Almost all DSiWare games available at 3DS eShop launch, transfer limits clarified
We know that Nintendo is planning "3D Classics" for the 3DS eShop -- retro games with 3D effects added. We also know that unaltered retro games will be available in the Virtual Console, and that DSiWare will be available as well when the service is launched in May.
But what about downloadable 3DS games -- a "3DSWare" equivalent to the DSi's DSiWare? We may be waiting a while for that. Charlie Scibetta, Nintendo's senior director of corporate communications, told Joystiq that not only was Nintendo not ready to announce any downloadable 3DS games, there isn't even a name for that service at the moment.
"We have Virtual Console games," Scibetta said. "Anything that's rendered in 3D, converted into 3D, is called 3D Classics, but we don't have any other terminology yet." He assured Joystiq that downloadable games would be made available "under the eShop banner." That the terminology is still up in the air suggests that this part of the plan has yet to be finalized -- or just that Nintendo isn't ready to talk about the finalized plan.
The good news is that you'll have access to a lot of DSiWare when the eShop launches. Of the existing DSiWare lineup, "pretty much the whole thing" will be available right at launch. "There might be a few exceptions, but the majority of the games will come over." A few games are being left off the 3DS's eShop for undisclosed reasons.
Scibetta also offered a bit of clarification about the limits on the DSiWare software transfer feature, also coming as part of that late-May update. "It's not the number of transferred games -- it would be the same game, the number of times you could transfer it from device to device," Scibetta said. "So if you build up a large category of DSiWare games, you won't be penalized. Just how many times you can move that same group of games, there'll be a limit on."
