[redlight79]

With Nintendo announcing this year at E3 that New Super Mario Bros 2 and Paper Mario: Sticker Star are both being made available physically in stores and online, but also via the Nintendo e-Shop, it begs the question, how will you be buying this games?

Will this be made available to all future Nintendo games, such as a future Zelda and possible Metroid 3DS games?

See, I still prefer physical copies of things, such as CD's and DVD's, but now with iTunes creating personalized accounts where you pay for a song or movie once on your account, it's free to re-download onto any system in the future, and I reckon that's what Nintendo hopes to achieve also.

If the game is significantly cheaper, i.e retail costs £30, but the download costs £15, I think I'll opt for the download, but there isn't much or no difference in price, I think I'll stick to physical copies for the time being.

[unclekevo]

The problem with it being download also is that for me at least, it'd probably take about 10 hours to download a full game like Paper Mario

[2Dshmuplover]

Probably a mixture of both.

[0lly]

Physical copies. I can't add a digital download to my collection on my shelves

[BigDave888]

I think I would find it a bit weird to download a game off of the e-shop and I could only imagine how long it would take to download anyway!

[MD1500]

Physical copies. I like the fact that they're yours, and you can trade them in, or keep them and play them in 15 years if you want to, without having to worry if a certain server is down.

The only exception that is a game that's hard to find, like Tales Of The Abyss 3DS - if the option to download existed then, I'd have gone with that.

(Same goes for the Wii U too)

[redlight79]

See, I'm kind of torn. I like having physical copies, but the thought of being able to store future games on my handheld, and only have to carry that around with me, and not need to carry cartridges around is appealing.

I think for this gen, I'll stick to physical copies, but when the do the successor to the 3DS (not the 3DS XL or 3DSi) I'll probably give it greater thought.

[MD1500]

Yep. One thing I had only just thought of - It would be a real asset for Streetpasses when at a convention or something. I've lost count of the number of times I've had to change a game cartridge, just so I could whittle passes down. Having the games already there on the system makes it much easier.

[redlight79]

Originally Posted by MD1500

Yep. One thing I had only just thought of - It would be a real asset for Streetpasses when at a convention or something. I've lost count of the number of times I've had to change a game cartridge, just so I could whittle passes down. Having the games already there on the system makes it much easier.

They mentioned at the 3DS conference that NSMB2 and Paper Mario will focus heavily on streetpass. Not sure how they're going to incorporate it, but I'm pleased that it hasn't been ruled out.

Like you said though, it makes switching games so much easier.

[redlight79]

Given that NSMB 2 will cost £40 on e-Shop, there is not a chance I will be downloading it. I could easily get that for half the price if I did some shopping around.

I was hoping that Nintendo would do it cut price, for maybe around £15 considering they don't need to charge for packaging and materials, but the fact it costs more?.... Makes no sense

[TheSilentFez]

What is the point of Digital Downloads when they are over £10 more expensive than the physical games you can buy in stores or on the internet?
If Nintendo want to make Digital Games work, they really will need to reduce the price or at least offer something which will make downloading them worthwhile.

[2Dshmuplover]

I would think that Nintendo will look at how dismally the digital copy of NSMB2 has sold and will adjust their prices accordingly, let's hope anyway. £40 is £10 too much.

[lordOfTime]

What about game bundles? Like the Classic Mario games in a bundle for say a tenner? I'd love to start playing classic Mario on the go.

Mario Bros 1, 2 & 3
Mario World
Mario Land.

Have to say when I finally managed to hook my 3DS to a wireless point and looked at the eShop, I didn't see a lot that grabbed me, even in the Virtual console which has been around a while.

[redlight79]

Originally Posted by 2Dshmuplover

I would think that Nintendo will look at how dismally the digital copy of NSMB2 has sold and will adjust their prices accordingly, let's hope anyway. £40 is £10 too much.

I don't think they'll drop the price of NSMB2 anytime soon unfortunately. Though it might not have sold much via e-shop, the odd one or two will be livid if they reduce the price so soon, cos those consumers will think it had been a waste of money, either that and Nintendo will refund the difference back to their e-shop account or offer a free NES game.

[MD1500]

One thing I'm disappointed with is that Nintendo haven't brought the download cards here yet.

The options were meant to be (from most expensive to least expensive).

1. Buy a digital game direct from the eShop
2. Buy a boxed, physical game from a store
3. Buy a download card from the store, which you can use to buy a digital game from the eShop

Number 1 was always going to be the most expensive to keep the retailers on-side. However, the fact that option 3 isn't available here, ruins the concept.