Escapists! Do you use the Nintendo eShop?

[ToastiestZombie]

I use it for eShop games, but I'll never use it for retail games. I'll take an actual physical thing and the fact that I own it over paying the same amount of convenience any day. What I have bought is Little Inferno, Trine 2, Mighty Switch Force and the four 30p Virtual console games that have been released (can't wait for Super Metroid for only 30p).

 

[Scott Rothman]

I bought a few cheap games from it for my 3DS, Picross, Pullblox, Fallblox and A Link To The Past, I wouldn't buy any titles that I could get a physical copy of for several reasons:

1. The download service is fairly buggy and the download seems to restart itself every now and then.

2. The file sizes will be pretty large, which makes the problem above a lot worse.

3. The prices are significantly higher than buying a physical copy.

4. Not many titles are available for digital download (at least last time I checked.)

5. If I remember correctly, downloading a game disables your 3DS from performing other tasks while the process occurs.

6. Download speed is fairly slow as far as I can tell.

7. eShop is very poor at informing you on the status of your download (the size of your download in bytes, download speed etc.)

Basically the eShop on the 3DS at least is only really useful for smaller titles which you can't buy physical copies of. I would not recommend using the eShop for the 3DS unless it is impossible to get a physical copy of the game you want.

My experience has differed greatly from yours.

1. I've never had a file or system crash while downloading software or ever had it restart.
2. Full games are usually sized between 4k and 8k blocks.
3. The prices are the standard MSRP, sometimes they are discounted; there's a section for games on sale.
4. There are definitely not as many titiles available digitally than physically, yes.
5. You can actively download which prevents you from doing anything else, or you can have it download in the background and use your wifi connection if you are not using it. It's the same that every other console works.
6. Download speeds are going to mostly depend on your ISP, it took me about 10-15 minutes to fully download Etrian Odyssey 4
7. The shop displays the file size before you download it, but yeah it doesn't show transfer rate or estimated time left, but there is a progress bar with absurdly annoying sound effects that you can't turn off.

The eShop is good, not great. Definitely serviceable.

 

[Hawkmoon269]

Its a pretty good service for indie games and retro titles, albeit limited at the moment (the Wii U one, anyway) but I don't bother using it to download games available at retail.

The reasons?

1. I like having physical copies, because the boxes look nice on my shelf, and because that way, I undisputably own the game.

2. It's cheaper to buy them from Amazon or wherever. Pre-owned = super bargain, and even brand new, the retail prices are usually more competitive.

 

[Mr. Omega]

I have used it to get Fire Emblem Awakening and Paper Mario on the 3DS. I got a big memory card (DO THIS IF YOU PLAN ON GETTING RETAIL GAMES) so space wasn't a problem. Most Nintendo titles take forever to go down in price, and I prefer to avoid buying used. Plus my living situation has me packing stuff often, so less physical media makes things easier.

I wish the interface was better. More like the WiiU version. But it's serviceable.

 

[TheEvilCheese]

3ds, yes. Not often for full games purely because they are significantly more expensive than amazon or shopto on release. I got fire emblem awakening 2 days before release for £10 less than the eshop price.

The interface is... serviceable and sleep mode downloads work well, I just need to get me a better SD card.

 

[Gearhead mk2]

I don't even know how to acsess the bloody thing.

 

[Exius Xavarus]

I do use it, yes. But not for 3DS titles. If I buy a 3DS title, it'll only ever be a physical copy. I've never used the Wii U eShop.

 

[NightmareExpress]

Only for DLC, demos and little titles exclusive to the eShop.
Nintendo ties all of your stuff down to a console rather than an account, so you run a higher risk of getting borked should something happen. For that reason, I hunt down my 3DS titles rather than DL them.

 

[New Frontiersman]

I do sometimes, mostly for games that are e-Shop exclusive like Crimson Shroud or Pushmo or Virtual Console games, but I also used it to download Fire Emblem and the DLC for it. Although like most people here it seems, I'm pretty old fashioned about my games and prefer physical copies when I can get them.

 

[Atmos Duality]

The local copies of Fire Emblem: Awakening were sold out in record time (pre-order only, from what I could tell).
So yeah, I used the E-Shop. I've used it for a few other purchases, and to get my Ambassador Games.

It's not that bad of a system, though I still find the classic games to be grossly overpriced.

 

[ResonanceSD]

Well I just got Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward from it, because nobody stocks it here.

 

[ScrabbitRabbit]

I don't, but only because retail tends to be cheaper here. I have no attachment to physical copies.

I download demos a lot, though.