Nintendo 3DS: Thread 03 - Discontinued Edition

[Dogg Thang]

Ouendan completely destroyed my DS Lite. So I wouldn't ever go without a screen protector for my 3DS. Although I have been risking my WiiU without one. Maybe that's a bad idea but it gets much less action than the screens on the DS family.

[Soundwave]

Either of those screen protectors are fine.

Thanks man
Order going in today.

Will try again tonight to get pictures of the wife's DS Lite couldn't manage them at lunch time...all you could see was me in the reflection & NOBODY wants to see that lol

[Asura]

Quick look at the eShop reveals that Nintendo are still determined to keep their digital games at ?39.99, or in some cases, ?35.

I don't mind them trying to preserve the worth of games on their platform (and not ending up with an iOS-style cluster****) but when stuff is 2-3 years old and sequels/follow-ups are available you'd think prices would come down. Case in point, Monster Hunter 3 is still ?40.

I really wish they'd mirror how much the physical games cost just a little more. I'd like the digital versions of a few games but I'm not paying 2x the physical cost.

[Dogg Thang]

Yep. Same as the WiiU shop. When I know that I could buy games physically for MUCH cheaper, why would I go digital? Like you though, I completely understand not wanting to devalue their games but there is a common sense mid point in there.

[Asura]

Yep. Same as the WiiU shop. When I know that I could buy games physically for MUCH cheaper, why would I go digital? Like you though, I completely understand not wanting to devalue their games but there is a common sense mid point in there.

Thing is, the only "full price" digital game I've bought on the 3DS is Phoenix Wright Dual Destinies, because it didn't get a physical release. I've played it through, and now I have it sat on my 3DS long afterward - a game which has pretty much zero replay value.

Thing is, Capcom were fair about this when it came out, and priced it at ?25, with the occasional ?20 sale.

I would totally buy Monster Hunter 4 right now if it was ?20 on the eShop.

[Nu-Eclipse]

Thing is, the only "full price" digital game I've bought on the 3DS is Phoenix Wright Dual Destinies, because it didn't get a physical release. I've played it through, and now I have it sat on my 3DS long afterward - a game which has pretty much zero replay value.

Having been somebody who pretty much sold on every Ace Attorney game once completed, this is PRECISELY the problem that I have with Capcom making the franchise digital-only in the west. I ended up getting Dual Destinies for free as I was gifted some eShop vouchers, but it'll be hard for me to justify purchasing future games in the franchise if Capcom aren't going to make physical copies for western audiences. Their arguments about not shifting enough copies falls down imo if Japanese gamers can still get physical copies - for all of its obvious qualities and critical acclaim, it's not like Ace Attorney has ever been a mega-seller in any territory.

I've previously argued this on here before, only for the usual moronic element to totally miss the point.

[wakka]

I don't really think ?25 is that expensive for the enjoyment of a single play through. I find gaming generally good value compared to the pub, restaurants etc.

[Nu-Eclipse]

I don't really think ?25 is that expensive for the enjoyment of a single play through. I find gaming generally good value compared to the pub, restaurants etc.

I've never said that it was that expensive, and I was cynical enough to believe that we would get charged a full ?40 RRP for Dual Destinies until it was officially announced otherwise.

The point remains the same though - I liked being able to sell on and/or part exchange past Ace Attorney games once done with them. The appeal for me is lessened by the fact that Capcom aren't allowing western gamers to do this now.

3DS carts have to cost peanuts at this point in the platform's life cycle, so there really isn't any excuse for Capcom to not offer a physical option.

[Asura]

3DS carts have to cost peanuts at this point in the platform's life cycle, so there really isn't any excuse for Capcom to not offer a physical option.

Admittedly, and even though I agree with your overall point of view (I really wanted a physical AADD too), the cost of the carts is not the deciding factor. It's the distribution and inherent risk in doing so.

One of the advantages that rarely gets brought up about digital, for the publisher, is that you don't need to "worry" about how many copies of a game you sell. Once the game's up on the store, it doesn't matter if you sell 10 copies of 10 million copies. Conversely, when you manufacture carts/boxes etc. you have to "guess" how many games will sell in each territory and manufacture the right number.

Obviously if you get it wrong, you could have loads of unsold stock (which is a loss) or even worse, not make enough and lose money not filling the demand before people move onto something else.

AADD didn't get a physical release because AA1>2>3>4>AAInvestigations suggested a downward trend of sales. Capcom only released it at all because Phoenix was back as the main character and it was on a new platform (so they could rely those factors for more sales).

Add to that the declining presence of games bricks-and-mortar retail and it leaves them in a bit of a quandary. For instance, I bought AA3 from Gamestation; by the time AADD came out, physical games only had one presence on my high street, GAME (even my local HMV didn't really bother with 3DS).

This means digital potentially avoids the problem we had in the GBA's life, where you could find 100 copies of Scooby Doo's Mystery Crapjackcack Surprise and couldn't for life find a copy of Lunar Legend, which is undoubtedly a good thing.

The problem I have is Nintendo trying to charge ?40 for a digital experience which is inherently worse than a physical one in most respects. If I find some of these games in an offer at Argos or Amazon, I'll get them for ?25 and when I'm done, I'll get ?7-10 from CEX. Interestingly, this matches the price/margin I used to get for N64 games - buying them for ?40 and selling for ?15 or so.

Capcom did a good job selling AADD for ?25 brand new, day-1, and I don't begrudge that really. That should be the norm - not the exception (that to me seems reasonable - ?40 minus the physical cost, manufacture, distribution and capacity for resale...). Nintendo obviously don't want to "offend" the retailers like GAME and keep prices high, but when GAME are charging ?15 for ?10 Amiibos and are becoming more like a toy-shop than a games shop, they should probably just risk it.

[Nu-Eclipse]

Admittedly, and even though I agree with your overall point of view (I really wanted a physical AADD too), the cost of the carts is not the deciding factor. It's the distribution and inherent risk in doing so.

One of the advantages that rarely gets brought up about digital, for the publisher, is that you don't need to "worry" about how many copies of a game you sell. Once the game's up on the store, it doesn't matter if you sell 10 copies of 10 million copies. Conversely, when you manufacture carts/boxes etc. you have to "guess" how many games will sell in each territory and manufacture the right number.

Obviously if you get it wrong, you could have loads of unsold stock (which is a loss) or even worse, not make enough and lose money not filling the demand before people move onto something else.

AADD didn't get a physical release because AA1>2>3>4>AAInvestigations suggested a downward trend of sales. Capcom only released it at all because Phoenix was back as the main character and it was on a new platform (so they could rely those factors for more sales).

Add to that the declining presence of games bricks-and-mortar retail and it leaves them in a bit of a quandary. For instance, I bought AA3 from Gamestation; by the time AADD came out, physical games only had one presence on my high street, GAME (even my local HMV didn't really bother with 3DS).

This means digital potentially avoids the problem we had in the GBA's life, where you could find 100 copies of Scooby Doo's Mystery Crapjackcack Surprise and couldn't for life find a copy of Lunar Legend, which is undoubtedly a good thing.

The problem I have is Nintendo trying to charge ?40 for a digital experience which is inherently worse than a physical one in most respects. If I find some of these games in an offer at Argos or Amazon, I'll get them for ?25 and when I'm done, I'll get ?7-10 from CEX. Interestingly, this matches the price/margin I used to get for N64 games - buying them for ?40 and selling for ?15 or so.

Capcom did a good job selling AADD for ?25 brand new, day-1, and I don't begrudge that really. That should be the norm - not the exception (that to me seems reasonable - ?40 minus the physical cost, manufacture, distribution and capacity for resale...). Nintendo obviously don't want to "offend" the retailers like GAME and keep prices high, but when GAME are charging ?15 for ?10 Amiibos and are becoming more like a toy-shop than a games shop, they should probably just risk it.

I get all of that, but Capcom cannot cite inherent risk in distribution and publishing and then make physical copies of the game for their home audience. Again, Ace Attorney has never been a true smash-hit game anywhere so they have no real excuse to not make physical copies of Dual Destinies for the west - something that was demanded by western Ace Attorney fans and that demand was acknowledged by Capcom HQ.

[Asura]

I get all of that, but Capcom cannot cite inherent risk in distribution and publishing and then make physical copies of the game for their home audience. Again, Ace Attorney has never been a true smash-hit game anywhere so they have no real excuse to not make physical copies of Dual Destinies for the west - something that was demanded by western Ace Attorney fans and that demand was acknowledged by Capcom HQ.

That's partially Nintendo's fault - they're dealing with a global company that isn't truly global. Sony are similar (with SCEE, SCEA and SCEJ) but not to the same degree as Nintendo. Microsoft are the only platform holder at the moment who could be considered global, in that a publisher only has to talk to one set of people to physically release a game.

tl;dr, it's quite different releasing a game physically in Japan to doing so in the UK and US - at least, doing one doesn't contribute as much as you'd think to doing the other. This is one of the reasons Europe continually gets screwed over on Nintendo stuff.

Admittedly though a publisher Capcom's size should still be able to do this. I can only assume the decision was swayed by some internal politics.

[JU!]

I just bought Mario Puzzle and Dragons for ?17 from Amazon great fun and a bit different from the usual Nintendo stuff. As an all digital PS4 user really hope for NX Nintendo improve their understanding of Digital game prices seems they don't have aclue or do and don't want to adjust prices at all. I know Sony and MS are not perfect case in point took Watch Dogs and Tomb Raider an age to drop in price but at least they are trying, not expecting Steam like prices but trying to a least drop the prices a bit would be nice from Nintendo.

[importaku]

New wallpaper, it's so cuuute. Will be staying for a while on my 3DS.

[Decider-VT]

I have a couple of spare Triforce Heroes demo codes for people that have access to the NA eShop. Would any of the regular posters here like one? You'd be restricted to the three times that the online servers will be turned on at during the period of the trial, unless you know people who can play through the dungeon locally with you.

[kryss]

I have two spare codes as well for NA.