No DSiWare transfers to DSi XL

Last year, Nintendo confirmed that DSiWare games bought from the DSi Shop were tethered to the handheld they were downloaded onto. This DRM practice means that games bought on a particular DSi were locked to said device and would have to be repurchased at full price if owners buy a new DSi. DSiWare games include such titles as WarioWare Snapped!.

Sunday's launch of the DSi XL raised the prospect that Nintendo might offer some sort of solution to let players transfer their DSiWare content to the larger-screen model or download it again for free. No such luck, according to a Nintendo of America representative.

"No, the games and applications are specific to each system, not each user," a spokesperson told GameSpot.

The forced repurchase of DSiWare content is unique amongst the current generation of dedicated gaming devices. Games bought for the PSP and PlayStation 3 via the PlayStation Store can be re-downloaded for free, as can games bought on Xbox Live Marketplace. However, if an Xbox 360 is replaced and its hard drive attached to a new console, the new console must be constantly connected to Xbox Live for the downloaded games to function outside of demo mode. New Xbox 360 hard drives also come with a transfer cable that allows players to move content from one hard drive to another.