Many of us foolishly heightened our hopes when Nintendo announced the 3DS’ eShop functionality. It’s not that it’s bad, per se, it’s just not what was expected or, honestly, what it should’ve been.
In a recent earnings report, however, CEO Satoru Iwata revealed plans for a continued development of the service, including, primarily, an item transaction system that should be available to developers by the end of the year. While Iwata doesn’t believe Nintedo’s first party titles will, or even should use a system like this–no DLC characters for Super Smash Bros.–they understand others’ desire to see the capability.
It’s also worth noting that this same service is being built into the Wii U. They may not be talking about the rest of the Wii U’s network capabilities, but we know it will support DLC. Downloadable content has become commonplace and, apparently, Nintendo’s done fighting the trend. The goal is to make digital distribution more of a focus over the next three years and an equally important facet of their business plan.
Paid Item Downloads Coming to 3DS and Wii U [Andriasang via GoNintendo]