Nintendo 'not satisfied' with DSiWare, aims to get it right with 3DS eShop
Also think the App Store is 'kind of scary'
With the Nintendo 3DS launching later this week, it's notable that the 3DS eShop is missing from the get-go.
Hideki Konno, the head of the 3DS project, has revealed the reasoning behind this move - Nintendo wants to get it right this time.
Talking to Gamasutra, Konno admitted that Nintendo, "haven't been as satisfied as we would like" with the WiiWare and DSiWare shops.
"It's browser-based, and to be honest, the ease of use wasn't what we wanted, and I don't think that anyone has been pleased with the user response" he said.
"And I don't think that people have been using it as often as we want. And being able to, again, easily go into it, look around and purchase things. Again, it just didn't work out quite as we were hoping."
Now Nintendo is looking to take that experience and create an eShop for the 3DS that gamers will want to use.
"For Nintendo 3DS, we really want to cover that all in one spot and cover it from all sides" he explained. "And so we're really taking the right amount of time to make sure that it's right."
He continued, "we're taking more time because we want to be able to create a system where a consumer sees a promotion and says, "Wow, that looks great!"; Sees a game demo, game trailer, whatever it is, and says, "I want that!".
"And the ability to then say "Now I can purchase it right here without having to back out and go somewhere else" -- we want to provide that experience. So that's one other reason why we're not bringing it out with the system itself."
The Nintendo 3DS eShop is due to be released some time in May via a free system update.
Konno also noted in an interview with Wired that the low prices available in the Apple App Store are troubling.
"Having a business model that allows for the prices to be driven down that low, as a developer it’s kind of scary because we want to protect our content, and the only way we can justify creating good content is if it makes business sense,” he explained.
"It’s more than a pricing issue, it’s a company value. We want to compete with ideas, we want to surprise our consumer base. That’s the battleground for us — are we surprising consumers?"
