Nintendo admits Wii Shop failings

The 3DS's digital download store won't be available when the new handheld launches on Friday as Nintendo wants to make sure it doesn't make the same mistakes it did with both the Wii and DSi's online shopfronts, according to the system's creator.

"The iterations that we've had before - for Wii and DS - to be honest, we just haven't been as satisfied as we would like," Hideki Konno admitted to Gamasutra.

"It's browser-based, and to be honest, the ease of use wasn't what we wanted, and I don't think that anyone has been pleased with the user response. And I don't think that people have been using it as often as we want. And being able to, again, easily go into it, look around and purchase things. Again, it just didn't work out quite as we were hoping.

He went on to confess that fewer users than originally hoped had been checking out the Wii's Nintendo Channel, which hosted trailers, game news and DS demos. Treating it as a separate entity to the Wii Shop, he argued, was an error.

"For Nintendo 3DS, we really want to cover that all in one spot and cover it from all sides. And so we're really taking the right amount of time to make sure that it's right.

"And because we're also taking the promotional aspect that we would once separate out and putting that together with the actual shopping aspect to give you the eShop, it's not going to be browser-based; it's a native application. So again, the preparation needed for that is quite extensive.

"We're taking more time because we want to be able to create a system where a consumer sees a promotion and says, 'Wow, that looks great!' Sees a game demo, game trailer, whatever it is, and says, 'I want that!' And the ability to then say 'Now I can purchase it right here without having to back out and go somewhere else' - we want to provide that experience," he continued.

"So that's one other reason why we're not bringing it out with the system itself."

Last month Nintendo confirmed that the eShop will arrive in May via a system update. As well as DSiWare games, you'll also be able to purchase vintage Game Boy, Game Boy Color, TurboGrafx-16 and Game Gear titles, as well as classic titles optimised for 3D. Trailers for forthcoming games and 3D movies are also promised.