Transfering wii ware games to a different console

[teh_L0ki]

First off let me preface this by saying I apologize if this breaks any rules and if it does just delete it.

Anyway I know you can contact nintendo to transfer ownership of a wiiware account if your console dies. What worries me is years down the line if they shut down wii ware as microsoft has done for its original xbox, what happens to all my games if my console dies?

So I'm wondering if there is any other method to get games from console A to console B so I have peace of mind. Thanks.

[joedick]

I obviously don't know for sure, but I imagine that once it's on your system or SD card, Nintendo won't be able to delete them. Chances are, Nintendo will allow you to download your old WiiWare games to their next system, based on the fact that they are allowing transfers for DSi to 3DS.

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

If your Wii dies and you send it in for repairs, Nintendo will, if necessary transfer the content of the internal memory to a new Wii.

They'll also ensure that all of your past purchase on the shop channel get tied to your new Wii's console ID, so you can re-download from the store.

You can not however ask for them to do this arbitrarily, ie you bought a new Wii and want to transfer the stuff over. It has to be within the context of a repair ticket.

[Leo_A]

There are scattered reports of people that whined, complained, and generally annoyed the right tech support person enough where they were able to do a transfer at home just so the tech support person could finally be rid of the person. But it's certainly not official policy, as Frankie told you, for them to to allow you to transfer VC and WiiWare downloads to a replacement console. Whoever suggested you could do that was incorrect and the answer 99.9% to that request is no.

What will happen years down the road, assuming we can't take this stuff with us to another console generation (The rumors of Wii HD backwards compatibility and DSiWare transfers are promising signals we may be able to), is that you will lose it when you have a system failure. Unless things are hacked to allow the user to download and install content (As has been done with Xbox 1 content), it will be lost. And even if we can do a transfer to new console, it's just delays the inevitable for another console generation.

That's the main problem with the DLC age that we're entering for the classic gamer that is just as likely to be playing Ms. Pac-Man on their Atari 2600 as they are the latest and greatest first person shooter. There are no guarantees you'll be able to enjoy something 20 years down the road, so you have to keep that in mind as you make purchases and just enjoy stuff while you can instead of dwelling on losing it in the future.

[teh_L0ki]

I didn't realize nintendo had such a bs draconian policy. I assume it's the same for dsiware? Well as a result that will severely limit what I purchase wiiware and virtual console wise, but there are a few things unavailable anywhere else that I'm still interested in so I'll bite the bullet I guess and hope the wii doesn't die on me any time soon.

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

That's the main problem with the DLC age that we're entering for the classic gamer that is just as likely to be playing Ms. Pac-Man on their Atari 2600 as they are the latest and greatest first person shooter. There are no guarantees you'll be able to enjoy something 20 years down the road, so you have to keep that in mind as you make purchases and just enjoy stuff while you can instead of dwelling on losing it in the future.

Yeah, it is indeed a common fear,

However, nearly every classic console has been emulated, cloned, hacked/cracked to play backups in some fashion ... and all three current gen consoles, including the Wii have been hacked to play backups.

If Nintendo decided to pull the plug on the Wii Ware shop tomorrow and then Teh Loki's Wii somehow exploded, he would theoretically have the ability to play the games he's purchased, he'd just have to go through some hoops of installing all the homebrew/backup stuff on a new Wii and tracking down the files for the games he lost.

I don't strictly endorse that route, but the great fear of all being lost in the future when the big three pull their respective cloud plugs should be softened a bit by what we have going on in the present.

Everything in the past has been hacked, nearly every game in history has been dumped and archived somewhere, everything in this generation has been hacked and that'll likely be the case moving forward.

[megasdkirby]

I don't strictly endorse that route, but the great fear of all being lost in the future when the big three pull their respective cloud plugs should be softened a bit by what we have going on in the present.

This.

Like Franky, I don't support this directly. However, situations like that of Nintendo makes be glad the Wii was hacked. At least that way, if the system is still working, the game can be unofficially installed and enjoyed.

[Leo_A]

I wasn't aware that piracy of Wii, DS, PSP, 360, and PS3 downloads had been achieved yet. I knew you could play backups of retail games on some of them and that you could play Wii games directly from a hard drive, but didn't realize DLC DRM had been cracked for anything beyond the original Xbox. That's good to know for the future.


I didn't realize nintendo had such a bs draconian policy. I assume it's the same for dsiware?

Pretty soon, you'll be able to initiate a content transfer of at least some of your DLC to a different model DS. However, Nintendo has said you only have a limited number of transfers and that all content might not be transferable.

And if it requires having both systems up and running for them to the transfer the licenses directly via WiFi (Which I assume will be required, or else you could easily get your content tied to more than one system), it doesn't do someone a heck of a lot of good if they have a handheld fail and want to upgrade to a new one. They're still going to have to send it to Nintendo for repairs if they want to maintain authorized access to their DLC.