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Nintendo's Backwards Online Costs Man Hundreds of $


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#1 CUD

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Posted 09 February 2013 - 05:24 PM

http://www.kotaku.co...-wii-u-problem/

For several years, Jon used to download lots of old Virtual Console games to his Wii. He bought a bunch of Wii eShop games, too. Recently, with the enthusiasm any Nintendo fan has for a new Nintendo machine, he bought a Wii U. He set up a Nintendo ID on the system, transferred his Wii games to that Wii U and then discovered that he’d bought a lemon.

“My Wii U console would flash its red power light when I tried to turn it on,” he told me in an email. “I let it go for days, and kept trying. It just was not a reliable system.”

At that point, what Jon should have done was contacted Nintendo. He didn’t. He did something that seemed like a perfectly natural reflex: he took his Wii U back to the store he bought it from and swapped it for a new one. Problem solved? Not at all. He’d just created his new problem.

He took the new Wii U home and discovered he couldn’t set up the same Nintendo ID he’d used on the first system. He had to make a new ID. Then, he said, he found out that he couldn’t get those $US400+ games onto his new Wii U. They were locked to the boken one… the one he didn’t have anymore. As far as Nintendo’s online infrastructure was concerned, he wasn’t the Jon of old. He was new, and he didn’t have a right to those games.

Jon was frustrated, because, of course, he did have a right to those games. He’d paid for them. He’d transferred them to a Wii U. So what if his new Network ID didn’t have a record of his purchases? He knew that Nintendo did have a record that he’d bought the games. They were registered on a page linked to his official Club Nintendo ID (a different ID that isn’t tied to the Wii U). Jon shared that list with me, and you can see it below. Games he paid to download on his Wii — games now lost to him — have red boxes next to them:

The Club Nintendo webpage seemed to show that Jon was a diehard Nintendo fan. He hoped Nintendo’s customer service department would agree and help him out. Jon e-mailed them. They said they were “sorry to hear about the issues you’ve experienced with your first Wii U console” but that “since you traded your Wii U console for another one at a retailer, we will need to speak to you directly to get all of the details and work out the best solution.” This couldn’t be resolved with a quick e-mail. He picked up his phone.

“I called Nintendo and spent weeks talking to them about the problem,” Jon said. “The lady, who helped me, was one of the nicest ladies, and was incredibly sweet to me. She wanted to help me, so I sent in my receipt to prove which systems I did the exchange for. After weeks of her reviewing everything, they gave me $US200 of credit on the Wii U marketplace.”

The problem with the $US200 offer from Nintendo wasn’t just that it was half of what Jon had spent. It’s that the Wii U online shop is a different digital store than the Wii online shop. They use different online wallets. Both can be accessed via a Wii, but only one — the Wii shop — sells the games Jon had already paid for and wanted to have access to again. That $US200 of Wii U shop credit couldn’t buy any of the $US400 worth of games he’d bought.

So that $US200 would just sit there on his Wii U. It couldn’t help Jon.

Jon isn’t the first person to figure out that Nintendo locks downloadable games to only one Nintendo ID. He wouldn’t be the first to figure out that this is different than how, say, Apple works. That electronics giant ties purchases to Apple IDs that can be activated on numerous iOS devices.

Nintendo’s own Wii U instruction manuals have also made clear the Nintendo IDs will lock content, though the company has suggested that users will someday be able to transfer their Nintendo IDs — and, presumably the content locked to them — from one device to another. If that was available to Jon, he wouldn’t have a problem. But, I asked Nintendo, why does Nintendo lock content to an account that is locked to hardware? Why not adopt a system that allows the transfer of Nintendo IDs?

“Different companies take different approaches to preventing the resale of downloadable games,” a rep for Nintendo of America told me in response to these questions. “Anyone who experiences any issues with a Nintendo system or game should contact Nintendo Customer Service at 800-255-3700 or http://www.nintendo....umer/index.jsp. Once a system has been sold or traded in, and the system is no longer in possession of the original owner, the downloadable content cannot be recovered.”

You’d think that being short $US400 worth of games might put Jon off from Nintendo, but remember that bit about him being a Nintendo fan? He can’t quite give Nintendo up.

“I still think they are an amazing company, and will still purchase retail copies of their games,” he told me. “I will be a little more hesitant about downloading games through the Wii U, but I still play both the Wii U and 3DS.”

He just wants to have what he paid for.


tl;dr: Guy bought a Wii U and transferred his $400 worth of downloadable Wii games to his Wii U only to discover his Wii U was a dud. He then returned his Wii U to the store he bought it from and found out that he could not use the same Nintendo ID that he transferred his $400 worth of games to, in other words he had lost his $400 worth of games.

After spending weeks discussing the issue with Nintendo they gave him $200 of Wii U store credit which not only being half the amount he lost also didn't allow him to purchase the same games that he had lost.

Nintendo's backwards online system cost this man quite a bit but for some reason he isn't turned off of Nintendo.

Edited by CUD, 09 February 2013 - 05:33 PM.

This statement is false. The previous statement is true.

RIP in peace Nintendo.

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#2 PedanticGamer

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Posted 09 February 2013 - 05:29 PM

This man is an idiot, if a company ripped me of that badly (which is exactly what Nintendo have done) I would be furious. He should continue fighting for what he has paid for.

#3 Nollog

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Posted 09 February 2013 - 05:45 PM

This man is an idiot, if a company ripped me of that badly (which is exactly what Nintendo have done) I would be furious. He should continue fighting for what he has paid for.

I'm in this boat.
I'd personally have read the manuals so I'd know to send my console to Nintendo if I had transferred my wii purchases, but I'd still be annoyed with them.

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#4 Chaz

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Posted 09 February 2013 - 05:58 PM

This is really worrisome for me as well. I always get the Best Buy warranty with a new console...it's let me bring back two dead 360's and trade it out for a brand new one on the spot. I assumed that in 2012 Nintendo would be using at least a rudimentary DRM with their games. What's really annoying is that we can log into our Nintendo accounts and see all of our purchases. It's like they started to implement a DRM scheme and then decided to forget it.

#5 Tricky Sonic

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Posted 09 February 2013 - 06:34 PM

Exactly why I haven't made any eShop purchases on the Wii U yet. Waiting for some solidity to the system.
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#6 Abcdude

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Posted 09 February 2013 - 06:34 PM

It's his problem he took it back, should have done what I did when I had the same issue, send it to nintendo for free and saved every bit of data on my old wii U.

Edited by Abcdude, 09 February 2013 - 06:35 PM.

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#7 Chaz

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Posted 09 February 2013 - 08:10 PM

It's his problem he took it back, should have done what I did when I had the same issue, send it to nintendo for free and saved every bit of data on my old wii U.


What's the point to offering digital distribution if the consumer has no way to access his purchases if the console is lost or stolen (or in this case returned)? So fine, NIntendo's DRM sucks...he's in a bind so why not just offer to transfer his Club Nintendo account to his new Nintendo ID instead of slapping him in the face with that lame $200 offer?

That's just bad business.

#8 Abcdude

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Posted 09 February 2013 - 08:13 PM

What's the point to offering digital distribution if the consumer has no way to access his purchases if the console is lost or stolen (or in this case returned)? So fine, NIntendo's DRM sucks...he's in a bind so why not just offer to transfer his Club Nintendo account to his new Nintendo ID instead of slapping him in the face with that lame $200 offer?

That's just bad business.

Everyone's known that nintendo's strategy has been bad from day one.

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#9 GAMER1984

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Posted 09 February 2013 - 08:20 PM

400 dollars of Wii downloaded games??? he has to be the only one in that boat

#10 Chaz

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Posted 09 February 2013 - 08:21 PM

Everyone's known that nintendo's strategy has been bad from day one.


Clearly not everyone is aware of that, otherwise this wouldn't be news.

#11 AndyG

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Posted 09 February 2013 - 08:43 PM

Nintendo really should try to fix this, what they should do as be able to log into anyones account on and WiiU but you can only transfer purchases by having an option to desynchronise from the console. Than when you log into the WiiU you could transfer those purchases. That could lead to some problems but it could work.
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#12 Blake

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Posted 09 February 2013 - 09:09 PM

Poor JonTron...

#13 Socalmuscle

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Posted 09 February 2013 - 09:29 PM

Feel for this guy.

He did what any smart person would do.

Get a new wii u right away. No sending it back and forth to Nintendo.

And Nintendo needed to activate his account on the new console by phone.

If it can't be done, then Nintendo has to steeri oust consider changing that.

#14 Joshua

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Posted 10 February 2013 - 01:35 AM

Man, this is quite a depressing story. All those games, just gone away. While I admire his loyalty, can't he show at least some shred of anger? Lol!
Here's hoping Nintendo does something about this.

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#15 SoldMyWiiUAndLeftTheForums

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Posted 10 February 2013 - 05:09 AM

The whole transferable ID's and Games needs sorting out and quick.

#16 3Dude

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Posted 10 February 2013 - 05:31 AM

yowchies.

Dont give up on this dude.

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#17 CUD

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Posted 11 February 2013 - 05:56 PM

yowchies.

Dont give up on this dude.

It seems like he has, I think after receiving the $200 credit he contacted Kotaku and left it at that; don't know for sure though.

Nintendo really needs to improve their online system but that doesn't seem like it's going to happen anytime soon.

This statement is false. The previous statement is true.

RIP in peace Nintendo.

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#18 Calman102

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Posted 13 February 2013 - 01:25 AM

To be honest, if I bought a Wii U, transferred all my stuff to it, and then it broke, I would send it to Nintendo, not take it back. Just seems a little silly to me that he would take it back.

#19 UnholyVision

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Posted 13 February 2013 - 02:24 AM

To be honest, if I bought a Wii U, transferred all my stuff to it, and then it broke, I would send it to Nintendo, not take it back. Just seems a little silly to me that he would take it back.

It is quiet logical. The guy had possibly an in store warranty (by 30 days or extended) on the thing and though, "Hmm well I shelled out for this extended warranty, time to use it". Nintendo may give you a registration method on the consoles, but they don't directly tell you that you're covered by a manufacture warranty up front. Not to mention the possibility of shipment fees or shipping label costs that some people tend to fear. Making the normal consumers actions directed more to a quick and easy exchange of the product instead of a hassled one going through the mail. Hell, the idea of replacing out a used broken item for a fresh never opened one is even more appealing to me. Than possibly getting a refurbished console in return or a crappy repair that fixes nothing. (Yes that can happen in going through the manufactures warranty. I have had it happen on computer monitors, game consoles, televisions, et cetera).

It seems like he has, I think after receiving the $200 credit he contacted Kotaku and left it at that; don't know for sure though.

Nintendo really needs to improve their online system but that doesn't seem like it's going to happen anytime soon.

Well duh, because $200 equals $400 in the new eShop and surely $200 will go much further than on the old Wii Store with higher priced items right? While also making perfect sense to go contact the news about his wonderful happy experience as it was of anyone's linking, duh. :rolleyes:

They haven't even made the slightest improvement other than changing the options of using points to real cash (that being the change to the eShop). If that is all that really changed from the DSi & Wii to 3DS (eShop through an update) & Wii U it probably will never happen in any reasonable time frame. Silly how they are, but that is why I have never bought digital from them and never will unless it is changed.

#20 ameritt

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Posted 13 February 2013 - 06:36 PM

I mean, I personally would have contacted Nintendo before I sent it back, but I knew that Nintendo ID's are connected to the Wii U. So technically it's partially his fault.

But I agree that Nintendo really needs to figure this out, because things like this are going to keep happening, and it's going to turn a lot of people off sooner or later.

Everyone's known that nintendo's strategy has been bad from day one.


I don't think I've laughed this hard in a long time, thanks for this comment buddy




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