Direct quote from Iwata on free Excitebike download, adding future VC platforms to eShop
This information comes from Nintendo’s Financial Results Briefing…
“However, for the system update, we need to have consumers voluntarily go online with their Nintendo 3DS. We are planning to do some promotional activities in order to urge them to do so. More specifically, we will give a free download of ‘ExciteBike’ as one of the ‘3D Classics’ series during a certain period of time after the beginning of the system update. We would like to announce this widely and have as many people as possible update their hardware and start using Nintendo eShop. Concerning the Virtual Console software, we will begin with GameBoy and GameBoy Color software, and continue with this until we gradually realize the Virtual Console software for the other platforms.”
It isn’t clear if the Excitebike download is Japan-specific or if North America and Europe will also offer the game for free. I have a feeling that this will be a global promotion, but for now we’ll have to wait for a confirmation from Nintendo’s other departments.
