Gaming Nintendo planning to expand onlive service in a big way

[gameandmatch]

I know what this means......a larger sd card.

 

[TripleSMoon]

This is really awesome, though as I've said before, I doubt I'll use it much. My girlfriend and I share games, so buying a digital copy locked to one device wouldn't be a good idea for us. Though I may still use it for multiplayer games like Kid Icarus and Mario Kart 7, since we usually buy 2 copies of those to play together. :-D

Hopefully a hypothetical 3DS revision will be SDXC compatible, so we can use bigger SD cards... heck, maybe even add dual SD card slots! I bet it would be doable without noticeably increasing the size of the system if they really put their minds to it.

And maybe in the future, 3DS will finally move to tying save data to the system itself, rather than the game cart? That's what I'm really hoping for!

 

[DiscostewSM]

I wonder if digital distribution of retail games would leave the door open to pirating?

They'll probably go with the same method of encryption for those games as they do with current eShop titles that only work on the 3DS it was bought with and downloaded to.

 

[porkiewpyne]

As long as it is not exclusive to downloads, I guess I don't really mind. Plus I actually like all the bling and fluff games come with; box, manual and all.

 

[Ericthegreat]

Hmm these should be smaller rips without waste data, will be good for when we need our "backups" >.>

 

[jimskeet2002]

I do hope they give you the option to store games you own on cartridges to your sd card, so I won't have to pay for those games again, while still having the advantage of not having to carry the cartridges.

I don't see that happening... If it was possible then who would stop you from buying a game, saving it on your SD and then selling it?

 

[McHaggis]

I'm not sure if I'll take advantage of this. I'd love to have all my games on an SD card, but I'm not willing to give up my physical ownership for the convenience of not having to carry carts―I'd rather wait for a hack.

Hopefully a hypothetical 3DS revision will be SDXC compatible, so we can use bigger SD cards... heck, maybe even add dual SD card slots! I bet it would be doable without noticeably increasing the size of the system if they really put their minds to it.

A hardware revision may not be necessary since the interface for SDHC and SDXC are identical. This means that, in theory, Nintendo could issue a firmware update to include support for cards larger than 32GB. The main problem I can foresee is that SDXC's default formatting is Microsoft's proprietary exFAT filesystem. All SDXC cards are exFAT pre-formatted, which means Nintendo would either have to license exFAT from Microsoft or advise consumers to format their SDXC cards to FAT32. Doing the latter may break compatibility with SDXC devices that support exFAT, but not FAT32―something which may incur customer complaints.

Supporting exFAT on the 3DS may prove feasible if a lot of consumers hit the 32GB limit, but I don't think it will happen for a while.

And maybe in the future, 3DS will finally move to tying save data to the system itself, rather than the game cart? That's what I'm really hoping for!

I wonder if this could also be done via a firmware update. If saving to the cart is routed through system APIs (for encryption and checksums), then a system setting could be adjusted to choose the default location for game saves.

Wonder what the prices will be like though. Good thing about buying hard copy is the ability to find it cheaper than usual in some places.

According to Nintendo Life, digital downloads will also be available to retailers for sale, with the retailer having full control over the price. This means that retailers can price competitively, so you can still shop around for the best deal. I'm not so sure prices will stay in line with the physical copies, but at least digital downloads could still be used as loss-leaders to get customers into stores.

 

[The Milkman]

I do hope they give you the option to store games you own on cartridges to your sd card, so I won't have to pay for those games again, while still having the advantage of not having to carry the cartridges.

I don't see that happening... If it was possible then who would stop you from buying a game, saving it on your SD and then selling it?

Like I said in my earlier post, they can use the Club Nintendo codes to minimize the amount of un-bought transfered games, kinda like what Steam does with certain games you buy for the PS3, you also get a digital copy. In fact, that will make it near impossible to steal games, since you would have to steal the Club N code and the actual cart. Only people it would screw are secondhand buyers, and even then, GameStop could double your in-store credit for the game and code.

 

[McHaggis]

I do hope they give you the option to store games you own on cartridges to your sd card, so I won't have to pay for those games again, while still having the advantage of not having to carry the cartridges.

I don't see that happening... If it was possible then who would stop you from buying a game, saving it on your SD and then selling it?

Like I said in my earlier post, they can use the Club Nintendo codes to minimize the amount of un-bought transfered games, kinda like what Steam does with certain games you buy for the PS3, you also get a digital copy. In fact, that will make it near impossible to steal games, since you would have to steal the Club N code and the actual cart. Only people it would screw are secondhand buyers, and even then, GameStop could double your in-store credit for the game and code.

He means that anyone could buy the game, store it on the SD card and then sell the physical copy, much like what was discussed in this thread. I always liked the idea of "recharging" plays or something by using the original cart. If they did something like that, you could play the game cartless for 24 hours by inserting the original cart to verify you owned the physical copy before you took your long train journey, etc. Or it could be play count based, like with demos.

 

[Coto]

This is great news!! SD access + RAM sniffing = encrypted content can be seen in the SD controller! *-*

/jk

Things like this is what Nintendo really needed to put effort in, and some people can't buy cartridges because of expensive/unavailable game library. I prefer, personally, to keep 3DS cartridges and all that, like, I've grown like that.

This will also mean, if you've bought downloadable full retail games, backup your SD regularly, because those can fail anytime.

 

[SSVAV]

This is great news!! SD access + RAM sniffing = encrypted content can be seen in the SD controller! *-*

/jk

Things like this is what Nintendo really needed to put effort in, and some people can't buy cartridges because of expensive/unavailable game library. I prefer, personally, to keep 3DS cartridges and all that, like, I've grown like that.

This will also mean, if you've bought downloadable full retail games, backup your SD regularly, because those can fail anytime.

But you can keep your code somewhere safe, and a piece of paper never "fails".

I always keep my receipts. After all, who knows what might happen these days, with our products being specifically designed to fail once the guarantee period is over.

 

[gamefan5]

This is great news!! SD access + RAM sniffing = encrypted content can be seen in the SD controller! *-*

/jk

Things like this is what Nintendo really needed to put effort in, and some people can't buy cartridges because of expensive/unavailable game library. I prefer, personally, to keep 3DS cartridges and all that, like, I've grown like that.

This will also mean, if you've bought downloadable full retail games, backup your SD regularly, because those can fail anytime.

But you can keep your code somewhere safe, and a piece of paper never "fails".

I always keep my receipts. After all, who knows what might happen these days, with our products being specifically designed to fail once the guarantee period is over.

Well, perhaps you'll be able to re-download the game, like the E-Shop titles.

 

[BORTZ]

I wonder if this will prompt Nintendo to release non region games for the US and stuff?

 

[The Milkman]

I wonder if this will prompt Nintendo to release non region games for the US and stuff?

Doubt it.

 

[Foxi4]

I'm waiting until the skeptics like Guild show up and take a huge dump on this thread.

Good night.

"Knowing life, the games will be priced exactly like those in boxes, defeating the purpose of digital distribution. Moreover, there will be no trading function, so resale value drops to zero. That, joined with the fact that you don't really have a physical medium, thus when Nintendo Network closes down you will lose all your purchases, makes this a useful function only for fat and lazy gamers who really don't care whether or not they will have a wonderful game in a box among other collectibles."

You're welcome.

 

[nathancnc]

I want to be able to download my retail games to my 3ds!

 

[The Milkman]

I'm waiting until the skeptics like Guild show up and take a huge dump on this thread.

Good night.

"Knowing life, the games will be priced exactly like those in boxes, defeating the purpose of digital distribution. Moreover, there will be no trading function, so resale value drops to zero. That, joined with the fact that you don't really have a physical medium, thus when Nintendo Network closes down you will lose all your purchases, makes this a useful function only for fat and lazy gamers who really don't care whether or not they will have a wonderful game in a box among other collectibles."

You're welcome.

Wow! Its like Guildie but with none of the instant dread you feel when you see his avie! Thanks Foxi!

 

[kirbymaster101]

Just wondering, but would it be possible fore a future system update to support 64gb sdhc? or that impossible?

 

[CollosalPokemon]

Nintendo's FINALLY stepping up! Though they're my favourite company, I'm gonna be very open about the little things they need to pay attention to.
I think a list of things they need(ed) to catch up on would be a bit handy:

• Getting rid of that "Add friendcode for each game" system ✔
• Digital downloads for retail games ✔
• Graphics improvement (3DS and WiiU) ✔
• Okay, this one is a bit personal, but I really think they should cut it out with still continuing to release 2D Mario games. This is what I thought of NSMB2.
• Make the equivalent of gamertags to refrain from having to share a long, complicated number to get people to add you.
• Improve the 3DS menu. It's awfully slow, unresponsive and boring. Too many unwanted animations to try and make it seem fancy. I like the DSi menu a lot more.
• Improve the 3DS game library. I know there are loads of good titles coming up in the near future, but as long as this hasn't happened yet, I'm keeping this on the list.

You forgot Region Free =p Nintendo REALLY needs to get on that.

 

[gamefan5]

Nintendo's FINALLY stepping up! Though they're my favourite company, I'm gonna be very open about the little things they need to pay attention to.
I think a list of things they need(ed) to catch up on would be a bit handy:

• Getting rid of that "Add friendcode for each game" system ✔
• Digital downloads for retail games ✔
• Graphics improvement (3DS and WiiU) ✔
• Okay, this one is a bit personal, but I really think they should cut it out with still continuing to release 2D Mario games. This is what I thought of NSMB2.
• Make the equivalent of gamertags to refrain from having to share a long, complicated number to get people to add you.
• Improve the 3DS menu. It's awfully slow, unresponsive and boring. Too many unwanted animations to try and make it seem fancy. I like the DSi menu a lot more.
• Improve the 3DS game library. I know there are loads of good titles coming up in the near future, but as long as this hasn't happened yet, I'm keeping this on the list.

You forgot Region Free =p Nintendo REALLY needs to get on that.

As if they will. That's why he didn't mention it on his list.