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Nintendo to shut down Wii shopping channel on 2019/01/31

Garou

Member
https://www.nintendo.co.jp/support/information/2017/0929.html

You will be able to add points until 2018/03/27 and will be able to buy Wii Ware and Virtual Console games until 2019/01/31.

This also affects the backwards-compatible one on WiiU.

Edit: Redownload of already bought software, as well as the Wii -> WiiU data transfer will stay online for the time being but will also shut down at an undetermined date in the future.
 

Danny Dudekisser

I paid good money for this Dynex!
Honestly, that's a longer time frame than I would've expected.

Glad we got the warning way in advance, though -- the Wii shop channel had a lot of really good games that are absolutely worth owning.
 

Mael

Member
Nintendo is deluging us with bad news to make us forget that we can't get a SNES mini or something?
 

Seda

Member
I think I have everything I want from the Wii Virtual Console downloaded already, guess I better make sure.
 

Curler

Unconfirmed Member
Sooooo I guess now is the tine to get things like My Life As King/Darklord before they are gone forever?

Time to start porting some of these to current systems!
 

MicH

Member
Mam, the Wii Shop Channel Stoll has the best selection of retro games. Might have to check it out again before it's gone.
 
You gotta be kidding me. So many amazing games on Wiiware and VC... They'd better be carrying them over to Switch because if not then duuuuude.

They won't be. :(
 
Congrats, Nintendo. You just straight up made Illegal downloads the only way to preserve a significant number of digital only games, as well as the virtual console.
 

Not

Banned
Man, I remember buying Mario Kart 64 onto my Wii. First time I had used a VC. I was 14 or 15 and thought it was so cool.

RIP
 
Guess I need to finally buy SBCG4AP Ep. 5 lol.

There’s actually a few WiiWare gems I need to pick up. And maybe some VC games unlikely to make the jump.

Still lame they never found a way to merge it into the eShop, like they did with the DSi shop.
 

Torokil

Member
Man I remember getting hyped for the monthly N64 game a decade ago. I'll always have fond memories of the early Wii years.
 
Shit, I really gotta go and buy Casltevania Rondo of Blood, Gradius Rebirth and Castlevania Rebirth before I can't anymore.
Any then back them up on my harddrive.
 

MarkusRJR

Member
Is there anyway to back up purchases? I recently had my Wii's SD card break so I had to manually re-download all my games onto a different SD card. I'd be super scared if that happened again after they closed the store. I own tons of VC games on Wii.
 
Wait, so that's ten months of the wallet emptying phase?

Anyway, I started to purchase stuff expecting this to happen a while ago, but I'm definitely still missing a lot of what looks worth getting. I should manage if nothing else goes down in the meantime.
 

Madao

Member
this is why i prefer to buy physical these days.

it will be this same dance next decade with the 3DS and Wii U eshop.
 

Stumpokapow

listen to the mad man
For those concerned about redownloading [as opposed to not having money to purchase all you want], all Wiis are moddable (quite easily, actually) and pirates have backed up the entire store and all the games. If you bought content that you can't download because the store goes down, you'll be safe -- simply pirate the game you own and install it on your system. It might be mildly annoying compared to using the store, but it's also mildly annoying to hook up your Wii at all in 2019 so...
 

Eusis

Member
It was online for 12+ years by then, how much longer do you need?
I'm more disappointed at how it wasn't sufficiently forward thinking. Granted things are different for consoles than computers or mobile, but it'd have been damn nice if our VC games at least would work on whatever else and Wii compatibility would be deprecated.
 

Garou

Member
Yes, for the time being. But after January 31 2019 not anymore.

It says that you will be able to keep your digital games as long as you don't delete them

No.

ご購入いただきました「Wiiウェア」「バーチャルコンソール」の再ダウンロードや、WiiからWii Uへデータを引っ越しする「Wiiからの引っ越し」につきましては、引き続きご利用いただけますが、将来においてはこれらのサービスも終了予定です。

Check the bolded. Redownloads will stay up but will be shut down “sometime in the future” after the day from above.
 
Is there anyway to back up purchases? I recently had my Wii's SD card break so I had to manually re-download all my games onto a different SD card. I'd be super scared if that happened again after they closed the store. I own tons of VC games on Wii.

If your Wii doesn't break and all you insure is the card then copying the /private/wii/ folder wholesale should suffice. Alternatively, if you hack it you can extract the games as archives installable on other hacked Wiis (don't share these, obviously!).
 

Joey Ravn

Banned
Congrats, Nintendo. You just straight up made Illegal downloads the only way to preserve a significant number of digital only games, as well as the virtual console.

"Just"? We're still a year and some months away from this. And it's not like you couldn't rip your own games already if you want to preserve them.

What a massive overreaction. You want to get mad at digital content being lost? Go to the Gravity Rush 2 thread. This issue here is a non-issue.
 
So about six months to put money on your account and then nine months to buy stuff.

I would think reversing those times would be better, having six months to spend whatever you have left is adequate. It's the time you have to actually add money that's more important and I would rather be nine months.

Hopefully this means the Wii U Eshop has at least three years after this Wii shutdown in 2019 before they shut that down.

I actually only bought less than 10 Wii Shop titles during the Wii era. But on Wii U I actually bought overy 20. Mostly Neo Geo Virtual Console in 2015.

I have a ton of WiiWare to buy.

I may even put $30 more than I think I need before that deadline.

Looks like I have to save up at least a $100 by then.
 
Still have a few dollars' worth of points there I should spend (and hopefully no unredeemed gift cards sitting around in storage). Twelve years is a good run. Imagine how long Miiverse would have been supported if it made it to a system as successful as the Switch.

I'd like to know if this will affect the Wii U's detection of Wii-side software for discounted VC upgrades on the Wii U eShop (not the same thing as the Wii shop on Wii U, though it might be dependent on those records).

This is a good reminder of why I'm glad I buy physical for non-online-dependent games on the Switch, despite the inconvenience and the alternate risk of losing cartridges. For preservation purposes it will pay off in the long run.

Hopefully this means the Wii U Eshop has at least three years after this Wii shutdown in 2019 before they shut that down.

I'm dreading a Wii U eShop shutdown; it would force me to grab an additional external drive, as I've rotated so much software on and off the built-in 32 GB. Not supporting a convenient standard storage solution like SD cards was easily one of the worst decisions in the design of the Wii U hardware.
 
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