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DSi Shop content non-transferrable - Report

Nintendo of Australia said to have confirmed that games downloaded through online store for popular handheld are system-locked, save for product malfunction.

Nintendo has wasted no time in rolling out new colors for its DSi, the third hardware iteration of its best-selling portable. Upon its April release in North America, the DSi was offered in blue and black hues, with Nintendo saying earlier this month that accessorizing gamers will also soon be able to pick up the handheld in white and pink. Colors available in other regions include green, metallic blue, and red.

But my blue DSi doesn't have Clubhouse Games Express and my black DSi would never match these shoes!

But my blue DSi doesn't have Clubhouse Games Express and my black DSi would never match these shoes!

Unfortunately, gamers interested in adding to their portable color palette apparently won't be able to pass content purchased through the DSi Shop from one system to the next. Speaking to Nintendo of Australia, NintendoLife confirmed this week that DSi Shop content is tethered to the system it is purchased on, despite the system's SD card slots designed to offload and store games and other multimedia programs.

According to the Nintendo of Australia representative, the publisher is able to transfer DSi Shop content from one device to another in the case of a product malfunction. However, Nintendo said that gamers would have to send in both the inoperable system and the new DSi in order to make the content swap.

Nintendo of America had not responded to requests for comment as of press time. However, the policy is in line with Nintendo's End User Licensing Agreement, which can be found on the publisher's Web site. According to the additional documentation, "software downloaded from Nintendo DSi Shop is licensed to you, not sold," meaning that those who purchase content through the online store do not have full rights to, or even actually own, what they've bought.

Notably, the DS and its revisions have been plagued by piracy over the years, due to the prevalence of easy-to-use mod chips and other software-emulation devices. In February, Nintendo petitioned the US government to consider trade sanctions against China, Brazil, Korea, Mexico, Paraguay, and Spain on account of what it claimed to be rampant piracy of its products in those regions.

88 Comments

  • a2greg

    Posted May 22, 2010 3:57 am GMT

    Policy sucks. Period. I just upgraded from a DSi to a DSi XL and all the software I bought with DSi points is gone. No reclaiming it. In fact, my DSi points are also gone as they too seem connected to the individual game system and not an account. Shame on Nintendo. Greedy and not family friendly like they pretend to be.

  • SadPSPAddict

    Posted Oct 9, 2009 5:09 am GMT

    Think Sony have the right idea with downloads from PSN being re-downloadable up to 5 times. Shame on Nintendo

  • Caer_Death

    Posted Oct 7, 2009 9:06 pm GMT

    And so there's no confusion or unnecessary misunderstanding, I don't necessarily agree with my whole argument point for point, I just think that if you want to argue law... Well then bring it. We can argue law. I do it for school, so it shouldn't be too hard to argue here.

  • Caer_Death

    Posted Oct 7, 2009 9:04 pm GMT

    @-Celeste-
    (Part I)
    Either you agree with the Eula or you don't. You're entitled to NOT buy a copy of the license, but if you do choose to buy a license to play their game, then you buy it under their terms. It is not salable under any terms save for the Eula that they laid out. It much the same as going to a concert. They aren't going to let you in with a camera. If you pull a camera out, they have every right to throw you out, even though you payed to get in. You're only using that property/service on license, and thus, acting outside the boundaries of that license is illegal, because even though you may be physically capable of violating the rules, just because it is on your storage media DOES NOT MAKE IT YOUR PROPERTY. Just because you possess something, similarly, does not make it your property. It is ENTIRELY property of the holder of the copyright and you are merely paying for permission (i.e. licensing) to use that property under the given terms. You are buying a SERVICE from a company in the form of a license. You are NOT purchasing the actual program (game) that's being used.

  • Caer_Death

    Posted Oct 7, 2009 9:03 pm GMT

    (Part II)

    Sure, the legal status may be stacked against you, and the physical possibilities may be stacked in your favor, but you obviously can't equate that with legality, as there are many similar crimes that are physically possible, or cases where licensing (i.e. PERMISSION) can end in being revoked at any point (i.e. The government is allowed to seize any and all privately owned cars if they are used in a crime, if they are used outside of licensing, or in the event of a national emergency and they just want to take your car away to stop you from traveling outside of your restricted area, but in any case, the government gives you PERMISSION to drive a car, and without permission, you are a CRIMINAL according to the government and are liable to have your property seized, whether or not it's physically possible.) With all of that said, unless you started driving at 12 years old and you're willing to fall into extreme anti-licensing side of the argument, then not much can refute that... *breath*

  • meakins2

    Posted Oct 7, 2009 11:32 am GMT

    Somebody needs a nap.

  • El_Conrado

    Posted Oct 5, 2009 1:24 pm GMT

    @-Celeste-

    "Did you even read the article and my post ... i'm guessing you didn't. You didn't understand my post, nor did you understand the article.

    ...

    Read the article before you start spouting off stuff."

    Why don't you follow your OWN advice before you start criticizing me for your own perceived problems, hmm?

    I read the article; I understood it; YOU obviously didn't because if you DID, you would have understood what I wrote.

    You also haven't really read my posts, ether.

    Finally, you CERTAINLY don't even know what your rights ARE, because you would realize that they are NOT TAKING ANYTHING AWAY from you.

    YOU HAVE NEVER, EVER BOUGHT A VIDEOGAME, EVER! NOT IN YOUR ENTIRE LIFE! YOU DON'T OWN THE GAMES!

    YOU ONLY HAVE BOUGHT THE RIGHTS TO PLAY IT AND THE MEDIA IT WAS CARRIED!

    The MEDIA gave you the so-called "rights" you are now complaining about. Read that again: THE MEDIA. Not the act of "buying" a game.

    The License was tied to the media, so everytime you sold the media, YOU SOLD THE LICENSE.

    Digital media is NOT TIED TO THE MEDIA THAT CARRIES IT.

    READ a fricken' End User License Agreement FOR ONCE before you TELL ME I don't know what I'm talking about.

    Your rethoric that you "can do whatever you want with your disk" is just that, RETHORIC. It means absolutely nothing.

    YOU CAN STILL DO THAT! Burn the damn software in a disk and drive it over with a car if you damn please. NO ONE IS STOPPING YOU!

    Good lord...

    Look, I agree with you in lot's of stuff, but this time you blew it.

    And, again, just because this is the way things are doesn't mean I LIKE IT.

  • -Celeste-

    Posted Oct 5, 2009 9:44 am GMT

    @El_Conrado

    Did you even read the article and my post ... i'm guessing you didn't. You didn't understand my post, nor did you understand the article. ---
    There is a difference to "licensing" the actual content of the software. IE when you purchase Mario 3, you don't actually own the "rights" to Mario 3.
    ---
    "software downloaded from Nintendo DSi Shop is licensed to you, not sold," meaning that those who purchase content through the online store do not have full rights to, or even actually own, what they've bought.
    ----
    Unfortunately, gamers interested in adding to their portable color palette apparently won't be able to pass content purchased through the DSi Shop from one system to the next.
    ---

    Read the article before you start spouting off stuff. I'm not saying owning the rights to mario, i'm saying owning the actual game. And before you even say it, when you buy a game disc, you can do whatever you want with it, like is said. You can run it over, burn it, destroy it, copy it to a PC and turn all the code to smily faces. When you buy a digital copy, you don't even own the digital copy. No one is talking about owning the actual game content in the sense of how the developers own it, we are all refering to owning the actual GAME and having freedom to do whatever you WANT with it.

  • reverendyates

    Posted Oct 4, 2009 8:31 pm GMT

    And so it begins. Actually it's been going on with Wii's virtual console, and Xbox 360's downloadable Live games. But those were either old games, or small games. Now we are looking at major titles being digital-only. It seems like a lot of people don't like this. I don't like it either. Like some of you, I grew up on cartridges. Now it's discs. Fine. But I like the feel of something physical. Here are some of the reasons why I oppose digital only: 1) No back up. I have to send in my busted system to get my games? Screw that! 2) You can't resell your old game. There goes the secondary market. 3) You can't trade or lend to your friends. Want to borrow my Halo and I can borrow your Call Of Duty 3? Nope. Might as well shackle that thing to your leg. I am a game collector (over 800 games) and a player. Yes, I am a sucker for "collector's edition" stuff like books, figures, and other crap like that. I bought both versions of Arkham Asylum Special Edition. What now, virtual collector's edition? I get a jpeg of a toy Batarang?

    You guys don't want digital-only games? Then join with me and boycott them! Don't buy them! Show them that we only buy discs and cartridges! They won't make discs any more? Fine. Then I will go old school and continue my NES collection. Boycott boycott boycott!!!!

  • Vailord

    Posted Oct 4, 2009 7:30 am GMT

    digital media will never win.. over the years we have have see that the internet; and for taht matters the digital media is a world without rules many people wil take advantage of this... and this its the origin of piracy...as already have seen modded 360 wiis ps2s dslites dsi psps... if u make all the software digital then ur going to a place without rules and be prepared for this... Nintendo & Sony will suffer 4 this (although they already r) feel free to respond to me or reply ....

  • El_Conrado

    Posted Oct 2, 2009 12:48 pm GMT

    @-Celeste-
    "If you download something, you can't put it on an SD card and run it over, strap it to a rocket, or make a robot with it. That is the underlying problem with this method of distribution."

    Err, why not? I know I could, IF I wanted to. Nobody says you can't do whatever you want with your legally licensed software in the physical world.

    I said it before, but it's worth noting again:

    When you buy a game on a disk, you are:

    1) buying a license to play the game in a system specifically built to run it, and
    2) buying the disk in which said game is distributed.

    However, you are not:

    1) buying legal ownership to the game, game code, content, characters, etc., nor
    2) buying the right to alter, modify or redistribute said game.

    So you can do whatever you want with your game disk; THAT is yours. But the GAME inside the disk is not, and never was.

    Since the license to play the game is directly tied to the game disk, selling, loaning, trading or giving the disk is equivalent to transferring your legal license to play the game.

    Those are the rules of physical media. DIGITAL media has new rules (that suck).

    Since the license is no longer tied to the medium (CD, DVD, Cart, etc.) it needs to be tied to something, be it an account, a system or both.

    The software itself, you can still do what you want with it (copy, share, backup, etc.) but not the license to play it, do to the fact that it's not tied to something physical (or is it?).

  • Telekenesis123

    Posted Oct 2, 2009 3:19 am GMT

    Yes Henninger, digital distribution takes away consumer rights, and they charge the same for it sometimes more.

  • Henninger

    Posted Oct 1, 2009 6:33 pm GMT

    Honestly i never looked @ digital download as a problem until i read this article & ur ppls comments. I understand where Nintendo & Sony r coming from but i have 2 agree with every1 that says if u buy something u should own it. This is really gonna suck cuz wut if they start making games only 4 the PSP Go & DSi & its a part of a series (Resident Evil, Call of Duty 4 me) that u like. So now u have 2 get that download only system & b forced 2 not own just use the game? Thats Bulls**t!!! @ 1st i thought that digital distribution wuz a go thing but now that i c this i dont think that it is such a great idea anymore. Now more than ever i want digital distribution 2 fail. I like looking @ my hard copies of all my games that i've purchased over the years. I really hope that they dont stop production on the PSP/PSP Slim & DS Lite in the future. But realistically, digital distribution is the future. & when that becomes the norm i hate 2 say this but i think im down buying games. That will b a sad day but i refuse 2 support that if we dont own wut we buy.

  • majere613

    Posted Oct 1, 2009 4:27 pm GMT

    I sense an increase in the number of chipped DSi's in the offing....

  • steveguttenberg

    Posted Oct 1, 2009 12:11 pm GMT

    Just because something "makes sense from a business standpoint" doesn't mean we must accept it.

    Sometimes it's okay to look at something from a consumer's eyes. If you don't like the idea of not actually owning the games you pay for, say so by not buying them. I refuse to buy games if I can't later sell them to my friends.

  • kamizuka

    Posted Oct 1, 2009 11:26 am GMT

    So lets think that the new Dsi have 16gb just like the pspgo. when your 16gb psp go is full you can put those gmes in you computer and switch them or buy new ones, but when your Dsi is full you have to delete the game and if you want to play it again you have to also downlowd it again

  • HyruleanLink

    Posted Oct 1, 2009 9:58 am GMT

    That stinks, but makes sense from a business stand point. Nintendo and other companies would lose lots of money if they allowed SD card transfer of games.

  • Quezakolt

    Posted Oct 1, 2009 9:52 am GMT

    that's sad. More of our users/consummers/human rights taken away. bit by bit, that's where they all moving. Yeah, DSi ware, doesnt sound like a big deal, but its still a move to make this trend go... which i absolutely hate.

  • -Celeste-

    Posted Oct 1, 2009 7:49 am GMT

    @ax23000

    There is a difference to "licensing" the actual content of the software. IE when you purchase Mario 3, you don't actually own the "rights" to Mario 3. However, you do "own" the actual cartridge and can do whatever you want with it. You can run it over with a car, strap it to a bottle rocket, take it apart and make a life size Mario robot, or whatever. That ownership is what is getting taken away with the new way of digital downloads.

    If you download something, you can't put it on an SD card and run it over, strap it to a rocket, or make a robot with it. That is the underlying problem with this method of distribution. When you poll all the companies that have these stupid restrictions, they will reply that they are countering piracy. Those companies need to take a hard look and realize that they are the REASON for the piracy in the first place.

    When i pay for something, i expect to own what i pay for, meaning that i can choose to do with that item whatever I want. You can keep your rights to your actual game content, but i want to be able to do whatever i want with the files, even if it means editing them and replacing all it all with random 0's and 1's to look cool.

  • Muteki_X

    Posted Oct 1, 2009 5:46 am GMT

    @UrbanMessiah

    My sentiments exactly! That's why I want to see the PSP Go and any other system that tries to implement this crash and burn. If the industry goes download-only, I'll be through with gaming, period. Well, besides replaying the library of games that I do own.

  • Weddum

    Posted Oct 1, 2009 5:38 am GMT

    Meh, this sucks but if you want to continue playing games this will be the only way to do it one day. They won't keep putting games on physical media forever, and quite honestly a portable system is much better when you don't have to carry around cartriges and discs with you to change games.

    Although if I use MY MONEY to BUY something from an online SHOP, I expect that the product belong to me. Not just "licensing" it to me. Whats next Nintendo, are we going to start paying monthly/yearly fee's to use your consoles, essentially renting it from you?

    Boycott this rubbish. If Nintendo were to up and say "You can't use this software anymore because we don't want you to" would be perfectly within their rights. Money down the drain.

  • UrbanMessiah

    Posted Oct 1, 2009 3:04 am GMT

    ""software downloaded from Nintendo DSi Shop is licensed to you, not sold," *meaning that those who purchase content through the online store do not have full rights to, or even actually own, what they've bought.*"

    And that right there, folks, is the man reason to resist download only gaming and stick with your disks, UMDs, game cartridges, whatever...just as long as it's tangible. When you pay for something? By gawd, you should damn well *own* something, not just "license" it. XP

  • PandaBear86

    Posted Oct 1, 2009 1:46 am GMT

    Nintendo is backwards when it comes to online and digital distribution. They have terrible online gameplay, no full-budget games available for download (for Wii or DS), poor storage for downloads (512mb on a Wii), and now this. Nintendo seems to think we are still in the dial-up era and assumes people people cannot distinguish between a modem and a toaster. Its 2009, not 1997.

  • kamizuka

    Posted Oct 1, 2009 12:52 am GMT

    the games for the Psp Go in the PSN are not exclusive for the Psp go you can still buy them for your fat or slim PsP, and the psp go is just an option if you want a large memory space for only downloaded games

    but the DSi is weird you have to buy the new one to play the downloadable games

  • zaprct

    Posted Oct 1, 2009 12:47 am GMT

    First Sony with the lack of UMD conversion for PSP Go, now Nintendo won't let people copy something they've paid good money for to a new/replacement DS. It kind of contradicts with the logic of Download Play

    I love that Sony allow 5 users to play downloaded content from the PS Store, I think that this logic should be applied to all download style markets.

  • KittyHeart

    Posted Sep 30, 2009 11:22 pm GMT

    ok i'm a huge nintendo fangirl, but even i don't like the idea of this because contnet stuckto one dsi is problematic. what if ppl misplace their ds?

    and if they sell their ds, there goes everything on it, the new buyer will have a lot of games to start w/

  • ax23000

    Posted Sep 30, 2009 11:12 pm GMT

    "'software downloaded from Nintendo DSi Shop is licensed to you, not sold' meaning that those who purchase content through the online store do not have full rights to, or even actually own, what they've bought."

    Actually most every EULA works this way if you read the fine print. Software is licensed, not sold. That's why there IS an end user LICENSE agreement in the first place.

    At least that's how it is on the pc side. Don't really know what the standard is with consoles.

  • jamesh-42

    Posted Sep 30, 2009 9:17 pm GMT

    @GCwasthebestsys: that problem has been solved for other platforms. Tie purchases to a user account, and let users play those games on any console/handheld they've registered with the account.

    By limiting the number of devices the user can register, you limit the impact of account sharing while still giving users flexibility. If they want to get a new device and sell their old one, they can just deregister the old one before selling it and register the new one.

    With the way they've set this up, you also won't be able to sell an old device without selling all the games: something that probably works out quite well in Nintendo's favour.

  • joey_bulky

    Posted Sep 30, 2009 6:47 pm GMT

    GCwasthebestsys, you are ignorant. Do you have Valve's steam account... i didn't see them wining about piracy. In fact they are making big buck from their digital distribution of PC game title. I have bought every original ds title that i wanted to support nintendo despite my peels using R4 cart... I was labeled stupid by them.... and now i really FEEL Like One!!

  • GCwasthebestsys

    Posted Sep 30, 2009 6:33 pm GMT

    i can see where they are coming from. if you make it open to the user account then what's to stop some guy buying all the games and charging people to get his sn/password so they can d/l the games he bought? then scrupulous people will start making money off the games.

    bottom line: keeps games on cds and cartridges

  • Cruse34 posted Sep 30, 2009 6:31 pm GMT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    Cruse34

    Posted Sep 30, 2009 6:31 pm GMT (hide)

    I thought everybody knew this. I really don't see what the big deal is but anyway go DSi!

  • BlacktheHeart

    Posted Sep 30, 2009 6:18 pm GMT

    this is the work of skynet

  • sonic-boom

    Posted Sep 30, 2009 6:15 pm GMT

    Sony's PSP and Nintendo's DS downloadable content is a future I see two sides to. The positive is that there shouldn't be any "rare" games anymore since they should perpetually be available upon release, however, the negative is, at least when speaking for myself, if I'm not able to own a hard copy of a game, I'm less inclined to purchase it, end of story.

  • LordelX

    Posted Sep 30, 2009 6:02 pm GMT

    Welcome to the future people. In 10 years, all games and systems will be like this.

  • -Celeste-

    Posted Sep 30, 2009 5:43 pm GMT

    I hate this "licensed but not sold" verbaige that is getting thrown about by everyone. Seems everything you actualy PAY for online is only licensed for your use and you don't own it. I can understand limiting certain definitions of "owning" since you're not the one who created it ... but his is getting ridiculous.

    I'm tired of downloading something and not being able to do anything and everything i wish with it. I can't loan it to a friend, i can't take it to their house and play it, I can't swap systems and use it ... WTF can i do with it. XBL and PSN are just as responsible.

    This blaming piracy and putting usage restrictions has got to stop. Maybe if the government actually saw the real reason for piracy and modding they would go to all these stupid industries (i'm looking at you music, movie and game industry) and tell them they are the ones creating the problem.

  • NDLord

    Posted Sep 30, 2009 5:30 pm GMT

    Hardly surprising... It's true of the Wii, why would the DSi be any different...

  • joey_bulky

    Posted Sep 30, 2009 4:52 pm GMT

    FAIL! the content should be user account lock not system lock...meaning we have to pay again for the same game once we upgrade to one of their redesign portable.
    Nintendo is getting more greedy once they become successful... I not buying any more DS games period.

  • ScionofEntropy

    Posted Sep 30, 2009 4:49 pm GMT

    Is the PSP fanbase divided so obnoxiously over the PSP Go?

  • dmil1991

    Posted Sep 30, 2009 4:36 pm GMT

    I'm happy with my DS Lite thank you very much.

  • wombo194 posted Sep 30, 2009 4:26 pm GMT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    wombo194

    Posted Sep 30, 2009 4:26 pm GMT (hide)

    Will people stop complaining, the DSI is much better, but you refuse to admit it because of a missing GBA slot. I don't care about this, i got an sd card, whenever i download something i transfer it to my sd card, nice and stored. Soon DS lite is going to expire and it will become like the original DS, forgotten and ignored. DSI only cards and DSI enhanced cards are coming out and will probably be the only type of DS cards selling in 2010. DSI is better, that is that, now evolve and continue to the future.

  • ColdfireTrilogy

    Posted Sep 30, 2009 4:02 pm GMT

    i lold i suppose

  • hatieshorrer

    Posted Sep 30, 2009 4:01 pm GMT

    I can understand why Nintendo is so concerned about piracy. How would any company make money if people were downloading pirated copies for free. To an extent they have to let some of the smaller ones go and focus on the most series abusers.

  • cbeck002

    Posted Sep 30, 2009 4:00 pm GMT

    I love my dsi, but honestly does this matter? I can't seriously see anyone being so attached to their Mario Calculator that they'd need to transfer it to their new system. When dsiware stops being a joke this may pass as news.

  • tremor33

    Posted Sep 30, 2009 3:59 pm GMT

    Another reason not to get the PSP GO or DSI. When I pay for something, I expect to own it. If I wanted to rent/ borrow it, I'd go to blockbuster, gamefly, or netflix. What's next? Games that expire if you don't play them for a few months? Eat a d*ck developers.

  • dekusnake

    Posted Sep 30, 2009 3:57 pm GMT

    So, I do not own my DSi Ware, I am only just entitled to use it? BS

  • Maxor127

    Posted Sep 30, 2009 3:47 pm GMT

    That's why all of this digital download BS sucks and I refuse to take part in it. Things like this just encourage piracy.

  • alkaline_DnB

    Posted Sep 30, 2009 3:46 pm GMT

    psp go and the dsi are both shaping up to be crap handhelds.
    i see no need to buy either one of them ever.
    i'm fine with my fatty psp and fatty ds.

  • grunt_destroyer

    Posted Sep 30, 2009 3:29 pm GMT

    I wonder if the pirating in those countries actually help the sales of Nintendo hardware .... I mean I know a lot of people actually bother buying the DS because they can pirate games for so cheap.... otherwise many of them wouldn't buy the thing in the first place.

  • 24k_Solid_Gold

    Posted Sep 30, 2009 3:13 pm GMT

    " In February, Nintendo petitioned the US government to consider trade sanctions against China, Brazil, Korea, Mexico, Paraguay, and Spain on account of what it claimed to be rampant piracy of its products in those regions. "

    ...*sigh*, Nintendo, Nintendo, Nintendo...

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