My friend is close to convincing me to buy a 3DS but... I need help/info on Nintendo's account system.

[Bajablo]

Sensei said:

the_dengle said:

Sensei said:

I tend to buy a lot of digital stuff and I have heard horror stories such as digital content being tied to consoles and not an account, etc. Is that still true or that's something of the past, please? I want to have access to my digital library whenever I log in a friend's 3DS, or whenever my 3DS bricks or breaks or gets stolen.

One thing is for sure, the bolded is not possible and will not be any time soon. But I don't see why you would want that, it's not like a home console where the alternative is bringing the entire system with you. Yes, you'd have to bring the whole 3DS with you, but that's what it's designed for.

Mostly for sharing downloaded games with very close people. I.e. : my brother.

Often I buy a PS3 game, he's like 'hey login with your account on my PS3 and download it for me to try it please?". And vice-versa. So we can play multiplayer, etc, don't have to buy it twice - according to Sony's terms we can download each game on two systems (until said systems are deactivated due to breaking etc).

But that's indeed not a feature I'd not buy the system for, it's just a nice to have (see, on the PS Vita I can't have more than 1 account logged/registered unless I swap memory cards/format stuff, which is a pain and it doesn't bother me).

However, I wanted to be sure my content is safe. For example, if I let my PS Vita slip off my hands and it drowns in a swimming pool, I know I can simply go to Sony's site, deactivate the bricked Vita, buy a new one and simply activate my account on it and download all my stuff again (including saves from the cloud).

I need to know if there's anything like this for the Nintendo digital content or else I'm better not go digital with Nintendo just yet.

Some games alow for 'download play' so you can play with a buddy with only 1 cart / digital download. but you need 2 systems.
so for that exact purpose you described no, it wont work. unless you just loan him your 3DS for a day or 2 for him to try it out. thats the great thing about handhelds. They arn't stuck to a TV ;)