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Nintendo Planning Third-Party Digital Downloads

News

by Matthew Kato on May 02, 2012 at 09:04 AM

9,109 Views

Nintendo is moving fast to catch up to the competition, as it's planning to allow third-party publishers to offer their games digitally on Nintendo systems.

IGN has a statement from a company representative that reads, "We are currently preparing a program for third parties, but have nothing specific to announce at this time."

Last week, Nintendo declared that it was going to offer digital downloads of its first-party games alongside retail releases starting with New Super Mario Bros. 2 for 3DS in August.

Now that Nintendo is embracing digital downloads of full games, it's worth noting that the Wii U only uses SD cards/flash memory and doesn't have a hard drive. Although it's not hard to get cards as large as 64GB for around $50 (and with that comes room for expansion, etc.) it'll be interesting to see how much memory is included out of the box and whether most consumers will have to plan for more memory.

Email the author Matthew Kato, or follow on Twitter, and Game Informer.

Filed under: News, Nintendo, Impulse, Nintendo 3DS, wii U, New Super Mario Bros. 2

Comments

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by The Great Gonzo Wednesday, May 02, 2012 at 09:12 AM

wow, well that must be really good for there profits! FIRST time nintendo did somthin like this!
by ViaDanchops Wednesday, May 02, 2012 at 09:13 AM

No hard drive? That's kind of upsetting. I guess installing games won't be an option?
by xx_shimmy_xx Wednesday, May 02, 2012 at 09:27 AM

Sad to say, but it seems like like nintendo is once again a step behind everyone else. Is great that they're supporting third party downloadable titles, but to not have a hard drive built into your system seems so inconvenient and puts harsh limits on what the player can have on their system. I had to upgrade my ps3 Jardine to a 500GB drive just to support all my disc based installations and downloadable titles. If I get this system, I do not want to have to keep track of 10 or 20 sd cards just to get the titles and save files I need.
by pariah Wednesday, May 02, 2012 at 09:29 AM

Nintendo catching up with everyone else is a good sign.
by GoldvsSilver Wednesday, May 02, 2012 at 09:38 AM

It's still a very weird plan to kick out their console without something as established as a hard drive. It's not like they're very incredibly expensive anymore, you could even go with smaller sizes if price is too much of a problem.

Anyways, it's good that they'll be doing downloads for all publishers and developers. Hopefully, Nintendo closes down some good relations to keep touch with the competition.
by GSWarriorsFan Wednesday, May 02, 2012 at 09:42 AM

Nintendo, y u no include a hard drive?
by Stonecutters908 Wednesday, May 02, 2012 at 09:54 AM

It should be worth noting that nothing has been announced regarding the Wii-U's onboard disk space. Yes it is expandable via USB and SD card but that says nothing in regards to what will be included in the system out of the box. That hasn't been confirmed by anyone.
by Zero Wednesday, May 02, 2012 at 10:01 AM

If they go the Vita route with ridiculous memory card demands, then they're going to have a bad time.
by The Man of Slight Bewilderment Wednesday, May 02, 2012 at 10:13 AM

A step in the right direction!
by powerphoenix Wednesday, May 02, 2012 at 10:16 AM

Not including a harddrive could actually work for the Big N because each Nintendo system brings out roughly 10 games that are must haves and 400 games that are diggleberries wrapped in plastic. From Super Nintendo to Wii I can count 30 games that were must haves. So who needs a 500GB harddrive?
by Apricot Wednesday, May 02, 2012 at 10:21 AM

This is great news! I probably won't buy many games digitally because i'd prefer physical copies, but I might buy a game or two digitally. Also, it is always great to have third party games be digital!

EDIT: Also, the Wii U needs to get a hard drive. I really don't want to have to buy like a billion SD cards just so I can download all the games I want (including downloads of retail games and Wii U Shop games).
by snapszach Wednesday, May 02, 2012 at 10:59 AM

Really glad to see the new wii will have better online stuff
by Warrior Wednesday, May 02, 2012 at 11:05 AM

AWESOME!!!! I love Nintendo!!! I have a 3ds and I can't wait for Wii U!
by jerbrandon Wednesday, May 02, 2012 at 11:07 AM

it really matters for the GB cause it can hold a lot of data depending on the holding number. for example the 3ds SD card is 2GB not 4GB and it really matters to pay attention to the data limit.
by The Father of Understanding Wednesday, May 02, 2012 at 11:33 AM

No hard drives???? Nintendo, stop being a dumb ass!
by Zebra3 Wednesday, May 02, 2012 at 11:46 AM

I'm intrigued! Can't wait to see what kinds of games they feature.
by slickvicXLII Wednesday, May 02, 2012 at 12:19 PM

Love the idea. I prefer physical copies, but I download every once in a while for the sake of convenience. I have a feeling I'll use this more on my 3DS than a WiiU. speaking of WiiU...

"it's worth noting that the Wii U only uses SD cards/flash memory and doesn't have a hard drive." This is only speculation. It has never been officially confirmed by Nintendo. please don't print lies. (and if anyone has a link to prove me wrong, i'll gladly stick my foot in my mouth) Also, it HAS been confirmed that the WiiU will support external hardrives, so SD cards are NOT the only option.
by Killer Troopa Wednesday, May 02, 2012 at 12:50 PM

I'm glad, I really do hope Nintendo spends a lot of time on the online component of the Wii U (and possibly the connection between the Wii U and the 3DS, somewhat like the GBA had for the Gamecube, only more, hopefully).

As for the HDD thing, iirc, nothing so far has been confirmed (despite what it says in the article, I don't recall Nintendo officially confirming that) but I do hope it has one.

I just can't wait to see what Nintendo brings to E3 regarding the Wii U.