Just bought a 3DS for the Sega 3D Classics, Nintendo e-shop is absolutely horrible

I know it's been said by hundreds of people but I guess it's one of those things you have to experience firsthand to truly appreciate it's awfulness.

Over the weekend I picked up a 3DS XL for the up-and-coming releases of the Sega 3D Classics series of digital releases. Up until now I had zero interest in the 3DS and no experience with any of Nintendo's e-shops. I had always read about how awful the layout was, how shitty the DRM was, and how Nintendo was basically clueless about their online infrastructure. Man, how right they are.

The e-shop layout is a cluttered mess. There's only about a dozen demo's available, and all of them have friggin' useage limits!?! The Sonic & All Stars Racing Transformed 3D demo can only be played 15 times... what type of idiot thought that would be a good idea? Of the few demos I downloaded all of them either had a 15 or 30 time maximum on how many times you could play it. Granted I don't see myself playing a demo of a game 30 times but that is still a mind-boggling limit to implement.

I didn't see any point of buying a digital release over a physical one. Virtual Console offerings were waaayy overpriced IMO. The 3D Classics line, which was the entire point of my purchase, was equally overpriced for the games that were on there. $6 for 3D Urban Champion? Give me a break. I know the Sega releases are going to be at the same price point but I can swallow that a bit better being that they're going to be arcade & 16-bit games (visually better than launch Famicom titles) and games that I really enjoy in their original versions anyway.

The DRM takes the cake though. You don't have an account on the e-shop. Your purchases are basically tied to that machine for forever. For instance, I got my 3DS used. Even though I completely wiped out the internal memory to it's original factory state I was able to log on to the e-shop and redownload everything the original owner had bought, all for free. From what I gather you can transfer your stuff to another console but it's a long and convoluted process that is cumbersome, time consuming, and irreversible.

I just hope Sega doesn't shit the bed on this whole ordeal and releases all the titles they've announced. I could probably justify owning a 3DS because of them and the handful of Sega retail releases.

I never bought a 3DS when it came out because my friend picked one up first and it sucked so much ass for a next gen platform. There were also no games for it.

I bought one a few weeks ago and it's still a piece of shit with poor battery life, few games worth playing, and a terrible UI. It's bad enough the hardware is like a cheap toy compared to most modern devices. The eShop is just a joke to look at or shop for games with.

Nintendo needs to bring in new people who know what the fuck they're doing.

I bought an Ambassador 3DS used and did the same thing, re-downloaded everything. Though honestly I like that it's tied to the system, in case I want to get rid of the system, I can maybe get a little more leeway with the price as all the games will still be on there rather than tied to an account a la Xbox Live.

That being said I'm not a huge fan of the eShop either. While the prices are meh (Hey, it's a corporation. They're going to charge what they think they can get.) I wish the thing had a damn search feature.

Anything that's download only is horrible.

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Originally Posted by QuickSciFi

Anything that's download only is horrible.

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http://www.vgmemes.com/wp-content/up.../gabe-face.jpg

I've tried to like the 3DS, as it is the only viable dedicated handheld console these days. Trouble is, I can't. The main screen is pretty poor quality. Sure, it has a nifty 3D capability, but I find the 3D effect to be tiring and annoying, so I would never use it except for a few moments of novelty. Also, I agree with Knuckle Duster. The games are uninspiring, with a lot of well worn genres and games.

You could always rely on Nintendo to focus on battery life for their handhelds, but they finally broke that tradition as well. The original 3DS had pretty poor battery life, and the XL seems to have so-so battery life (roughly equivalent to the Vita, which honestly has much better everything when it comes to hardware).

I weep for the future of handheld gaming. I don't look down on phone and tablet gaming as many do, but it is no substitute for a dedicated handheld. Yet both Nintendo and Sony are waging pretty weak battles against the onslaught of phone/tablet gaming, IMHO.

Shocking how many bash the DS/3DS yet SUPPORTED it with their money.

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Originally Posted by Saturn Fan

Shocking how many bash the DS/3DS yet SUPPORTED it with their money.

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There's nothing shocking about people buying a product and finding out it isn't all they'd hoped it would be.

I like the 3DS just fine. I haven't bought a new game for it in a while, but there are still games that I'm interested, like Luigi's Mansion, Paper Mario, and that sequel to 999.

Honestly, many of the same complaints people have for the 3DS store can be lodged against the Playstation store. It's often a pain finding specific games, and many of THOSE demos expire as well.

3DS is a great hand held.

The eShop is one thing, but the 3DS as a whole is a fine handheld.

Between me, my wife and my son, the 3DS is the most played console we have in the house. There's a nice range of titles that appeal to just about everyone, and the 3D isn't forced on you at all (meaning you can turn it off if you want it). Honestly, I think most of these 3DS hate claims are from people who just want to have something to complain about, and Nintendo hate is what's always in. Could it be a better console? Sure, but I personally don't think it deserves most of the criticisms it gets.

my little sister keeps taking my 3DS and erasing my game saves on mario.. it's begining to piss me off.

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Originally Posted by Lastcallhall

Between me, my wife and my son, the 3DS is the most played console we have in the house. There's a nice range of titles that appeal to just about everyone, and the 3D isn't forced on you at all (meaning you can turn it off if you want it). Honestly, I think most of these 3DS hate claims are from people who just want to have something to complain about, and Nintendo hate is what's always in. Could it be a better console? Sure, but I personally don't think it deserves most of the criticisms it gets.

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The eShop is an absolute mess.
The battery life sucks.
The touch screen feels as responsive as a PDA from 10 years ago.
The good games are rehashes or ports, and the original ones are few and far between.
The machine doesn't yet use or support an account system to keep your digital content across devices.


Nintendo deserves every bit of hate it gets from gamers who still give a fuck about them, or the industry.

First off you can transfer you EShop purchases to another 3DS. I have done so when I upgraded my 3DS to the XL. It was not complicated. Second most demos have limitations anywhere. I have never come close to using up my Demo .limit. I either buy the game or never play the demo again. I also have tons of EShop games. While the store layout is not bad it's a hell of a lot better than PSN and Xbox. I recommend viewing in the latest release layout to see the games in order of release. Or browse all games in release order and you can see everything they have available. I buy all my regular games on carts because I always prefer physical but they have some good digital only and virtual console releases. I picked up Vampire GG release the other week and as far as I know its the only time this game has been made available anywhere since 93. I also plan on buying all of the Sega Genesis 3D releases. Should be pretty cool to see them remastered in 3D.