Tons of eShop details – demo talk, pricing, Excitebike, much more
– Minimum price point of $1.99 for eShop games
– Super Mario Land: $3.99
– Alleyway/Radar Mission: $2.99
– Pokedex 3D free forever
– eShop has a scrolling “shelf” of square icons
– These icons represents a category of games
– Much flexibility in determining what categories to display on the shelf
– Shelf could be used for Mario games, two-player games, games that start with the letter W
– View up to six dual-screen screenshots and six dual-screen videos of games on the shop
– Nintendo has toyed around with the issue of whether to release demo versions of games
– Game Boy games: Only option allows you to view the games in solid black-and-white colors or in the classic gray-and-green scheme
– TurboGrafx and Game Gear games will be added later
– Excitebike is a “rebuild”
– Excitebike programmed from the ground up without using the original NES game’s code
– Track editor will use both of the 3DS’ screens
– 3D slider in the game adjusts the 3D effect and camera angle
– Dial the 3D down: Camera zooms in and shows a closer view of the biker
– Dial the 3D up: Camera pulls back to show a wide-angle shot of the stadium bleachers far off in the distance
– Can only add funds to your wallet on the shop in amounts of $5, $10, $20, and $50
– No account that saves personal details and credit card information
– Enter card details each time you want to add funds
– No “redeem code” functionality currently to download a specific piece of software
– Nintendo figuring out some way to let writers review games before they come out
– Announcement about eShop games will be on Mondays, the games will actually be released on Thursdays
– Nintendo will update the shop with more robust features
This information comes from David Wharton, director of eShop operations, a new group formed inside Nintendo of America in April to handle all digital sales…
“We believe strongly in maintaining the value of games. The race to the bottom is not in the best interest of the game business.”
