Their online stores are a rip off.

Im looking forward to Rayman origins and thought i'd replay the original. I booted up my 3DS only to be horrified and the £7.20 price Nintendo are asking in the eShop. On PSN its a much more reasonable £3.50 and comes with the advantage of being playable on both big (PS3) and small (PSP) screens. Id even be better off getting the GBA version off ebay.

Anyone else think Nintendo are charging far too much for their digital content?

well its not on 3DS but DSiware.

The original is definitely on GBA http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rayman_(video_game) there was even a 10th anniversay edition with the original and Rayman 3 on one cart

thats bad that they do that, I had no idea it was the publishers that chose the price.

Maybe ill just get Rayman 3D, I never played Rayman 2 and although the 3D one got mixed reviews im sure its just a reflection on the games age rather than the 3DS verion being the worst.

Well first off I own Rayman Advance and it is indeed the first Rayman game on GBA, though as you mention later the audio was tweaked as was difficulty. But the game was still amazing and enjoyable just as much so as the original.

As for Rayman 3D, if you haven't played the original the game is outstanding. Its my favorite 3DS game so far, I decided to go back and play the DreamCast version and must admit very little has improved from the original. However the 3D effects are pretty good and yah their are a small amount of technical issues but nothing bad enough to ruin the game.

I would certainly recommend it for any platform gamer who is looking for a good title on 3DS right now. While being a port it is one of the best games currently on 3DS. Also I recently saw it on sale for 9.99$ and I have seen it regularly at 29.99$. At that price it is a must own for any 3DS early adopter. Sure once 3D Land hits shelves it will be less enticing but with the limited software currently available on 3DS it is among the best games you could buy.

OT - I don't find the 10$ price range to be too much, honestly I think the 4$ price range is too little. An N64 game is around that price and Rayman was released during that generation. I don't see why it should be drastically cheaper. Also UbiSoft does have a say in pricing, but Nintendo also likes its software to be priced at a profitable and sustainable price. Basically Nintendo doesn't want high quality software selling for 4$ or less, they want consumers to value the higher quality software and seperate it from the low quality crap that is currently flooding the market at 1$ each and such. Its perfectly understandable that Nintendo would have a slightly higher price tag for a quality title like Rayman!

Yeah, I agree. There were some Sega games on PSN/XBL that cost less than they did on Wii and they featured HD graphics and online and a few other tweeks. But when you buy Nintendo you aren't just buying a game. You're buying into a lifelong brotherhood of gamers who will look out for you. Get a flat tire? Your Nintendo brother will come change it. Can't afford to pay your bar tab? Your Nintendo brother says drinks are on the house.

Isn't that worth a few dollars more?

No, just no. That version is just a bad Rayman2, Rayman 2 is on the PSN for a fraction of the price and it actually runs better. Wish Uvi would put the N64 version on VC though

Its a bunch of crap, sure you could blame the publishers, but some blame goes to Ninty as well. They dont like doing promotions, so they suck in that area. Uno was released AFTER the HD versions and it cost twice as much. Why?? Its the same damn game, as is Sonic4, still being sold full price. Makes no sense. SNK games are released same price on PSN but has online features. Christ, at least make everyone even. Ninty needs to do some serious adjustments with their online store

Dont you guys find it odd that Nintendo retail games never ever go down in price over time?

I mean these people sure love to take there fans for every cent

Yea they are pretty high, but I mean to me it depends on how much you can get out of it regardless if its digital or not. Though that doesnt apply to everything.

Well first off you are wrong, right now several first party games are 29.99$ or lower. Nintendo always cuts software prices they just do so a lot slower then their competitors. As for taking their fans for every cent, well thats one way to look at it. But from a business point of view Nintendo is competing against Microsoft and Sony.

Microsoft and Sony have alternate sources of income other then video game sales. If Nintendo wants to compete with them they need to bring in a sizable profit. Understandably Sony and Microsoft can afford to discount their software fairly quick in order to push hardware numbers and take a larger market share. But Nintendo doesn't have all thise extra money just floating around, they rely on the software sales for their survival.

Plus you cut software prices when demand begins to drop. Nintendo's first party software has traditionally been in very high demand, when demand is so high that supply doesn't out pace it drstically the retail prices remain steady. There is no reason for Nintendo to drop software prices.

You could argue on GameCube they didn't have the demand, thats true but return to my earlier statement. Nintendo needed to bring in high profit margins to compete with Sony. Nintendo needed to ensure that it could be profitable despite a much smaller market share and lower software sales.

In the end Nintendo isn't abusing their fans, they are being smart businessmen and any company in their position would be idiotic to do otherwise. Not to mention Nintendo consumers are more then willing to pay full price for their software, it is high quality software well worth full price. All profits brought in from Nintendo fans is turned straight back into games, Nintendo takes its revenue and invests it back in R&D of hardware and software. The reserves which Nintendo has from the high profit margins will keep Nintendo consumers served even if Nintendo begins to crash.

Essentially Nintendo fans pay for the games because its their money that will lead to more games. In the end even if Nintendo starts taking a dive they will continue to serve their loyal user base until every dime of that money dries up. Its that reason that perfectly justifies Nintendo fans in paying full price for our software.