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Nintendo 3DS Shopping Channel - a brief look (Andriasang)

C

Cosmonaut X

Member
It's a very, very brief look at the new shopping interface for the 3DS, but it's worth a look.

Unveiled in today's investor briefing, it gives a glimpse of what Nintendo meant when they talked of a smoother and better interface for digital purchases, and it includes features like:
  • Themed "racks" for software
  • Movies, demos and details for titles
  • User rankings
  • Search functionality

The whole thing looks like an evolved and integrated version of the Wii Shop/Nintendo Channels, and it looks very slick and smooth.

http://www.andriasang.com/e/blog/2010/10/29/3ds_shopping_channel_interface/
 
Stumpokapow said:
demos thank christ

if they fuck it up and make the demos not mandatory, that would be awful :/
Click to expand...

I could see it happening - Nintendo do seem to leave a lot up to the individual dev/pub (the "Stand or fall" approach, I think) so they may well present it as an option. I would hope not, and I would hope that even if they do that most - if not all - devs realise just how important a sales tool a demo can be.

EDIT:

It really is well worth looking at the linked vid in Anoop's piece - the interface looks really slick and smooth, and it seems as though they've taken a lot from their experience with the Wii Channels to make something far more robust and user-friendly.
 
Drkirby said:
Looks good. Do the VC games have demos too?
Click to expand...

They show off Super Mario Land in the video, but only as a video clip. It's not clear whether demos will be across-the-board for VC and DSi/3DSWare, or indeed whether they will be mandatory or on a case-by-case basis.
 
I hope the demos are for full games too, would be kind of lame if there were only "Ware" demos like on the Wii.
 
Easy_D said:
I hope the demos are for full games too, would be kind of lame if there were only "Ware" demos like on the Wii.
Click to expand...

Well, Nintendo are already allowing DS demos for full games on the Nintendo Channel, so it's entirely possible. The limitation for WiiWare demos only is more to do with the size of the available storage on the Wii and the size of Wii retail games.

I'm hoping that they have used the Nintendo Channel demo program, the in-store demo discs for games like Zangeki no Reginleiv and the brief WiiWare demo program, to judge how useful demos are in terms of driving sales, and that it has led them to include demos across the board. Nintendo are a very conservative company, but I think that if someone in there presented their limited toe-in-the-water approach as being successful (esp. w. regard to driving game sales) it would push them to go further with it for 3DS (and Wii2).
 
My guess is they've been gauging the value of demos via the Wii download service for DS demos as well as those five they had on the Wii Shop Channel last Christmas.

I'm also going to guess that they won't be mandatory. Some of the DSiWare is small enough and cheap enough that a demo isn't necessary and would probably be detrimental to sales.
 
Looks slick. I love the stats integration from the Wii's Nintendo Channel and wish they had managed to revamp the whole shop to work around that.

Which is exactly what they appear to have done for 3DS. I just hope it loads up quickly in the first place.

Being able to see how much a game is played by people who already bought it is a massive plus point in helping me make a purchase.

Also, I totally forgot about GB VC. Awesome.
 
Dave Long said:
My guess is they've been gauging the value of demos via the Wii download service for DS demos as well as those five they had on the Wii Shop Channel last Christmas.

I'm also going to guess that they won't be mandatory. Some of the DSiWare is small enough and cheap enough that a demo isn't necessary and would probably be detrimental to sales.
Click to expand...

Perhaps. I certainly couldn't see the value in a demo of, say, "Flashlight" or one of the umpteen 200pt sudoku titles. It would be difficult to have a cut-off point for mandatory demos though - "Over 500pts and you MUST supply a demo!" is a bit of a fiddle, when it would be better to either have no requirement or a requirement across the board.
 
Majine said:
Looks like they will finally actually advertise the content on the channel.


Added features, man! Added features!
Click to expand...

I think demos are great though anyone whose looked at the 200 pt offers knows that it's pointless in many instances. Notebooks/clocks/calculators/sudoku/solitaire don't need demos which is why it would be silly to mandate something like that. Leave it up to the devs what they want to do with it and if they don't want to make a demo and it doesn't sell it's their fault.
 
Cosmonaut X said:
Well, Nintendo are already allowing DS demos for full games on the Nintendo Channel, so it's entirely possible. The limitation for WiiWare demos only is more to do with the size of the available storage on the Wii and the size of Wii retail games.

I'm hoping that they have used the Nintendo Channel demo program, the in-store demo discs for games like Zangeki no Reginleiv and the brief WiiWare demo program, to judge how useful demos are in terms of driving sales, and that it has led them to include demos across the board. Nintendo are a very conservative company, but I think that if someone in there presented their limited toe-in-the-water approach as being successful (esp. w. regard to driving game sales) it would push them to go further with it for 3DS (and Wii2).
Click to expand...
Forgot all about the DS demos on the Wii. Though that was a weird and off-putting implementation of demos imo.

Hope they handle it better on the 3DS.
 
Neuromancer said:
Sounds awesome. Still no NA release date, why Nintendo, why?
Click to expand...
There recent report conferms it comes out in March everywhere else, most likely Nintendo is trying to figure out which week is best for each region before they start annoucing.
 
Easy_D said:
Forgot all about the DS demos on the Wii. Though that was a weird and off-putting implementation of demos imo.

Hope they handle it better on the 3DS.
Click to expand...

Well, of course - instead of having to access a "demo station" (which is basically what they turned the Wii into for that purpose) you'll be able to pull demos straight from the product page in the shop. Whether they're full game demos or not is unclear, but if they go that route it will be that simple.
 
Demos? It's like 2004 all over again. Sounds cool. Nintendo is finally getting the hang of this internet contraption.
 
Imposing a demo requirement is stupid. Making it possible in the first place, and either free or very-low-cost is very smart.

If a developer wants to make a demo, and can reasonably make a demo, then great! Otherwise you're just tying their hands. Not all games make sense in this fashion.
 
The demos and new features are nice and all, but it doesn't change the fact that we haven't gotten a confirmation on account details.

People need to stop getting excited for the wrong things or Nintendo will get dumb ideas about what we really want(See 3DS price increase being related to fan reaction). People need to make more noise on the account front if we really don't want to deal with a shitty online system for another five years...
 
SolarPowered said:
The demos and new features are nice and all, but it doesn't change the fact that we haven't gotten a confirmation on account details.

People need to stop getting excited for the wrong things or Nintendo will get dumb ideas about what we really want(See 3DS price increase being related to fan reaction). People need to make more noise on the account front if we really don't want to deal with a shitty online system for another five years...
Click to expand...
Okay, let's start now!

I want an account based system for 3DS-Ware and online! Get rid of Friend-Codes! Let me add anyone instantly with around 4 taps on the touch screen!

No more million digit numbers! HEAR THAT NINTENDO NINJAS? Tell that to your boss, or y ou can kiss your business goodbye!

(I'll still buy it)

But seriously, with all the new revisions Nintendo put out on the handheld front an account based system would be for the better.

Or if they at least let you transfer your purchases to your new 3DS-Lite without having to send both units in to let them handle it.
 
SolarPowered said:
The demos and new features are nice and all, but it doesn't change the fact that we haven't gotten a confirmation on account details.

People need to stop getting excited for the wrong things or Nintendo will get dumb ideas about what we really want(See 3DS price increase being related to fan reaction). People need to make more noise on the account front if we really don't want to deal with a shitty online system for another five years...
Click to expand...
If Nintendo doesn't already have a system in place(no matter what they're deciding to go with) I would be worried. I would imagine they already do though and no amount of noise or complaining will change it.
 
Easy_D said:
Forgot all about the DS demos on the Wii. Though that was a weird and off-putting implementation of demos imo.

Hope they handle it better on the 3DS.
Click to expand...

Well they say they are interested in pushing demos to users with SpotPass. Which on that note I have no idea why people find the demo part to be news, it's been confirmed for a while now.
 
Neuromancer said:
Sounds awesome. Still no NA release date, why Nintendo, why?
Click to expand...
It's gonna be out in Europe on March 18th. No inside information, but I'll take a one week ban if it's not coming out on the 18th. ;-)

Being able to download Demos is great, but it's also the only option to really show the 3D-feature. It's not like you could really describe how the 3D works in a particular game or if it's broken, etc.
 
Drkirby said:
Well, being able to do DSi -> 3DS is a start, I hope Nintendo doesn't drop the ball.
Click to expand...

You can do 3DS -> 3DS too. If someone could think of an ad-hoc way to securely transfer content without an account system I'd like to hear it because it would be really hard (and ironically the pinnacle of DD because you could effectively sell used DD games).
 
slaughterking said:
It looks and sounds pretty neat, but it all comes down to if Nintendo manages to implement a simple account system to tie your purchases to. No word about that yet.
Click to expand...

Yep. The video actually looks really great -- far more usable, appealing, and sensible than the Wii and DSi systems. But that still leaves the last vital piece -- a logged-in, individual account to associate your purchases with. It's fine if that account is your Club Nintendo account; it's fine if your unique identifier is some awful 20-digit number; but there has to be an account system to which your purchases are tied (and a way to log that account in on multiple 3DS devices.) If that doesn't happen, all the effort Nintendo put into this has been totally wasted and they're going to spend another generation in the weeds on selling online content.

(Mandatory demos for every game is definitely a near-second-place requirement, and no, nobody give me that ridiculous "developer freedom!" angle.)

Somnid said:
Because flashlight really needed a demo...
Click to expand...

Flashlight shouldn't have been allowed on in the first place.
 
Stumpokapow said:
demos thank christ

if they fuck it up and make the demos not mandatory, that would be awful :/
Click to expand...

Isn't microsoft the ONLY one with mandatory demos? I've used Wii, Steam, and IoS and demos aren't required on any of the services.
 
Can't really tell much from that short video. Saying they have demos is pointless because we have those right now. We know how that's working out.
 
I really doubt demos will be mandatory. I hope they are, but I feel like they won't. It would make sense for Nintendo to push demos and trailers hard on the device though, since it would be hard to see 3D trailers elsewhere.

Would be cool to see movie trailers. :D
 
zigg said:
Imposing a demo requirement is stupid. Making it possible in the first place, and either free or very-low-cost is very smart.
Click to expand...

So not true.

Microsoft imposes a demo requirement on 100% of DD developers on their system -- even 100% of XBIGs have a demo (though there it's always just a time-cutoff trial.) This is a huge benefit to the entire DD platform -- it dramatically increases near-impulse purchases and ensures that games can pick up sales they wouldn't ever see without the ability for people to try the games. Having every title have a demo is like creating herd immunity through vaccination -- it strengthens the entire platform, ensuring that no one ever feels like they're getting tricked or roped into an unfair purchase and it makes people feel much less hostile towards the platform as a whole, which'll increase the sales of even mediocre titles in the long run.

If a developer can't manage to put a demo together, their production process is not, quite frankly, good enough to be working with them. If a developer doesn't want to do a demo, it's still in your best interests as manager of the platform to force them to take their medicine, since it'll be better in the long run for both of you if they all do it. 3DSWare is already not an open platform; devs already have to jump through whatever hoops Nintendo sets for them. A "you must include a standalone or integrated demo" requirement is a far more beneficial hoop to jump through than almost anything else Nintendo could require.
 
Somnid said:
There's million of these on the App Store
Click to expand...

DSi/3DSWare is not the App Store and never will be because they have different purposes and structures. It is in Nintendo's interest to protect the value of their platform by not releasing bullshit $2 versions of things that are free random downloads on the App Store.
 
charlequin said:
DSi/3DSWare is not the App Store and never will be because they have different purposes and structures. It is in Nintendo's interest to protect the value of their platform by not releasing bullshit $2 versions of things that are free random downloads on the App Store.
Click to expand...

They have better value software, like their Animal Crossing Calculator.
 
Gram Negative Cocci said:
Isn't microsoft the ONLY one with mandatory demos? I've used Wii, Steam, and IoS and demos aren't required on any of the services.
Click to expand...
I really wish it became standardized across the board after MS did it :(
 
It'll all count for nothing if they don't sort out their broken DRM, which is simply the worst in the industry at this point in time.
 
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