Hi,

I don't know how many of you have read the terms of service agreement on WiiConnect24, but I tried to read it yesterday, tho it was so long it would have taken atleast half an hour. I did however read some important parts.

Like: Nintendo can discontinue the service for whatever reason, without warning, at any time, including you losing access to your purchased games.

If you sell the wii console, you are OBLIGATED to delete the wii shop profile, and thus lose all purchases. It can also not be transferred to a different wii.

So, what will happen when the Wii sequel comes? Do you think Nintendo will let us transfer our VC games to the "Wii 2", or do you think they will make us buy everything all over again if we want to play Super Mario 3 on the new system. I am worried...

You can say a lot about Nintendo, but their consumer service is top notch.

I expect that the next console will definitely be able to play your VC and WiiWare games. Probably you will be allowed to transfer them once to a new console, via a system code or something.

@RolStoppable

So much for being the #1 Okami fanboy

@topic

I agree with Rol. Nintendo would never kill the service without a warning. I know they say they can, but no one would ever buy from their online service again. So the day they announce they are no longer supporting the Wii's online shop, I will get SD cards and back up all my games.

 Yeah I know I can back them up on SD cards, but what if my Wii breaks? I know that Nintendo has assisted users in transferring their Wii Shop profile to a new system in case the old one is dead, but it will be hard for me since I imported my console from Canada to where I live (Norway). The reason I imported was because of the PAL VC games mostly running unoptimized in 50 Hz with slowdown and borders, and I wanted the real experience this time around.

You are right that it would be hard for Nintendo to control that, but it is still a very bad way to treat their customers. As gaming goes more and more over to digital distribution, we as consumers will lose more and more control about what we do with our legally purchased games (or purchased "licenses" as it will be with digital distribution).

It would have been a lot better if you had gotten an ACCOUNT with user name and password, that could only be used on one Wii at a time, but transferrable to a different Wii in case shit happens. Tho this would require the Wii to go online and check your account every time you wanted to play downloaded content...

So I dunno, I can understand Nintendo trying to protect themselves against piracy, but they are screwing their legit customers in the process. That's how it is with all DRM.

KSV

I imagine a lot of the User Agreement is legalese -- and I would imagine that there is similar language in the Xbox Live and Playstation Network agreements.

I can say though I can see your "special" situation. You might want to back up your games to SD cards -- that way if something happens and you have to import another console, you would have your games.

Mike from Morgantown

 But backup won't help, as the games are locked to my current Wii, to avoid piracy of course. Point is, there is no way I will be able to transfer games to a new system unless Nintendo wants to help me with it, and there is no promise that they will. They definitely won't help me if I tell them I live in Norway, so I'll probably have to buy a US or Canadian mailing address or get a resident there I trust to help me.

Of course, I never had a Nintendo system die on me yet, my 20 year old NES still works (tho some obvious connector problems makes it a chore to get the games started), but then I've never worried about that since I have the cartridges and discs, I could always get a working system on Ebay for next to nothing.

I'm generally worried about losing all this stuff simply because it's digital media and there are any number of ways it can be lost, ruined, destroyed, corrupted, etc.

That's why I prefer DVD's to downloaded movies, CD's to MP3's, and video games on a software format (card, disk, cartridge, etc) to digital. Then I have much more control over my stuff.

Nintendo don't use to screw up plp, but if it happens, just use wadinstaller from waninkoko and re-install your games... piece of cake.

But they won't screw anyone, they know that it would make a bunch of people unhappy.

Honestly, this seems to just be some legal stuff they need to put there... =/

Nintendo should be afraid, if I lose my VC downloads. Pissing of loyal, hardcore customers, who remember "Milon's Secret Castle" fondly enough to buy it again, is no way to stay #1. Don't alienate the fanbase.