Nintendo To Let Users Purchase Digital Content Through PCs/Phones By Year's End

[Gahars]

Nintendo's relationship with that newfangled internet thingamajig has been... checkered, to say the least. From claiming that online gaming was just a fad to implementing the dreaded friend code system, let's just be frank and say that they haven't always been on the cutting edge.

Still, the company is making much more of a concerted effort now to catch up to its competitors with the 3DS and Wii U. They've been implementing more and more features, slowly but surely, to their services.

Now, it seems that they're making another step (or, at the very least, tiptoe) forward.

Means of downloading content, other than the eShop, have been looked at. Nintendo officials have confirmed that a system will launch by year’s end so that users can purchase items from a PC or smartphone.

The company’s statement reads:
“By the end of the year, we will launch a system where you can purchase (content) from your computer or smartphone through strict account management.”

Nintendo Everything (More like Nintendon't Anything! Ha ha, take that, source I quote!)

Nintendo's really phoning it in here, and I mean that in the best way possible.

In all seriousness, it's another refreshing advancement for the company. Giving customers more flexibility in how they purchase their games benefits everyone involved - People have more ways to spend their money and Nintendo has more ways to take it.

So, how about that unified (or will it be U-nified?) account system people have been asking for?

 

[TyBlood13]

You used "checkered" in two posts in a row. You're slipping Gahars.

On-Topic: Hooray! But only because it near guarantees a better account system, and hopefully one that includes the 3DS. I'd only buy my games on the PC shop if it was way more convenient than the current eShop, which I don't see as it would involve going to the 3DS/Wii U eShop anyway to actually download the game.

 

[GameWinner]

Now give us a better account system so I can go all digital...

 

[Gahars]

You used "checkered" in two posts in a row. You're slipping Gahars.

So, basically, I double checked?

 

[the_randomizer]

Good, now make the games tied to an account and not a console and I'll be happy, Nintendo

 

[Dork]

Now give us a better account system so I can go all digital...

Good, now make the games tied to an account and not a console and I'll be happy, Nintendo

I'm pretty sure if they make digital purchases possible on smartphones this will pretty much happen with it. How the hell can you purchase a Wii U game on a smartphone and it's somehow attached to your console?

 

[signz]

That sounds good. I wonder what the payment options will be this way - I really hope we can finally buy Eshop games via Paypal.

 

[the_randomizer]

I'm pretty sure if they make digital purchases possible on smartphones this will pretty much happen with it. How the hell can you purchase a Wii U game on a smartphone and it's somehow attached to your console?

Exactly. It will have to be the other way around, no way you can download a game on a PC and have it tied to just one console. I suspect a major system update sometime.

 

[The Real Jdbye]

If online gaming is a fad then it's the best damn fad ever.
Anyway, this news was expected sooner or later but I'm glad to hear it still. It's about time Ninty got with the times.
And they really need to update the 3DS eShop to make it more like the Wii U one as the 3DS one is kind of a pain to navigate.

 

[ShadowSoldier]

Online gaming...cutting edge..?

I peed a little from laughing.

 

[Ergo]

I'm pretty sure if they make digital purchases possible on smartphones this will pretty much happen with it. How the hell can you purchase a Wii U game on a smartphone and it's somehow attached to your console?

The purchase would be tied to your NNID which is tied to your console--as of right now, as far as Nintendo is concerned, your NNID and your console are the same thing.

 

[MegaAce™]

If it uses your NNID then, as far as the account system is now, you can only buy eShop content for your Wii U (except they introduce NNIDs for 3DS), right?

 

[Ergo]

If it uses your NNID then, as far as the account system is now, you can only buy eShop content for your Wii U (except they introduce NNIDs for 3DS), right?

Yes, this is correct, since there is *no* account system on 3DS, except for Club Nintendo, which means basically nothing. (That said, I'm sure they'll at least extend the NNID to a *single* 3DS as well, if only to facilitate this.)

 

[dgwillia]

I'm still just waiting on games to stop being tied to systems, like randomizer said. It's sad when Sony and even Microsoft are more lenient than Nintendo.

Its literally the only thing keeping me from buying more games digitally. Atleast if something happened to my Vita, I know I could redownload all my games, and get all my saves back from cloud storage. Your just basically SOL with a 3DS unless they can fix it, or you have a police report or some other extraordinary circumstance.

 

[Taleweaver]

That sounds good. I wonder what the payment options will be this way - I really hope we can finally buy Eshop games via Paypal.

I second this. Now that I can buy gaming cards in my local shop it doesn't bother me as much, but not everyone has such a shop in their neighborhood.

 

[beta4attack]

1) Emily Rogers saying 3DS getting Nintendo Network IDs this and teasing account news several times before it
2) Wii U huge system update in September/October
3) This
Makes perfect sense