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Why is Nintendo's eShop so bad on 3DS?

Dillion's Rolling Western
Play Time: 28:27
Average Play Time: 1:40

Can't wait for the sequel.

I've been able to navigate through the store pretty easily. Could it be more organized? Sure. But I think they do a good job in showcasing new releases. They just need to double the amount of VC titles.
 
The 3ds eshop is great and it seems even better than the Wii U eshop from what I've seen of it. I've never had trouble finding a game, the new stuff is always showcased, and now that sales are becoming more regular I feel like its finally realizing its full potential as a digital storefront. My biggest complaint it that it takes too many clicks to actually make a purchase and that the "b: button isn't the universal "back" button.
 
I cant even remember how its organized because its a nightmare.

I remember there are some categories on the bottom row, but also maybe options?


but then in the main panel there are "links" directly to certain games but then also videos/demo categories in between top rated and stuff and I dont confidently know where things are

EDIT: Trying to find specific things on the wii u is pretty awful too since the only way I know how to look for demos is to "view all games" (which isnt that bad since there aren't many of them) and finding the demo icon(of which there arent that many of either) unless they've added an actual demo category in the last couple of days
 
I do agree that they need to do a better job of advertising games that are currently being discounted. I've seen a few cases where (admittedly terrible) games have been discounted but not only did NOA not feature them on the main eShop splash screen but they didn't even mention them on the weekly press release. What good is a discount if you don't even bother to tell anybody?
 
RE: Not advertising sales, could it be that since publishers/developers can set the sales themselves, that they're simply not informing Nintendo when they do so or asking for the sale to be advertised?
 
@MUWANdo said:
I do agree that they need to do a better job of advertising games that are currently being discounted. I've seen a few cases where (admittedly terrible) games have been discounted but not only did NOA not feature them on the main eShop splash screen but they didn't even mention them on the weekly press release. What good is a discount if you don't even bother to tell anybody?
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When did this happen? The only sales I ever remember happening on the eShop were like a 6-week promotion thing, and Nintendo always put that on the front page.
 
serplux said:
When did this happen? The only sales I ever remember happening on the eShop were like a 6-week promotion thing, and Nintendo always put that on the front page.
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I'm struggling to remember the games in question (again, I just remember they sucked) but they were definitely separate to those big promotional periods you're talking about. I know I've seen 'em mentioned in previous eShop threads here on GAF, actually, so I'll have to do a search later and see what I can dig up.
 
@MUWANdo said:
I'm struggling to remember the games in question (again, I just remember they sucked) but they were definitely separate to those big promotional periods you're talking about. I know I've seen 'em mentioned in previous eShop threads here on GAF, actually, so I'll have to do a search later and see what I can dig up.
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I honestly don't remember any developer ever saying that their game was going on sale outside of a Nintendo promotion in the US. I thought Nnooo was going to be the first one with the escapeVektor price cut in a couple weeks.
 
I can't stand the 3DS eShop design. Especially when they choose to highlight bizarre, random categories ("Made in the Netherlands!" - contains a mere two games) each week instead of actual new releases.

It's okay if you know what you're going to buy before booting it up, but just trying to casually browse the eShop is flat out awful.
 
I agree that it's absurd to charge full price for a digital version of a retail game, but that's a separate issue from whether or not the service is usable. I rather like the layout and find everything to be easy to find.
 
It's a ridiculous waste of money until they add an account system. $40 for a game that is already $30 in stores and it's tied to the system? cool.
 
The actual problem with the eShop is that games are attached to the console, and recovering them if you lose your 3DS is a pain in the ass.

But the eShop has great games for nice prices, although there are some games that are expensive as fuck if we compare with other platforms.
 
shiftplusone said:
EDIT: Trying to find specific things on the wii u is pretty awful too since the only way I know how to look for demos is to "view all games" (which isnt that bad since there aren't many of them) and finding the demo icon(of which there arent that many of either) unless they've added an actual demo category in the last couple of days
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Do you guys really still have no demo category on the WiiU eShop. I's been here since day one in Europe. That would really suck :/
 
CoolS said:
Good to hear. I love the WiiU eShop, it's pretty much perfect in my opinion.
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There are a couple of minor things I'd like (ability to gift games to other people, bundling games, more rating options), but I have no real problems with it. It showcases off a lot of games well.
 
serplux said:
There are a couple of minor things I'd like (ability to gift games to other people, bundling games, more rating options), but I have no real problems with it. It showcases off a lot of games well.
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Forgot about the no gift thing. Really baffling, especially since you could do it on the Wii.
 
CoolS said:
Forgot about the no gift thing. Really baffling, especially since you could do it on the Wii.
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IIRC, I think there's no gifting feature on the 3DS/Wii U because neither of them support WiiConnect24. It shouldn't be that hard to implement though.
 
KillerTravis said:
Mutant Mudds is $5 right now I believe, escapeVektor will be $5 next week, I think they're doing a sale for a different game very week. European eShop will be having a big sale on retail games right now, so I think it's safe to say there's going to be one here soon.
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Uh, any info on this?
It is good to see Nintendo starting with some sale events. The interface is completely fucked, anyways.
 
androvsky said:
Just got one yesterday, and there's a few titles that I can only find via searching. I'm perfectly willing to go through a gigantic list of everything just so I can see what's there, but I don't see the option anywhere. For example, I think Cave Story can only be found if you search for the title.
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Touch the menu icon on the top right, press "apply filters", browse your list of everything (limited to 500 rsults).

In the past there was a way to filter out DSiWare games and browse VC by platform, no idea why they removed them.
 
serplux said:
We've got categories for downloadable retail games, Nintendo Show 3D, new arrivals, demos, 3D games, and Future Releases on the top (along with other promotions), with Popular Videos, Best Sellers, Applications, Virtual Console, Top Rated Games and Retail-Only games on the bottom. The problem is, the demo/retail game category doesn't have all of the demos/retail games.

Edit: Take a look if you want.
Click to expand...

That looks bad.

In Europe, we have permanent sections for:

- Recommendations
- Download Retail
- Demos
- Digital Downloads
- Videos
- Download Videos
- DsiWare
- Virtual Console
- Retail
 
I think the eShop is really good. I think the VC games come out too slowly, but there's a good selection of games there, especially if it's your first time there. Do you have something against GB and NES? WTF indeed.
 
PaulExcellent said:
Honestly, I just dislike the interface.
It's awful, unorganized, and a complete pain to use.

The games on it are gold, though.
Dillon's Rolling Western is one you should definitely check out, even with the price.
It does feel rather steep, but it is worth it.
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I second that.
The eShop has awesome games but a seriously STUPID design.
They should just use the same interface as the WiiU eShop, it's so much better for everything.
 
On club nintendo's surveys sometimes it will ask me to write what I think about Nintendo's eshop. Last time I wrote


"Every Thursday I check the eshop in hopes of finding a newly released game that interests me enough to purchase, but most of the time there simply isn't anything I want."

Nintendo could give themselves a better chance at selling me a game if they released 10 or so new eshop games every week as opposed to 2-3. Yes VC, 3D NES classics count, but not DSi ware
 
Well we just got an update for the 3DS in preparation for next month's big update, so it might start looking a whole lot better soon.
 
perfectchaos007 said:
On club nintendo's surveys sometimes it will ask me to write what I think about Nintendo's eshop. Last time I wrote


"Every Thursday I check the eshop in hopes of finding a newly released game that interests me enough to purchase, but most of the time there simply isn't anything I want."

Nintendo could give themselves a better chance at selling me a game if they released 10 or so new eshop games every week as opposed to 2-3. Yes VC, 3D NES classics count, but not DSi ware
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Glad I'm not the only one that takes advantage of the surveys to voice my frustrations. My recent vents have been about the lack of Pikmin 3 and Wonderful 101 in my hands.

But.....aren't all the DSiWare games already on the shop?
 
metsallica said:
I've purchased dozens of games on the 3DS eShop, and loved nearly all of them. Not sure what you're talking about.
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He's talking about incredible high prices and laughable offers. I'm happy for you that you paid overpriced games that you'll lost once you change you console, but is not acceptable to those that are using other superior digital shops.
 
I really love the Eshop.

They have this new sections every day, a great way to discover new games.

Its nice to see and shows some effort. I buy all my games on the e shop

My girlfriend took it some day and decided to buy a game for her. She got Sakura Samurai, played it like hell and just finished it yesterday. She´s also playing it again.



I feel i need to tell my Google Play Store horror tale every time:
I logged on Google Play Store, i was looking for something to play on my tablet.
Saw a game with five stars and two "opinions" saying "ITS JUST LIKE SHADOWRUN!!"
I bought it for U$3. Its not like shadowrun. Its like crap.
 
Are the prices high for DD titles? Yes, in most cases.
Is the Virtual Console pretty bad? You bet
Original titles though? Get out man. Dillon is easily a 10 hour game, Pushmo is hands down one of the best titles on the 3DS, and in the last year the eShop has kept me busier than anything Nintendo has put out at retail. It could be a lot worse, and actually it's some of the best stuff Nintendo's ever put out online.

Buy Pushmo, Mutant Mudds, Crashmo, Sakura Samurai, Mighty Switch Force, Denpa Men, Dillon's Rolling Western, and then try and tell me the storefront is "terrible".

Sheesh.

E.g. Pushmo is £4.50. OMG HIGH PRICE RIGHT? Well no, for a start, this isn't iOS so all the devs aren't in an aggressive price war with one another. And secondly, Pushmo is worth £4.50 because it has a whole host of content. I've racked up 40 hours on it, and I haven't even finished it yet or dipped into user created content.
 
Mileena said:
I just wish they supported the Virtual Console. Much more appealing than indie games, yet for some reason they think adding one NES or GB game here and there is adequate enough support. Must be too much to ask for.
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I don't understand why there aren't any 16-bit games or N64 titles?! Makes no sense.
 
GRW810 said:
The eShop isn't bad, OP just doesn't like it. Big difference. Nothing to see here.
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lol See now this is an example of a response I'm going to ignore because you're basically trying to dismiss my issues with eShop because you feel that I don't like it and should be ignored. Take off the glasses.
 
Wynnebeck said:
lol See now this is an example of a response I'm going to ignore because you're basically trying to dismiss my issues with eShop because you feel that I don't like it and should be ignored. Take off the glasses.
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Then respond to some other ones? I'll concede, as I say, that DD prices are bad. But then, it's nothing that Sony or Microsoft don't do with retail titles. And it's completely up to the dev; Resi Revelations is debuting at £25 for example, Mercenaries 3D at £9.
 
dragonfart28 said:
eShop is much better than the Sony/MS variant.

Also, wtf is dosh?
Click to expand...

Someone post the Loadsa Money video for him since I'm on my phone and eShop better than PS Store/XBLA? No, that's blatantly false. As for the games everyone keeps telling me to buy, I plan on buying Rolling Western and some other games but I'm still confused if you can transfer your games to another 3DS if you decide to upgrade.
 
EVH said:
Nope.

Also, I just learned that if I buy a game in retail, I cannot download it afterwards from the eShop. Stupid.
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Uh, yeah? Because right now you could just immediately turn around and sell the game card if you had a free download copy. Do you get/expect a free download copy of any Wii U/Xbox 360/PS3 games too?

Short of making the discs/cards worthless after a one time code use (like PC gaming), and I'm sure we've all seen the backlash over Microsoft possibly doing that, it seems unlikely that a free download copy with retail will ever happen.

Someone post the Loadsa Money video for him since I'm on my phone and eShop better than PS Store/XBLA? No, that's blatantly false. As for the games everyone keeps telling me to buy, I plan on buying Rolling Western and some other games but I'm still confused if you can transfer your games to another 3DS if you decide to upgrade.
Click to expand...

Yes you can, I, and many others transferred stuff from 3DS->3DSXL, and you will be able to for any future models.
 
Wynnebeck said:
Someone post the Loadsa Money video for him since I'm on my phone and eShop better than PS Store/XBLA? No, that's blatantly false. As for the games everyone keeps telling me to buy, I plan on buying Rolling Western and some other games but I'm still confused if you can transfer your games to another 3DS if you decide to upgrade.
Click to expand...

You definitely can now. You need both 3DS systems handy though.

AntMurda said:
Rolling Western is such a mediocre game that reeks of a low budget. Compared to the awesome XBLA and PSN selection.
Click to expand...

It's definitely not the eShop's crowning gem. Pushmo takes that honour. Honestly, if you're even slightly interested in puzzle game, GET IT.
 
serplux said:
IIRC, I think there's no gifting feature on the 3DS/Wii U because neither of them support WiiConnect24. It shouldn't be that hard to implement though.
Click to expand...

Actually, it's because the company that handled the Wii store didn't help with the WiiU or 3DS eShops. Seems like Nintendo doesn't have much interest on that feature on their part.

CaptainAhab said:
It's a ridiculous waste of money until they add an account system. $40 for a game that is already $30 in stores and it's tied to the system? cool.
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It's worth noting that there are many games that are released at a price lower than $40. The problem is that first-party Nintendo titles never drop the prices, but that is not exclusive to digital, strictly speaking on the handheld market.
 
MasterBalls said:
E.g. Pushmo is £4.50. OMG HIGH PRICE RIGHT? Well no, for a start, this isn't iOS so all the devs aren't in an aggressive price war with one another. And secondly, Pushmo is worth £4.50 because it has a whole host of content. I've racked up 40 hours on it, and I haven't even finished it yet or dipped into user created content.
Click to expand...

And yet it should be, more competition is good for consumers, who cares is not that good for publishers? Also iOS makes a fuck ton of money and a lot of companies are happy with it.

AntMurda said:
Rolling Western is such a mediocre game that reeks of a low budget. Compared to the awesome XBLA and PSN selection.
Click to expand...

And yet it cost the same as some high profile XBLA/PSN games. Ludicrous and propesterous.

I can't understand how some people can defend it.
 
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