[i_am_viet]

Correct me if I am wrong. I believe eshop purchases are still tied to the system and not the account. This makes transferring of content more of a hassle than it needs to be. You'll need to do a system transfer of the games if you want to maintain your library.

[jakebasile]

Yes. If you can't have both systems available at the same time and location you need to call in to have your account transferred. This requires you to answer some questions about the account such as what games do you own and when did you buy them. Then they take a few days to get around to unlocking your account. It's awful and easily the most user hostile of the modern gaming platforms' stores.

[vlunkr]

I don't understand why they do it this way. Buying a game on any other platform feels so much nicer, because I know if my console dies I can just log in and re-download. I assume it's something about piracy, but it does feel hostile towards regular users.

[squidbidness]

A plausible financial incentive for them would be rent-seeking: they might be afraid they lose money on the balance if you only have to buy the game once. Doing it this way they have a shot at getting money from you again for the same game when new consoles come out.

[my_ghola]

It actually made piracy easier. At least in the 3ds, all you need to do is add some id of the game to a file in the 3ds and it will be like if you purchased it.

[kbenson]

Is there any info on whether this was a problem with not having Nintendo IDs linked to the shop on original Wii systems? On my Wii U, I had to create a Nintendo ID to use the shop, so presumably that follows me now. I could see the process you describe as their interim solution before they started linking accounts to the shop, but I don't know whether that's true.

[jakebasile]

Nope, the same process applies to Wii U purchases.

[emdowling]

This is exactly what I'm concerned about. It seems ridiculous. Not sure if it's enough to be a deal breaker, but it seems so backwards especially as they control the whole platform.

[ocdtrekkie]

AFAIK, that is still how it works as of the Wii U. And yeah, there's awful processes for if say, your device dies, and you need to recover your digital purchases.

[i_am_viet]

It is unfortunate Nintendo still operates their online purchases this way. Many other platforms (XB Live, PSN, Steam, et cetera) tie purchases to the account. Nintendo's way goes against expectations.

I hope Nintendo spends a little more resources to improve on the online side of things alongside the new Switch console (store, online multiplayer, interaction with friends...); they are severely behind compared to their competitors.

[jakebasile]

Nintendo has been behind with respect to online gaming for multiple console generations. Friend codes instead of user names is a terrible idea, and like their game purchases friend codes are tied to the hardware and not the user account.

[ocdtrekkie]

I think a big part of the friend code choice is their focus on younger gamers. I think Nintendo's intentionally tried to make it hard for people to become friends who don't know each other outside of the Nintendo ecosystem. They don't want to be seen as an avenue for children being taken advantage of, they don't want parents worrying about what their kids do on a Nintendo platform, etc.

I'm not saying it's the right call, or that in this day and age, we haven't moved past that in many respects, but I'm willing to bet that's a big part of their lack of online focus.

[vidarh]

The age control and granularity of control over what my son can do is far superior on the Nintendo consoles than either the PlayStation, Xbox, iOS or Android.

And yes, my ex have had total freak-outs over several of the other platforms due to ridiculous decisions (Plants vs. Zombies on the Xbox making it an outright pain to find out not to have random strangers suddenly broadcast their conversation to you - seemingly without realising - and liberally using the n-word, for example... whoever thought it was a good idea to have player audio broadcast without making it easy to mute on either end without muting all in game sound is a total idiot), or numerous iOS games that are otherwise great that allow unrestricted chat where my son has several times come across rather disgusting behaviour.

In general I'm not so worried in my sons case - he knows what he's not allowed to tell people, and he knows what not to repeat, but I can see why a lot of parents would find many games that otherwise would be perfectly age appropriate problematic to let their kids play.

[monocasa]

Word on the street is that the higher echelons of Nintendo are absolutely terrified of a pedophile picking up children on their network. When views through that lens, all of their Internet decisions make sense.

[jakebasile]

That's almost certainly why it is how it is - remains to be seen if they catch up to everyone else with this console though.