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DSiWare buys are non-transferrable News
DS News by Robert Purchese
Nintendo has explained to Eurogamer that DSiWare purchases cannot be transferred to additional DSi machines, meaning any games or applications are locked to whichever system they're bought on.
The explanation comes as Nintendo prepares three new DSi colours for Europe: Metallic Blue, Light Blue and Red. They arrive on 23rd October, pre-installed with Facebook and Flipnote Studio.
Nevertheless, Nintendo is prepare to transfer DSiWare downloads should your DSi break and you send it in for repair or replacement. That is the only way.
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Comments: 1-47 of 47 in total
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giant_frying_pan
30/09/09 @ 14:41
+1
Pretty poor customer service.
You *can* get your Wii content transferred after a repair or fault, but it's an arduous and manual process I understand. |
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+13
mingster - Nintendo is the only one of the format holders to lock content to one console. Microsoft lock content to Gamertags, Sony locks it to 5 consoles at any one time, with the ability for the account holder to deactivate a console themselves, PC stuff locks to a username. Nintendo are by their lonesome on this draconian policy.
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EverAfter: Sony also lock it to an e-mail address as well, although you can change it, you might get a problem like me and no longer own one of the two PSN-enabled consoles, then you have a whole bunch of virtual software that you cannot sell on, because you don't want to give up the content that you do.
Although I agree that the Nintendo solution is draconian for someone wanting multiple systems, it does mean you can sell the system on with extra content without losing anything yourself, as the system is the DRM token. |
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+25
WTF?!!!
Digital content ownership should be bound to a person - not a device. If you cannot implement that then you should be banned from running a digital content distribution platform. Period. Even Apple allowed you to transfer your DRM encoded mp3s across a limited number of ipods.
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 30/09/09 @ 15:51
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+7
A draconian measure. I agree with other posters that content should be fixed to a username, gamertag etc, rather than a single device. Another reason I am against Digital Distribution for consoles. If I buy a normal physical copy of a DS game, I can play it on another DS. It is my game, I own it, as long as I don't break the law I should be able to play it when I want and where I want to.
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+5
It really is an issue with the whole downloadable content situation for all platforms.
It should always be locked to your Username/Account not tied to the Hardware. That way you can use it on a new PC/PS3/DS whatever... Not really for "all" platforms. On the PS3 you can log into another PS3 and happily re-download all of the things that you've bought. With the 360 it's a tiny bit more complicated, but Microsoft do at the very least offer a license transfer service which accomplishes effective the same thing. It's the same for Steam. Although transferring purchases between machines isn't exactly perfect on the other consoles, it's possible - the idea of content which is totally non-transferable except in the case of a repair is exclusive to Nintendo. |
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JohnnyWashnGo
30/09/09 @ 15:17
+9
Just another reason why I find DLC such an affront to both my personal liberties and my video game collection.
DLC looks shit on my game shelf. Its just an empty plank of wood which makes me look like a madman when friends visit and I point to the empty space where games should be and say 'Look at my ace collection of video games' :( The more that manufacturers do this kind of thing, the more clever hackers will find ways around it. |
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+4
Once again the consumer is being shafted by DRM. If someone wants to buy a new DSi in a new colour, why can't they take their purchases with them? Once upon a time I was excited by the prospect of being able to download games directly to my console, but the reality is a greedy system that takes away your right to own the software you've paid for.
Makes me long for the days of cartridges, they'll still all be working in 100 years most likely. Try getting a modern DRM'ed game to work in 100 years when the authentication servers are long gone... |
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+2
"ownership" the curse of DD and what holds industries back as they wonder "why do people hack their hardware and resort to piracy?". Is is so hard to get into their skulls we want to OWN what we buy, which means doing what we want with it.
Ironically of the three only "consumer unfriendly" Sony have really met us half way. Download on up to five machines is a fair enough alternative to DRM free (something I seriously doubt we will EVER see on games). |
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monkeylite
30/09/09 @ 17:34
+3
Wow, and people moaned about Sony (which allows re-downloads on different PSPs). This is really awful. Bad move there Nintendo.
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+2
This is just bloody poor but, sadly, no surprise.
As has already been mentioned the Wii already does DRM this way and it pisses me off no end that if I flogged my Wii and bought another I couldn't just reload my profile (as on the PS3 & 360, not to mention Steam) and get all my games back. Nintendo have by far the crappest attitude to DRM and content ownership of any platform holder this generation. (And that's before we even touch upon Friend Codes and the like)
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 30/09/09 @ 18:56
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+6
I don't understand why Nintendo is doing this. I have my Club Nintendo Membership, where i can see a list of all the games i have downloaded on WII, and probably also all the DSIware games to if I had some. So how difficult would it be for Nintendo, if I registered a new system to my account, to allow me to transfer downloadable content from one to another. Of course, a limit up to 5 systems, where I could deregister a system if I am not using it any more, would be fine enough.
I know, Nintendo would lose some customers from household with 2 or more kids, each owning a DSI, but hey.. come on. The way it is now is just silly and make Nintendo look very greedy.
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 30/09/09 @ 19:35
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+5
What about some point in the future when your Wii or DSi is out of warranty?
Basically they can force you to use their service for a repair because they're holding all your DLC as hostage. At some point a cheap second hand replacement unit will be cheaper than the repair and you'll forced to make a difficult choice, how much is that DLC worth to you? Do you care if you can't use it anymore? |
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0
That is pretty shite, wouldn't buy many if I had one if I can loose them that easily...
Although it enrages me greatly when I'm offline and I can't play Geometry Wars 2 for some reason, even though I should be able to, so MS has something to work on as well. And Steam doesn't work too well offline as well sometimes.
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 01/10/09 @ 00:20
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+1
@Skurmedel:
Did you get a new Xbox at all? You can move all your content to another Xbox once a year with this link: http://www.xbox.com/en-GB/support/drm/ If your Xbox breaks and you get them to repair it, they usually transfer it automatically. |
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Toothball, hehe I think you misunderstood me. What I meant is slightly off topic, I meant that when I'm not logged in to live sometimes for whatever reasons, I can't access my Arcade Games, and it makes me really pissed. I think you should be able to...
Not that it's worse than what this story is about, just pointing out that I think they all could be much better. But hey, +1 for handy link.
Edited 2 times,
most recently on 01/10/09 @ 10:12
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+1
@Skurmedel:
You should always be able to play any downloads on the Xbox you download them on originally regardless of whether you're online or not. Also, any other profiles on that Xbox should be able to play as well. As you can't it sounds like you're using more than one Xbox. If you do have more than one Xbox then there's not much you can do. But if you've bought a new one and traded in the old for example, that DRM tool will transfer all your licenses to your new Xbox. Be aware though, the process essentially involves going through your download history and downloading everything again. It doesn't need to download the actual files so each one is quite quick, but you need to go through all of them which can take a while. |
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0
Should I use the power of music to summarise this article? Because you know, money, money, money, it's so funny...
Don't think for a second the industry will follow silly ethical rules such as allowing you to use your virtual software multiple times without paying multiple times.
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 01/10/09 @ 19:07
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Comments: 1-47 of 47 in total
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