Caveat Emptor: Wii (Online) purchases aren't forever

[Red]

http://videogames.yahoo.com/events/plugged-in/caveat-emptor-wii-purchases-aren-t-forever/1399494

A little snippet from the Article:

By now, consumers are accustomed to buying digital, downloadable content once, and only once. Replace your iPhone, for example, and you'll find your app purchases are waiting for installation -- and the same is true for dedicated games machines like the Xbox 360, the PlayStation 3, and the PSP.

But it's not the case for Nintendo's DSi and Wii consoles, where downloaded games are registered to a specific piece of hardware, not an individual consumer. And as those consumers are finding, when they replace their consoles with new or upgraded models, the only way for them to retrieve the games they've paid for is to plead their case to a Nintendo customer service rep, and -- if they're lucky -- go through a time-consuming and tedious recovery process.

[SavannahLion]

It's been known for a while. If you go to the Nintendo site for repair services, this little tidbit is mentioned once or twice in a round-about way. One of the primary reasons I loath download-only games. I'm no longer in control of the media I paid for. You know as well as I do that there is a constant battle between consumers and their media and developers/publishers and their content.

This isn't the only problem Nintendo has with their online services. Ever try to find one of your Wii friends? Yeah. Not that easy.

[hypernova]

Friends and Wii don't go together.

It is an unbelievable hassle.  I never bothered adding everyone back in after my first one was stolen.  Hopefully they've learned a lesson during this generation.

[SavannahLion]

Friends and Wii don't go together.

It is an unbelievable hassle.  I never bothered adding everyone back in after my first one was stolen.  Hopefully they've learned a lesson during this generation.

Yeah. The whole concept is strange. It's obvious whomever came up with the base concept clearly had no handling of networking. But... at the same time it's almost like an attempt at preventing friends. Almost like the whole thing was conceived by a politician with no inkling of computing trying to protect children.

It's basically a 90's concept with a parent mentality.