Nintendo admits Wii Shop, DSiWare Shop aren't great

Unlike the Wii and DSi, when the 3DS goes on sale in a few days, it will not launch with a full-fledged digital content store. The 3DS eShop won't come out until late spring, because as Nintendo admits, it still has work to do in order to compete with Sony and Microsoft.

In a recent interview, 3DS project manager Hideki Konno discussed why the eShop was delayed.

"We definitely want to make sure that it's ready before we bring it out," said Konno, before pointing to the Wii and DSi as examples of what can happen when a download platform is released too soon.

"The iterations that we've had before - for Wii and DS - to be honest, we just haven't been as satisfied as we would like," he admitted.

Konno even went so far as to say, "I don't think that anyone has been pleased with the user response. And I don't think that people have been using it as often as we want."

Unlike the Wii Shop, the PlayStation Store and Xbox Live Marketplace, for example, run all kinds of promotions and gimmicks, offer sales for top-selling games, and offer advanced ways to organize content. The Wii and DSi stores are inflexible by comparison. The 3DS eShop, Konno assures, will be different.

"Again, 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," said Konno.

The 3DS goes on sale March 27, and Nintendo has previously said it expects the eShop to go live by the end of May, via a free firmware update.

[Source: Gamasutra]

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Mar 22, 2011