Poll of the Day > Reminder that the 3DS eShop is going down next month

(+) Yeah! (+)

March 27th. You will no longer be able to buy games or make in-game purchases after that. Nintendo says that for the foreseeable future you will still be able to download purchased games after March 27th. Also Pokemon Bank will become free to use, and you will still be able to transfer Pokmon to Home. But to be safe if thats something you care about, download Bank and Poke Transporter before March 27th.

i have about $19 left on my 3ds, not sure what to get

Let's just say I'm good

The future of digital gaming baby

WiiU as well if you still want anything exclusive there

keyblader1985 posted...

Let's just say I'm good

this

Krow_Incarnate posted...

The future of digital gaming baby

just download any digital game, and then you can always have them

Krazy_Kirby posted...

just download any digital game, and then you can always have them

This, if anything, digital has made games more available then they ever where.

Not saying I don't lust for the days that physical wasn't a dying medium, but I also am glad I don't have to pay hundreds or even thousands of dollars for a game anymore because it wasn't popular.

keyblader1985 posted...

Let's just say I'm good

NickMullen posted...

this

Okay? Theres people that have money tied up in the eShop and they should probably know theyre close to losing it if they dont spend it.

papercup posted...

Theres people that have money tied up in the eShop and they should probably know theyre close to losing it if they dont spend it.

The money remains on Switch, just no more spending it on the older eShop apps.

Thank Christ about time

Krow_Incarnate posted...

The future of digital gaming baby

meh they're dead simple to hack/mod

DeltaBladeX posted...

The money remains on Switch, just no more spending it on the older eShop apps.

Oh is that right? I dont think I knew they were linked

papercup posted...

Oh is that right? I dont think I knew they were linked

Currently the only way for me to add funds down here

Dikitain posted...

This, if anything, digital has made games more available then they ever where.

Not saying I don't lust for the days that physical wasn't a dying medium, but I also am glad I don't have to pay hundreds or even thousands of dollars for a game anymore because it wasn't popular.

Yeah, there are ups and downs to it. On one hand, when a digital game is removed from storefronts, it actually becomes impossible to find it (legally), as opposed to just difficult/expensive, and that's really bad from an art preservation standpoint. On the other, though, digital games tend to remain available in stores for much longer than physical ones by simple virtue of not having to compete for limited shelf space. That's really good from the standpoint of just wanting to play them, especially if you're hoping to wait for a sale (which, with physical, means finding a sweet spot between the game being cheap enough that you want to buy it but not so cheap that it's no longer worth stocking it over something more valuable). If I want, I can load up Steam right now and buy a copy of Knights of the Old Republic (for example), 20 years after it was released. Finding a physical copy, however, would have been hard within 5 and is all but impossible now.

That's also without considering how many games simply wouldn't exist if not for digital distribution. Yes, it sucks that there are hundreds of games that will simply disappear from the market when the eShop shuts down next month, but the fact of the matter is that those games would never have made it onto store shelves in the first place if releasing physically were their only option. I would rather see those games be sold for a few years than not at all. Digital distribution has been an incalculable boon for the indie market, which I consider to be a good thing overall.

Now, saying that, there's really no excuse for shutting down the eShop except to restrict access to older titles that might have remasters or ports coming (driving up demand - and therefore profit - for those). I'm more forgiving of it in the case of the Wii and other examples of early digital distribution, while companies were still figuring out the whole process, but there's absolutely zero reason the 3DS, WiiU, and Switch can't all use the same shop service hosted on common servers that never need to be taken out of service. They already use the same account/wallet and you can use a PC to browse and make purchases in all three shops, so clearly their segregation isn't a technical issue so much as a deliberate decision to host them separately, and that makes these shutdowns really frustrating.

Of course, I see absolutely nothing wrong with pirating games that nobody sells, so there's always that as a plan B.

adjl posted...

Of course, I see absolutely nothing wrong with pirating games that nobody sells, so there's always that as a plan B.

Yea, usually when a game becomes available digitally and I go "Yes, thank god!", It is usually followed up with "Now I can delete the pirated version off my hard drive and get it legally"

Krazy_Kirby posted...

just download any digital game, and then you can always have them

I dont have enough memory

Dikitain posted...

This, if anything, digital has made games more available then they ever where.

Not saying I don't lust for the days that physical wasn't a dying medium, but I also am glad I don't have to pay hundreds or even thousands of dollars for a game anymore because it wasn't popular.

I feel physical makes things more available since you can always have it. Even after the shop closes, I can still buy physical copies of stuff. I wont have to make sure it downloaded to my system or anything

adjl posted...

That's also without considering how many games simply wouldn't exist if not for digital distribution. Yes, it sucks that there are hundreds of games that will simply disappear from the market when the eShop shuts down next month, but the fact of the matter is that those games would never have made it onto store shelves in the first place if releasing physically were their only option. I would rather see those games be sold for a few years than not at all.

What really sucks if when they release a game digital only that would have sold had they released a physical version Like the Phoenix Wright games 5 & 6 were digital only Some are actually physically released in other places, as well

LinkPizza posted...

I feel physical makes things more available since you can always have it. Even after the shop closes, I can still buy physical copies of stuff. I wont have to make sure it downloaded to my system or anything

Generally speaking, though, digital versions will remain available for purchase long, long after physical versions have been pulled from store shelves for not being popular enough. There's always the possibility of hunting down a physical copy somehow, whether getting lucky with an in-store used sale or by finding a seller online, but that's going to require effort, luck, and probably some extra money (especially as more time passes). If the game's available digitally, it's going to be available for exactly the same price (or less), for exactly the same amount of effort, and with zero luck involved for as long as the storefront survives, unless the publisher makes a decision to pull it (which happens and is bad, but it's pretty uncommon), and that's generally much longer than physical games remain on shelves.

LinkPizza posted...

What really sucks if when they release a game digital only that would have sold had they released a physical version Like the Phoenix Wright games 5 & 6 were digital only Some are actually physically released in other places, as well

Physical distribution isn't cheap. It's not at all uncommon for a publisher to do a digital-only release if they expect that a physical release will cost more than they stand to make from the game, which can make for regional differences when localization comes into play (or even just simple population density). It'd be nice if the savings publishers enjoy from digital distribution ever got passed on to the consumers, but that's just not how corporations like to operate, so here we are.

It's worth noting that "X sold well enough that they could have done a physical release" is often an assessment that can only be made retrospectively. The physical releases of Stardew Valley and Hades, for example, only happened after the games had already been successful and it was well-established that there was enough demand to make the release worthwhile. When games are initially being released, that's quite a gamble to take, especially for indie studios that often don't have the capital lying around to be able to build up an inventory of physical copies.

adjl posted...

Generally speaking, though, digital versions will remain available for purchase long, long after physical versions have been pulled from store shelves for not being popular enough. There's always the possibility of hunting down a physical copy somehow, whether getting lucky with an in-store used sale or by finding a seller online, but that's going to require effort, luck, and probably some extra money (especially as more time passes). If the game's available digitally, it's going to be available for exactly the same price (or less), for exactly the same amount of effort, and with zero luck involved for as long as the storefront survives, unless the publisher makes a decision to pull it (which happens and is bad, but it's pretty uncommon), and that's generally much longer than physical games remain on shelves.

Maybe its the games I buy, but I never have trouble finding them online Someone is almost always selling the ones Im looking for. They may be expensive, but theyre available And it usually doesnt take that much effort of luck on my part, normally But again, it could just be the type of games I look for

As for the storefront, thats not always true For example, Nintendo seems to shut down their stores. I think its only been the Wii store, and now the 3DS store But the systems before didnt have them. For Sony, the store update and remove stuff sometimes. Some games I was able to get for PS3 werent available digitally for PS4. And its will probably be the same with each system going forward Thats a guess, though for now Dont know about Mrcrosoft, though Even with Steam, they remove games often enough Its not a large percentage since they have an obscene amount of games there. But games do get removed frequently, I believe They have people that make topics and stuff on this site and others about it

adjl posted...

Physical distribution isn't cheap. It's not at all uncommon for a publisher to do a digital-only release if they expect that a physical release will cost more than they stand to make from the game, which can make for regional differences when localization comes into play (or even just simple population density). It'd be nice if the savings publishers enjoy from digital distribution ever got passed on to the consumers, but that's just not how corporations like to operate, so here we are.

It's worth noting that "X sold well enough that they could have done a physical release" is often an assessment that can only be made retrospectively. The physical releases of Stardew Valley and Hades, for example, only happened after the games had already been successful and it was well-established that there was enough demand to make the release worthwhile. When games are initially being released, that's quite a gamble to take, especially for indie studios that often don't have the capital lying around to be able to build up an inventory of physical copies.

Tbh, the savings were never going to go to us Thatbwould defeat the purpose of making it digital They want to make more money. So, that was always the plan That said, even popularity doesnt always help I think Phoenix Wright was the top selling games in the eShop for like a month. Part of that was because it was ONLY available there But even then, it sold a lot Yet, even then, 6 was still digital only

Dikitain posted...

This, if anything, digital has made games more available then they ever where.

Not saying I don't lust for the days that physical wasn't a dying medium, but I also am glad I don't have to pay hundreds or even thousands of dollars for a game anymore because it wasn't popular.

I hate DKOldies so damn much. They've ruined retro game collecting with the 1-million-dollar Mario 64 shenanigans.

End of an era

LinkPizza posted...

Maybe its the games I buy, but I never have trouble finding them online Someone is almost always selling the ones Im looking for. They may be expensive, but theyre available And it usually doesnt take that much effort of luck on my part, normally But again, it could just be the type of games I look for

Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance came out in NA in October 2005. Fire Emblem: Awakening came out in NA in February 2013.

In October 2015, ten years after its release, the average price for a used copy of FE9 on Amazon was $150. New-condition copies were in the $350 range (though that's more of a collector's thing than just wanting to play the game). Both prices can be expected to fluctuate with demand due to the fixed supply, so there's a certain amount of luck involved in when you decided to try to find a copy. There is no other legal way to play this game except to pay one of these prices (unless you already have it), and the game's publisher will not be compensated in any way by your purchase.

Today, ten years after its release, FE13 is $40 in the eShop. That is the most it will cost regardless of how many people are trying to buy it because there's a literally infinite supply of the game, and there have been numerous opportunities in the past decade to grab it for even less than that. Used physical copies are running a little bit more expensive than that, due to the limited supply, but are still in the $45-50 range because for those who just want to play it, the option of dropping $40 on a digital copy exists. Buying a digital copy does support the publisher, rather than going to a middleman who is selling a used copy.

This is what we mean when we talk about availability: Broadly speaking, it's a lot more viable for people to buy digital copies of games well after the height of their popularity than it is to buy physical copies under the same circumstances. Saying this, the comparison between these two games is likely to change next month when it's no longer possible to buy FE13 digitally (so actually, buying a few used copies now might be a half-decent investment, if you're looking for a gamble), but the fact remains that FE13 remained readily available to interested players for much longer than FE9 did, something that can be attributed entirely to the eShop. Hypothetically, if the eShop remained active for longer instead of being shuttered prematurely (as I mentioned earlier, there's zero reason old systems' storefronts need to be shut down when they can be based on the same servers/accounts as contemporary systems'), that would remain true indefinitely. Even now, there's a clear cutoff after which FE13 will no longer be readily available, so anyone that's been on the fence about it knows to make the decision while they still can, as opposed to nobody really knowing when new copies of FE9 would stop being produced and the price would start climbing.

adjl posted...

Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance came out in NA in October 2005. Fire Emblem: Awakening came out in NA in February 2013.

In October 2015, ten years after its release, the average price for a used copy of FE9 on Amazon was $150. New-condition copies were in the $350 range (though that's more of a collector's thing than just wanting to play the game). Both prices can be expected to fluctuate with demand due to the fixed supply, so there's a certain amount of luck involved in when you decided to try to find a copy. There is no other legal way to play this game except to pay one of these prices (unless you already have it), and the game's publisher will not be compensated in any way by your purchase.

Today, ten years after its release, FE13 is $40 in the eShop. That is the most it will cost regardless of how many people are trying to buy it because there's a literally infinite supply of the game, and there have been numerous opportunities in the past decade to grab it for even less than that. Used physical copies are running a little bit more expensive than that, due to the limited supply, but are still in the $45-50 range because for those who just want to play it, the option of dropping $40 on a digital copy exists. Buying a digital copy does support the publisher, rather than going to a middleman who is selling a used copy.

This is what we mean when we talk about availability: Broadly speaking, it's a lot more viable for people to buy digital copies of games well after the height of their popularity than it is to buy physical copies under the same circumstances. Saying this, the comparison between these two games is likely to change next month when it's no longer possible to buy FE13 digitally (so actually, buying a few used copies now might be a half-decent investment, if you're looking for a gamble), but the fact remains that FE13 remained readily available to interested players for much longer than FE9 did, something that can be attributed entirely to the eShop. Hypothetically, if the eShop remained active for longer instead of being shuttered prematurely (as I mentioned earlier, there's zero reason old systems' storefronts need to be shut down when they can be based on the same servers/accounts as contemporary systems'), that would remain true indefinitely. Even now, there's a clear cutoff after which FE13 will no longer be readily available, so anyone that's been on the fence about it knows to make the decision while they still can, as opposed to nobody really knowing when new copies of FE9 would stop being produced and the price would start climbing.

Like I said, they may end up being expensive But I can still get them But only the physical versions And I dont see it as being hard to find or needing luck You just need extra cash

As for Awakening, its cheap on the eShop right now So, if you get it before the shop closes, thats fine. But if not, those prices with also start to rise. And then continue to rise Its only cheap because the eShop version is cheap

But once the shops are gone, thats it for digital copies Thats why I think physical makes thing more available Theyll always be there, even if theyre expensive Digital is there, but can disappear, or be hard to find. For example, I have digital games Ill never be able to play again on my Wii because my Wii doesnt work. Even if I get a new Wii, Im not sure Id be able to recover my digital games Or get new digital games. But due to my physical copies of my games, Ill still be able to to play those as long as I still have a working game disc Thats how I feel, at least That said, I like physical copies since I can switch with friends and family, anyway

LinkPizza posted...

Like I said, they may end up being expensive But I can still get them But only the physical versions And I dont see it as being hard to find or needing luck You just need extra cash

To call that "available" is kind of a stretch, if we're talking about normal consumers. The vast, vast majority of people are not going to choose to spend $150+ on one old game instead of $60 on a new one. That's only something you would ever consider if you really, really want that specific game, and even then that's not a price point that's accessible for many people.

LinkPizza posted...

But once the shops are gone, thats it for digital copies Thats why I think physical makes thing more available Theyll always be there, even if theyre expensive Digital is there, but can disappear, or be hard to find.

I think you're confusing "available for longer" with "more available." "More available" simply means it can get to more people, and being sold through official channels and at typical prices for longer absolutely accomplishes that. By its very nature, digital can get to more people, by virtue of not drawing from a limited supply. The problem certainly exists that that availability disappears when storefronts get shut down, but before that (which is often quite a while, in the case of services like Steam that have been around for decades), digital increases availability.

LinkPizza posted...

For example, I have digital games Ill never be able to play again on my Wii because my Wii doesnt work. Even if I get a new Wii, Im not sure Id be able to recover my digital games

A big part of that is that the Wii was just starting to dabble in digital distribution. Most modern services tie purchases to accounts instead of systems now, so if your initial system fails for whatever reason, you can still access the games.

Saying that, in the event that you lose access to games that were purchased legitimately, I see no reason whatsoever not to just pirate new copies, especially when buying them from the publisher is no longer an option (and there's therefore zero room to claim any sort of loss from that piracy).

adjl posted...

To call that "available" is kind of a stretch, if we're talking about normal consumers. The vast, vast majority of people are not going to choose to spend $150+ on one old game instead of $60 on a new one. That's only something you would ever consider if you really, really want that specific game, and even then that's not a price point that's accessible for many people.

Idk I call it available if its available Just because its expensive doesnt change that Its not like people want to pay more than it use to cost. People dont even want to pay what it cost most of the time But your option are to buy it and own it, or not buy it and own it

adjl posted...

I think you're confusing "available for longer" with "more available." "More available" simply means it can get to more people, and being sold through official channels and at typical prices for longer absolutely accomplishes that. By its very nature, digital can get to more people, by virtue of not drawing from a limited supply. The problem certainly exists that that availability disappears when storefronts get shut down, but before that (which is often quite a while, in the case of services like Steam that have been around for decades), digital increases availability.

I think more available and available for longer can compliment each other, though Since physical copies are available for longer, they have the capacity to reach more people even long after the storefronts are down They could keep changing hands in some cases It was better when games sold better you more money, but plenty of people still only buy games used Which isnt exactly a thing you can do with digital It can go on sale, but stores can also have sales

adjl posted...

A big part of that is that the Wii was just starting to dabble in digital distribution. Most modern services tie purchases to accounts instead of systems now, so if your initial system fails for whatever reason, you can still access the games.

Saying that, in the event that you lose access to games that were purchased legitimately, I see no reason whatsoever not to just pirate new copies, especially when buying them from the publisher is no longer an option (and there's therefore zero room to claim any sort of loss from that piracy).

Im not sure if that one was set up like that, as I dont remember doing it I think my Wii U is set up, though Possibly As for pirating, I have no idea how to even do that Plus, I assume thats something better done on PC, which would not really work for me to well Id have to have something better than what I have right now

Reminder that 3ds.hacks.guide exists.

Still not sure what to get...

The best looking thing is Pokemon Crystal... and I'm a dollar or so short to get something like Earthbound