Wii Shop Channel is shutting down soon. Make backups for WiiWare titles while you still can.

General and high profile video game topics.
User avatar
astrodomekid
Posts: 183
Joined: September 10th, 2016, 12:48 pm

Wii Shop Channel is shutting down soon. Make backups for WiiWare titles while you still can.

Postby astrodomekid » September 30th, 2017, 9:15 pm

For those who love the original Wii, I have some sad news for you: the Wii Shop Channel is on its deathbed.

Nintendo recently announced that gamers will no longer be able to add Wii points for future purchases after March 18th 2018, and gamers have until January 30th 2019 to use those points on whatever their hearts desire before the plug is finally pulled on the service.

As someone who believes in preservation, I believe that we should somehow create backup files for as many of these games as we can so people can still apply these games to their systems long after the service shuts down. I know this sounds a bit shady, but if they stop selling the games, how else will you be able to play a game you unfortunately didn’t buy during the system’s heyday? The WiiWare format has given us some great exclusives like Pokémon Rumble, Bomberman Blast, and Fast Racing League just to name a few. And if we are to give future generations a chance to experience these games, we must act NOW!

Let the memories live on for years to come!

User avatar
VideoGameCritic
Site Admin
Posts: 18102
Joined: April 1st, 2015, 7:23 pm

Re: Wii Shop Channel is shutting down soon. Make backups for WiiWare titles while you still can.

Postby VideoGameCritic » October 3rd, 2017, 7:47 pm

This is another argument for physical media.

User avatar
Rev
Posts: 1487
Joined: April 7th, 2015, 7:31 pm

Re: Wii Shop Channel is shutting down soon. Make backups for WiiWare titles while you still can.

Postby Rev » October 13th, 2017, 7:05 pm

Not surprised honestly. Time to turn focus to their new console.

User avatar
Atariboy
Posts: 956
Joined: April 7th, 2015, 11:07 pm

Re: Wii Shop Channel is shutting down soon. Make backups for WiiWare titles while you still can.

Postby Atariboy » October 13th, 2017, 10:21 pm

I doubt the old Wii Shop was proving much of a distraction for the Switch. I imagine it's just economics at play. After 11 years, perhaps it's costing Nintendo more than it's bringing in to keep it alive with downloads likely at a trickle prior to this announcement. By giving us fair warning, it's going to up their sales in the weeks ahead while appeasing most folks that might be annoyed to see it die even though they likely weren't taking advantage of it.

As for backups, that's not necessary. You can go out today and download a zip file with every Wii Shop download on it. Thanks to the Wii modding scene that has been around since even before the Wii U, these files have been widely disseminated. So one can rest easy that via homebrew means, they can easily restore their property if the need arises down the road.

Nor is the Wii Shop closure particularly an argument for physical media. Nintendo isn't breaking anything here, they're just ending their service. Your downloads will still work past this date as long as your system survives, just as your discs will still work once Nintendo stops printing Wii discs.

And even with the Wii Shop online today, since Nintendo already discontinued Wii repairs, you weren't able to retrieve your purchases on a replacement console anyways unless it was a Wii U which Nintendo still supports. So if your system died, it was already homebrew or nothing if you wanted to retrieve your downloads.

bluenote
Posts: 290
Joined: August 14th, 2015, 5:16 pm

Re: Wii Shop Channel is shutting down soon. Make backups for WiiWare titles while you still can.

Postby bluenote » October 16th, 2017, 9:13 am

VideoGameCritic wrote:This is another argument for physical media.


True, but if digital eshops didn't exist, then most of these games wouldn't exist. Most of these developers for digital only release games are 1 or 2 person operations and it wouldn't be feasible for them to release their games physically.

I wonder if the closing of the Wii Shop will create a big collectors' market for used Wii Systems that have a bunch of WiiWare games already on it?

User avatar
scotland
Posts: 2561
Joined: April 7th, 2015, 7:33 pm

Re: Wii Shop Channel is shutting down soon. Make backups for WiiWare titles while you still can.

Postby scotland » October 16th, 2017, 9:44 am

bluenote wrote:
VideoGameCritic wrote:This is another argument for physical media.


True, but if digital eshops didn't exist, then most of these games wouldn't exist. Most of these developers for digital only release games are 1 or 2 person operations and it wouldn't be feasible for them to release their games physically.


I wonder how true that is - that a digital format allows small time operators to be in the marketplace. Back in 1980s, small 1 or 2 person operations were not uncommon, and games on physical media like tape cassettes or floppy disks could be had pretty cheaply. Some magazines over the years have come with demo-disks with games. We all remember the ubiquitous AOL CD disks that were everywhere in the 1990s (surprisingly, those things are actually collected now) Even now, you can go to Walmart and buy disks with 1 to 1 hundred PC games on them for cheap.

I don't see either the cost or the distribution being a huge hurdle to physical media. I've purchased physical books that are 'print on demand' from small time operations, so why couldn't we do the same with games?

The hurdles that still remain for physical media can help act like a filter, to avoid the issue you would find on a mobile game store, where there are a legion of games and its hard to find the hidden needles in such a large haystack.

People used to like to go out shopping. It was part of an experience. You went to Toys R Us, and came home with a new game on a cartridge or CD. Now, in general, people seem to prefer online shopping. Its a very different experience. You get what you want right now. The patches and updates and dlc can help extend the fun, make something old a bit new again.

bluenote
Posts: 290
Joined: August 14th, 2015, 5:16 pm

Re: Wii Shop Channel is shutting down soon. Make backups for WiiWare titles while you still can.

Postby bluenote » October 16th, 2017, 12:57 pm

scotland wrote:
bluenote wrote:
VideoGameCritic wrote:This is another argument for physical media.


True, but if digital eshops didn't exist, then most of these games wouldn't exist. Most of these developers for digital only release games are 1 or 2 person operations and it wouldn't be feasible for them to release their games physically.


I wonder how true that is - that a digital format allows small time operators to be in the marketplace. Back in 1980s, small 1 or 2 person operations were not uncommon, and games on physical media like tape cassettes or floppy disks could be had pretty cheaply. Some magazines over the years have come with demo-disks with games. We all remember the ubiquitous AOL CD disks that were everywhere in the 1990s (surprisingly, those things are actually collected now) Even now, you can go to Walmart and buy disks with 1 to 1 hundred PC games on them for cheap.

I don't see either the cost or the distribution being a huge hurdle to physical media. I've purchased physical books that are 'print on demand' from small time operations, so why couldn't we do the same with games?

The hurdles that still remain for physical media can help act like a filter, to avoid the issue you would find on a mobile game store, where there are a legion of games and its hard to find the hidden needles in such a large haystack.

People used to like to go out shopping. It was part of an experience. You went to Toys R Us, and came home with a new game on a cartridge or CD. Now, in general, people seem to prefer online shopping. Its a very different experience. You get what you want right now. The patches and updates and dlc can help extend the fun, make something old a bit new again.


Good points, I don't really know for sure how much it would cost a company nowadays to put a game on a disk and sell it in in retail shops. I assumed it would be unrealistic for small shops, but I'm really only assuming that.


Return to “Video Games General”