same time. A PC-based architecture for downloading in a couple of minutes would be beneficial but for some reason, probably due to fear of hackers, Nintendo did not include an I/O port other than the iR one on the system, making the user juggle SD cards whenever new media needs to be uploaded or downloaded from the system, which essentially cripples connectivity. I would welcome a miniUSB port or at least a proprietary serial port of some sort on the system, would you not?

I'm not posting pure criticism, this is constructive criticism, and there is a difference. Much has to change in the network, in the firmware and perhaps in the next revision to facilitate that kind of interaction with the system.

 

[heartgold]

You know why the Wii and DSi limit couldn't be raised, it's due to the games where running on ram. Wii was capped to 40MB and DSi 12MB.

Uhhh... No.

It's just that Nintendo suddenly realized that they can save onto a medium and then stream content to RAM. The caps were always artificial for both WiiWare and DSiWare.

Whatever I guess I was wrong, anyway 3DS is a more capable system. If E-shop games are capped to 2GB and could be put up there considering that's large to some people, then retail games something like super mario 3D land is only 300MB, hell I would love to have a copy with me at any time.

Like I said, it's not a stupid idea. All I said was that the system, as of today, alongside its online architecture, is not prepared for it. Sure, you can download in snail-like speeds overnight, but do remember that keeping your system on while charging greatly decreases the battery life in the long run as batteries used in such devices are simply not manufactured to work under such conditions - they're not supposed to be charged and discharged at the same time. A PC-based architecture for downloading in a couple of minutes would be beneficial but for some reason, probably due to fear of hackers, Nintendo did not include an I/O port other than the iR one on the system, making the user juggle SD cards whenever new media needs to be uploaded or downloaded from the system, which essentially cripples connectivity. I would welcome a miniUSB port or at least a proprietary serial port of some sort on the system, would you not?

I'm not posting pure criticism, this is constructive criticism, and there is a difference. Much has to change in the network, in the firmware and perhaps in the next revision to facilitate that kind of interaction with the system.

I agree!

 

[Skelletonike]

Well when I got the MGS demo, the game was about 145 MB and it took 22mins aprox to have it as a present on my 3DS menu. Est. it would take about 2.5 hours per GB, meaning 10hours to retrieve a full 4GB cart.

Wow that's a lot of time

That depends from the internet... Sure, it caps my internet like hell, but even so, none of the demos or games I've downloaded on the eshop so far has taken more than 5 minutes...

And it'd be cool if more games would go online, although I would only purchase a few, since I prefer physical media.

 

[The Milkman]

I'm not posting pure criticism, this is constructive criticism, and there is a difference. Much has to change in the network, in the firmware and perhaps in the next revision to facilitate that kind of interaction with the system.

How is it constructive criticism if its not even being said to Nintendo? I don't know about everyone else but I live in a fairly run-down neighborhood with a terrible internet connection yet I managed to download the RE and MGS demos in fairly 15-20 min (around that but its been a while so I gotta check again also.) Since those were demos I think its fair to say that in total a download would take about 4-6 hours, that's roughly about how long I sleep plus time to get dressed in the morning. Frankly, its not that damn long. It takes longer then that to update my steam games. Now sure it wouldn't work for everyone and I probably wouldn't use it often since I love game boxes and carts, but there is no reason why it wouldn't be possible or convinent.

 

[DiscostewSM]

Well of course the current structure is inadequate to support what they plan. Why else would they be improving it? MK7 communities were just the beginning.

 

[Coto]

Well when I got the MGS demo, the game was about 145 MB and it took 22mins aprox to have it as a present on my 3DS menu. Est. it would take about 2.5 hours per GB, meaning 10hours to retrieve a full 4GB cart.

Wow that's a lot of time

That depends from the internet... Sure, it caps my internet like hell, but even so, none of the demos or games I've downloaded on the eshop so far has taken more than 5 minutes...

And it'd be cool if more games would go online, although I would only purchase a few, since I prefer physical media.

Yeah maybe. I still prefer having physical cartridges.. but the idea of acquiring a fully-featured game through internet is nice too.

Also, the 2GB size limit is nothing more than "a barrier put by nintendo". Because:

1. FAT32 supports up to 4GB per file

2. No matter how much data you have, if you retrieve small chunks of them it'll work just fine too.

3. They should really reconsider this, since some carts aren't available here or it's a nightmare to get them.

 

[BenRK]

I think the 2GB limit on 3DS games has more to do with the game card size it self. I can't remember where, but I read that 3DS game cards can be as big as 2GBs. I call BS on that, as people have said, getting a decent 32GB SD card (which I got at my local radio shack for $20 thanks to a clearance sale (class 6 though, so fast, but not awesome)), can be cheap and easy. Of course there is a cost here and paying $20 for 32GBs for a 3DS game is going to drive the price of the game it self.

Even so, a 4GB-8GB SD card would be cheap, and heck, Skyrim is around 6GBs... Regardless, I'm not even sure I'm right.

 

[TripleSMoon]

This is the way I see it.

Full retail downloads on home consoles (XBox360, Wii-U): Awesome!

Full retail downloads on handhelds (3DS, PSVita): Eh.

That's not to say I don't WANT them to offer full retail downloads on the 3DS (it's great to have the option as long as they don't eliminate game carts), but I doubt I'd care for it personally. The too-small (for me) SDHC max storage capacity (32gb) combined with the fact that gamecarts are so freaking small as is renders the concept pointless, to me.

I bought a $10 pack with three DS/3DS cart carriers, each capable of holding 8 carts. Each one is roughly half or less the size of a 3DS cart case, and fit in my backpack just fine. Heck, I could even put one in my back pocket if I wasn't so paranoid of it falling out and getting stolen before I could retrieve it. Personally, that's as portable as I need.

Consoles, on the other hand... it gets old stacking up DVD cases and worrying about scratched discs and getting up and walking over to the TV every time I want to change a game. Throw that along with the fact that hard drives can hold hundreds of gigabytes, and it's perfect.

 

[Deleted member 194275]

the great advantage of a digital copy is avoid double buying the same game in future consoles. (I know that Nintendo can avoid double buying, but I do not know if is convenient to them).

 

[TripleSMoon]

the great advantage of a digital copy is avoid double buying the same game in future consoles. (I know that Nintendo can avoid double buying, but I do not know if is convenient to them).

They can also avoid you reselling the game and buying it cheaper used too, if they decide to get rid of physical games entirely in the process.