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[Fox Mulder]

Great dev friendly policies.

MS's Live policies kind of made sense when the service started, and even early this gen, but it's not 2005 anymore. Even smartphone apps can have free updates and choose their own pricing.

 

[Erethian]

Unless it has changed recently, this isn't true.

Yep. Tim Schafer has said that you can't set your own pricing (as opposed to Steam where you can) as recently as February of this year.

 

[Baconsammy]

Unless it has changed recently, this isn't true.

It's quite true. They can't set a price like 8.99, but they can choose the price tier for XBLA titles, and Games On Demand are determined by MSRP. Microsoft doesnt set MSRP.

 

[Beth Cyra]

It's quite true. They can't set a price like 8.99, but they can choose the price tier for XBLA titles, and Games On Demand are determined by MSRP. Microsoft doesnt set MSRP.

Being able to set Price to whatever a Dev feels is right is a huge difference between allowing them to choose from Price Tiers.

 

[Instro]

Cool. I think we have heard this previously as well from some other devs. At least Nintendo is getting this part of their system right.

 

[Baconsammy]

Being able to set Price to whatever a Dev feels is right is a huge difference between allowing them to choose from Price Tiers.

For arcade games I like the tiers. 5, 10, 15 and then the rare 20. Nintendo did it like that with the Wii as well. I expect it will be similar on the Wii U.

 

[H_Prestige]

Square Enix is pleased.

 

[Erethian]

For arcade games I like the tiers. 5, 10, 15 and then the rare 20. Nintendo did it like that with the Wii as well. I expect it will be similar on the Wii U.

Nope, it works like Steam/iOS.

 

[Instro]

I wonder if this will lead to discount sales more often, and price drops for that matter.

 

[Baconsammy]

I wonder if this will lead to discount sales more often, and price drops for that matter.

If it does, I hope the e-shop has an effective way of announcing these drops. Otherwise it's going to be like on iOS where we'll need to rely on twitter feeds.

 

[Corto]

Nope, it works like Steam/iOS.

Awesome. And Sony was so close to this on the Vita with the Playstation Mobile program. Their problem is that making a ghetto with tiered regional releases instead of making it systemic from day one will dilute all the benefits that they could achieve with such a move. Brilliant move from Nintendo.

 

[Luigiv]

Would be even better for the devs if it allows in game purchase

... It does. That's really old news already.

 

[reptilescorpio]

No fees for patches yay! Hope the other big 2 follow suit next gen.

 

[andthebeatgoeson]

It's a console launch. It's going to occupy most of the front page. Nintendo didn't answer one hundredth of the questions people would have about it before launch. It's going to occupy even more than most console launches.

So that's why they did it. It's a feature of their launch.

 

[Feep]

Huh. Maybe I'll have to look into this.

 

[LOCK]

Nintendo really wants indie devs to jump aboard the Wii U, so surprising but not really.

 

[KojiKnight]

The real question is, do publishers of RETAIL games get to set their own prices?

 

[Michan]

Yep. Tim Schafer has said that you can't set your own pricing (as opposed to Steam where you can) as recently as February of this year.

This February isn't recent. It looks like they've been making massive strides during the year, and this is clearly one of them.

 

[Erethian]

This February isn't recent. It looks like they've been making massive strides during the year, and this is clearly one of them.

To be clear I was talking about XBLA.

 

[Medalion]

This sounds vaguely positive, so I will react in happy emotional response!

 

[bigtroyjon]

Yep. Tim Schafer has said that you can't set your own pricing (as opposed to Steam where you can) as recently as February of this year.

Tim Schafer is not a publisher.

 

[TheGreatMightyPoo]

I thought patches cost tons???

This sounds too good to be true.

if so.

(I might not know what I am talking about at all, don't know about all that stuff)

 

[gdt]

This is huuuuuge. Shocking to see it coming from Nintendo.

 

[Tagg9]

The real question is, do publishers of RETAIL games get to set their own prices?

Why wouldn't they be able to? They can set the retail price at whatever they want.

 

[Ken Masters]

Another Wii U thread? Geez!

A new system is launching and their are a lot of threads about it on a gaming forum, crazy huh?

 

[Tenki]

Excellent news. I hope more indies get on board.

 

[Draft]

This is so smart that I think the dev is probably wrong. Nintendo isn't capable of making this much sense.

 

[Game Guru]

Of course, Nintendo would do this... They are the ones who see every form of entertainment as a competitor to them, including Apple and, quite possibly, Steam. So it makes sense for Nintendo to try to compete with Apple and Steam in addition to Microsoft and Sony.

 

[Pai Pai Master]

Great news for indie devs. I have no hope for Microsoft, but it would be nice if Sony adopted this for PSN and Vita going forward. Devs should not be charged for wanting to patch their games.

 

[Relaxed Muscle]

3DS shop needs the same treatment ASAP.

 

[Malvingt2]

this is really great news, great move from Nintendo.

 

[Barkley's Justice]

No, NO, NO! Only the console publisher can set price, date, FIT IN OUR SCHEDULE

GAMING NEEDS CHAPERONING!!11111111111

 

[gamergirly]

Sounds like good news hehe

 

[Randolph Freelander]

Nintendo gets it right on this. Well done.

 

[enzo_gt]

There's no fee on DLC and patches, too.

Biggest news. Maybe fighting games can thrive on the Wii U. Skullgirls devs should be looking into this.

 

[M3d10n]

If it's the 360 approach where it patches rather than replaces, it should go quickly. If it's the PS3 method of replacing and then installing, then it becomes a pain. We'll know when this guy finishes his Wii U patch update and pops in Assassins Creed 3 how Wii U game patches are handled, because if I remember right Ubisoft said it was going to have a day 1 patch.

The 3DS updates eShop games like iOS does: it re-downloads the new version whole. Retail games patches, however, contain replacements for individual game files which.

I believe files are replaced whole (like Steam) so the size of the patch depends on how fine-grained the game's files are.

 

[Stewox]

Great news indeed

 

[mozfan12]

I think its a really smart move that will hopefully provide for better indie support than what happened with the Wii.

 

[Thoraxes]

There's no fee on DLC and patches, too.

So this is what that one guy meant about the system's online then when he did those comparisons to Steam to the other consoles.

 

[MYE]

Anyone have that pic of the WiiU's eshop menu?

 

[IceMarker]

hope this philosophy carries over to 3ds eshop as well.

That was my first thought as well. Do it Nintendo.

 

[crimsonheadGCN]

Does steam have fees for patches? or just Sony and MS?

No, Valve does not charge a fee for patches. Also, their whole process for checking a patch was just to see if the game patched correctly and started up. That was up until recently when they gave all developers the ability to launch patches whenever they want to without Valve's supervision.

 

[soulassssns]

Set the price lower than retail = WIN!

 

[LiquidSolid]

That's pretty sweet, something that Microsoft or Sony would likely never adopt

Sony lets devs set their prices and come up with sales as well.

If Nintendo thinks letting devs come up with their own sales is going to make them do so, then they're in for a rough surprise. Devs/pubs put their games on the store and then forget about them, moving straight on to the next game they've got coming out. They need to have someone on staff that reaches out to the devs/pubs and convinces them to put their games on sale.

 

[Eusis]

Sony lets devs set their prices and come up with sales as well.

If Nintendo thinks letting devs come up with their own sales is going to make them do so, then they're in for a rough surprise. Devs/pubs put their games on the store and then forget about them, moving straight on to the next game they've got coming out. They need to have someone on staff that reaches out to the devs/pubs and convinces them to put their games on sale.

Nintendo may not really care to push out sales though, they were remarkably half hearted when they tried this with the 3DS, and favor evergreen titles. I wouldn't be surprised if slowing price drops was much more helpful to the industry too, I imagine everyone being used to games like ME2 plummeting to $20 in about a month or two has instilled bad habits for profiting at full price for most publishers, or worse yet serves to drive out smaller ones who can't profit off that model.

 

[whitehawk]

I think there should be a fee for patches, (first 1-2 should be free perhaps) it just shouldn't be a ridiculous amount like $40,000 on the 360. Just a few hundred bucks, $1000 max.

 

[Why would you do that?]

^
I disagree, because it is still an incentive to not release updates that would benefit gamers.

Though it would be pretty neat if patches were free only if they introduced additional content. Then we'd get more patches like Mighty Flip Champs and Mutant Mudds (each of which nearly doubled their content in an update).

 

[theviolenthero]

Does anybody know what Trine 2 Directors Cut or any e-shop game will cost?
Can't find a price anywhere.

 

[Phife Dawg]

Great news.

I'm quite stumped they had the port running in two days. How is this magic possible? I thought it was running on a proprietary engine?

Great news until we're bombarded with new patches every other time we start a game.

Broken game > downloading patch?

If it does, I hope the e-shop has an effective way of announcing these drops. Otherwise it's going to be like on iOS where we'll need to rely on twitter feeds.

It'll probably be like the 3DS eshop if the pictures are anything to go by. Sales will be on the front page as its own category/tile.

 

[Boombloxer]

This is great news.